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At the Coalface: The memoir of a pit nurse
A heart-warming story of a woman who devoted her life to helping others. This is the memoir of Joan, who started nursing in the 1940s and whose experiences took her into the Yorkshire mining pits and through the tumult of the 1984-85 miners’ strike.
Joan Hart always knew what she wanted to do with her life. Born in South Yorkshire in 1932, she started her nursing training when she was 16, the youngest age girls could do so at the time. She continued working after she married and her work took her to London and Doncaster, caring for children and miners.
When she took a job as a pit nurse in Doncaster in 1974, she found that in order to be accepted by the men under her care, she would have to become one of them. Most of the time rejecting a traditional nurse’s uniform and donning a baggy miner’s suit, pit boots, a hardhat and a headlamp, Joan resolved always to go down to injured miners and bring them out of the pit herself.
Over 15 years Joan grew to know the miners not only as a nurse, but as a confidante and friend. She tended to injured miners underground, rescued men trapped in the pits, and provided support for them and their families during the bitter miners’ strike which stretched from March 1984 to 1985.
Moving and uplifting, this is a story of one woman’s life, marriage and work; it is guaranteed to make readers laugh, cry, and smile.
Joan Hart always knew what she wanted to do with her life. Born in South Yorkshire in 1932, she started her nursing training when she was 16, the youngest age girls could do so at the time. She continued working after she married and her work took her to London and Doncaster, caring for children and miners.
When she took a job as a pit nurse in Doncaster in 1974, she found that in order to be accepted by the men under her care, she would have to become one of them. Most of the time rejecting a traditional nurse’s uniform and donning a baggy miner’s suit, pit boots, a hardhat and a headlamp, Joan resolved always to go down to injured miners and bring them out of the pit herself.
Over 15 years Joan grew to know the miners not only as a nurse, but as a confidante and friend. She tended to injured miners underground, rescued men trapped in the pits, and provided support for them and their families during the bitter miners’ strike which stretched from March 1984 to 1985.
Moving and uplifting, this is a story of one woman’s life, marriage and work; it is guaranteed to make readers laugh, cry, and smile.
- GenresNonfiction
306 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 16, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 7, 2024
Throughly enjoyed this book , my husband was a former miner , was interesting to read about life underground and ask him questions about his time , was an easy 5 stars for me 😃
September 2, 2020
An interesting look at industrial nursing from someone who was a pit nurse (coal mine) in Yorkshire.
February 24, 2026
Response to book - 8.5/10
Recommendation - 10/10
Re-readability - 8/10
Style - 8.5/10
Plot/Structure - 9.5/10
Characters - 9/10
Overall - 9/10
Recommendation - 10/10
Re-readability - 8/10
Style - 8.5/10
Plot/Structure - 9.5/10
Characters - 9/10
Overall - 9/10
January 7, 2016
The most interesting thing about this book was getting an unbiased and non-judgmental account of the miner's strike. It's usually written about by people with an agenda. The media want to make it exciting, politicians want to prove a point. This nurse just happened to be there. When she treated a miner who'd been hit over the head with a police truncheon, she reported it. When the managers clubbed together to raise funds for the miner's kids at Christmas, she reported that too. She said what she felt had been good about the old community, she was sad about the way the strike changed it.
Reading the account of this strike so many years later, it occurs to me that we should apply the same rules to the poor as to the rich. Why should tax payers fund miners if we can buy coal cheaper elsewhere? My father-in-law died from a lung disease he got from working with coal. I hope that robots will do all future mining.
Reading the account of this strike so many years later, it occurs to me that we should apply the same rules to the poor as to the rich. Why should tax payers fund miners if we can buy coal cheaper elsewhere? My father-in-law died from a lung disease he got from working with coal. I hope that robots will do all future mining.
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August 2, 2022Probably not one of the best written books, but very interesting and entertaining. It was like stepping in time to the days where I lived in Doncaster. Margaret Thatcher's legacy has really ruined these villages in Doncaster.
December 15, 2016
A Good Read
What we have lost will never be returned to us.
Entire communities lost to greed, apparent progress, and one woman's determination to destroy a heritage of which she had no understanding.
Poor lost soul.
What we have lost will never be returned to us.
Entire communities lost to greed, apparent progress, and one woman's determination to destroy a heritage of which she had no understanding.
Poor lost soul.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews