‘Real Fire’ Commission, 1984

This selection of photographs included here is one of five photographic projects commissioned by the Solid Fuel Advisory Service (SFAS) in conjunction with Yorkshire Arts Association and Humberside College of Art. The SFAS represented all aspects of the solid fuel industry ranging from the production and distribution of smokeless fuel to the manufacture of smokeless fuel burning appliances. This work was commissioned in late 1983, the photographs were taken during February, March and April 1984.

My chosen brief was to photograph workers employed in the solid fuel industry and the associated industries in South Yorkshire. My particular interest was to record the working and environmental conditions of both blue colour and white colour workers, in particular the external and interior work spaces people inhabit and personalise throughout their working lives.

Environments included are the heavy manual work of the day and nightshift workers at the Bolsover and Grimethorpe Coalite plants, the open landscapes of the solid fuel storage and distribution depots at Mexborough, the sales staff at Firecraft Warming Centre and Tile Warehouse, Doncaster, the managerial office workers and manufacturing staff at Trianco Redfyrn, Sheffield.

Coalite was a smokeless fuel that was developed during the late 1930’s to reduce smoke pollution caused from burning coal in domestic home fires. The plant at Bolsover opened in 1937 and closed in 2004, at its height it employed over 1200 men and was the largest plant of its type in the world.

As natural gas became a cheaper and cleaner alternative to burning solid fuel during the 1980’s, so the demand for smokeless fuel fell. The Grimethorpe Coalite plant which had opened in 1938 closed in 1994. In a region already devastated by the decline in coal mining, the closure of Bolsover and Grimethorpe Coalite plants further destabilised the fractured local economies and communities.

Chemicals produced as a by-product from the Coalite plant in Bolsover were used to make ‘Agent Orange’, a herbicide and defoliant used as part of the USA chemical warfare programme in Vietnam War between 1961-1971. Its controversial use has been well documented.

Today regeneration projects have transformed these communities, new link roads connect distribution centres and industrial units to the national motorway network and new private housing estates have replaced the social housing from the late19th and 20th centuries.

This work was exhibited at the Impressions Gallery, York and Humberside College of Art, Hull during 1984. A selection of those images from that exhibition can be seen here.

These photographs were taken using a Nikon F3 camera and Metz 45 CT-1 flashgun.

All images are Strictly Copyright Bill Stephenson © All Rights Reserved.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 001] Lorenzo Marchetta is a nightshift scannerman at The Derbyshire Bolsover Coalite Co Ltd. Lorenzo together with other Coalite workers were recruited en masse from impoverished rural villages in southern Italy during the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 002] Nightshift workers at the Bolsover Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 003] Sulphurous fumes envelop a nightshift Coalite worker inspecting one of eight large air sealed ovens called ‘batteries’. Grimethorpe Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 004] A nightshift Coalite worker breaks up ash deposits with an iron bar which have formed at the base of one of the batteries. Grimethorpe Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 005] Michel Stoddard (r) is a nightshift boiler ash man and Steve Arthur (l) a nightshift fitter. Bolsover Coalite plant. #1

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 006] Michel Stoddard (l) is a nightshift boiler ash man and Steve Arthur (r) is a nightshift fitter. Bolsover Coalite plant. #2

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 007] Nightshift maintenance workers, Bolsover Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 008] Worker washing down a coal oil spill at the Bolsover Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 009] General labourer at the Bolsover Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 010] Roger Williams age 17 is an apprentice wielder at Grimethorpe Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 011] Paul Moore is a technical assistant at Bolsover Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 012] Karen Wagstaff is a quality control clerk at Bolsover Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 013] Tony Bailey & Alastair Hamill await their 12 o’clock appointment. They are visiting sales representatives from Gulf Oil. Grimethorpe Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 014] General labourers at Manvers Coal Distribution Depot, Mexborough.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 015] 8am. Nigel and Steve known as ‘Mr Shifter and Mate’, are coal merchants preparing to ‘bag up’ from coal hoppers at Manvers Coal Distribution Depot, Mexborough.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 016] 8am. Nigel and Steve, coal merchants at Manvers Coal Distribution Depot, Mexborough.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 017] Loading Coal. Manvers Coal Distribution Depot, Mexborough. #1

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 018] Loading Coal. Manvers Coal Distribution Depot, Mexborough. #2

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 019] Steve Scott is a YTS trainee warehouseman at Fire Craft House Warming and Tile Centre, Doncaster. He later left to join the army.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 020] Ruth Barnes. Age 20 is a showroom assistant at Fire Craft House Warming and Tile Centre Doncaster.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 021] Spraying solid fuel boilers at Trianco Redfyre Ltd. Sheffield. Trianco Redfyre Ltd is a leading heating product manufacturer, specialising in stoves and boilers.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 022] Rita Wagstaff. Assembly Shop Inspector, Trianco Redfyre Ltd, Sheffield. The newspaper cutting is of Richard Chamberlain, from the popular TV series ‘The Thorn Birds’.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 023] Janet Bradley, Canteen General Assistant. Trianco Redfyre Ltd. Sheffield.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 024] Assembly Line Production Assistant. Trianco Redfyre Ltd. Sheffield.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 025] Peter Bowler, Senior Foreman. Trianco Redfyre Ltd. Sheffield.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 026] Joe Stacey, General Works Manager, Trianco Redfyre Ltd, Sheffield.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 027] Office Manager. Trianco Redfyre Ltd, Sheffield.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 028] Office manager. Trianco Redfyre Ltd. Sheffield.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 029] Office manager. Trianco Redfyre Ltd. Sheffield.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 030] Poster for the ‘Real Fire’ exhibition at the Impressions Gallery, York. May 5th – June 2nd 1984.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 001] Lorenzo Marchetta is a nightshift scannerman at The Derbyshire Bolsover Coalite Co Ltd. Lorenzo together with other Coalite workers were recruited en masse from impoverished rural villages in southern Italy during the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 002] Nightshift workers at the Bolsover Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 003] Sulphurous fumes envelop a nightshift Coalite worker inspecting one of eight large air sealed ovens called ‘batteries’. Grimethorpe Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 004] A nightshift Coalite worker breaks up ash deposits with an iron bar which have formed at the base of one of the batteries. Grimethorpe Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 005] Michel Stoddard (r) is a nightshift boiler ash man and Steve Arthur (l) a nightshift fitter. Bolsover Coalite plant. #1

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 006] Michel Stoddard (l) is a nightshift boiler ash man and Steve Arthur (r) is a nightshift fitter. Bolsover Coalite plant. #2

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 007] Nightshift maintenance workers, Bolsover Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 008] Worker washing down a coal oil spill at the Bolsover Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 009] General labourer at the Bolsover Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 010] Roger Williams age 17 is an apprentice wielder at Grimethorpe Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 011] Paul Moore is a technical assistant at Bolsover Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 012] Karen Wagstaff is a quality control clerk at Bolsover Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 013] Tony Bailey & Alastair Hamill await their 12 o’clock appointment. They are visiting sales representatives from Gulf Oil. Grimethorpe Coalite plant.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 014] General labourers at Manvers Coal Distribution Depot, Mexborough.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 015] 8am. Nigel and Steve known as ‘Mr Shifter and Mate’, are coal merchants preparing to ‘bag up’ from coal hoppers at Manvers Coal Distribution Depot, Mexborough.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 016] 8am. Nigel and Steve, coal merchants at Manvers Coal Distribution Depot, Mexborough.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 017] Loading Coal. Manvers Coal Distribution Depot, Mexborough. #1

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 018] Loading Coal. Manvers Coal Distribution Depot, Mexborough. #2

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 019] Steve Scott is a YTS trainee warehouseman at Fire Craft House Warming and Tile Centre, Doncaster. He later left to join the army.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 020] Ruth Barnes. Age 20 is a showroom assistant at Fire Craft House Warming and Tile Centre Doncaster.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 021] Spraying solid fuel boilers at Trianco Redfyre Ltd. Sheffield. Trianco Redfyre Ltd is a leading heating product manufacturer, specialising in stoves and boilers.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 022] Rita Wagstaff. Assembly Shop Inspector, Trianco Redfyre Ltd, Sheffield. The newspaper cutting is of Richard Chamberlain, from the popular TV series ‘The Thorn Birds’.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 023] Janet Bradley, Canteen General Assistant. Trianco Redfyre Ltd. Sheffield.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 024] Assembly Line Production Assistant. Trianco Redfyre Ltd. Sheffield.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 025] Peter Bowler, Senior Foreman. Trianco Redfyre Ltd. Sheffield.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 026] Joe Stacey, General Works Manager, Trianco Redfyre Ltd, Sheffield.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 027] Office Manager. Trianco Redfyre Ltd, Sheffield.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 028] Office manager. Trianco Redfyre Ltd. Sheffield.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 029] Office manager. Trianco Redfyre Ltd. Sheffield.

Real Fire - 1984 - Solid Fuel Advisory Service

[RF 030] Poster for the ‘Real Fire’ exhibition at the Impressions Gallery, York. May 5th – June 2nd 1984.

I’m very pleased to include a memoir titled “Coal in the Blood” written by Dave Goucher, who was the former Works Director of Bolsover Coalite. He previously worked at the Refinery, Rossington Works, Askern and Grimethorpe.

COAL IN THE BLOOD

I was Works Director at the time of the closure of the last remaining Coalite Works at Bolsover in 2004 . Coal is in my blood. My grandfather Walter worked in Markham Colliery, and was killed in an accident there in 1930. My father Harry also worked there as a winder at the time of the disaster in 1973. He never fully recovered.

Having managed to get a place at grammar school, I was the first of the men in the family to be able to choose not to work down the mine. In 1968 I began working in the Carbonisation Research Laboratory at Coalite Smokeless Fuels in Bolsover, so beginning my 36 years association with the coal industry.

The Coalite process was invented by Thomas Parker in 1904 and after difficult beginnings (mainly financial) several small, experimental plants were built in Wenesbury,Plymouth, Barking and East Greenwich, but these had very short operational lives. Further plants were established in Barugh,Yorkshire (1927-39), and in Wem Tarw, Wales (1939-49). Larger works that survived longest were built at Askern in 1929 (18 batteries), Bolsover in 1936 (24 batteries), Grimethorpe in 1966 (36 batteries) and Rossington in 1971 (20 Batteries). A chemical works, known as the refinery was also built at Bolsover in 1937 to deal with most of the by-products of the carbonisation process. The combined bituminous coal tonnage processed at these 4 larger works peaked at around 3 million tons per annum in the early 1970s.

The batteries were brick built, whilst the combustion chambers were made with firebricks. A roof was fitted over the batteries which were left with open sides. Each battery contained 40 vertical tubular cast iron retorts. These were 9 feet tall with 12 tubes per retort which each tapered from 4.5 inches at the top to 5.75 inches at the bottom. This aided vertical discharge into the cooler below.

The process started with coal being fed into the retort from the top whilst the middle door to the cooler below was closed and the retort was then sealed with a lid. Each retort held around 0.35 tons of coal. After 4 hours at 640 centigrade the door was opened and the contents of the retort was discharged into the cooler below. This process enabled the volatile matter (the smoke producing element) to reduce from around 40% to 8%. This was low enough to become smokeless, but high enough to be lit easily on an open fire. It was then moved from the cooler onto the main conveyers by a drag bar and on to the screening plant where it was graded into four sizes and “quenched”with water.

The grades were :

LARGE = Over 1,75 inches for open fires
NUTS = 1 – 1.75 inches for closed stoves
PEAS = 5mm- 25mm for ferro silicon manufacture in Norway and Venezuala
BREEZE = Below 5 mm for brick manufacture or recycled into the Coalite blend.

Discharging the tubes of Coalite was originally done by hand but this process was replaced in the 1950s by an enclosed pneumatic ram system. I can’t imagine how difficult the working conditions would have been for the men on the battery tops during the second world war when the batteries had to be completely enclosed. This was because the plant at Bolsover was directly under the flight path of German bombers that regularly attacked Sheffield, Liverpool and Manchester.

Maintaining a good quality coal supply to the Coalite works was paramount with coal from different collieries varying considerably. Even different seams within the same colliery could have major variations and strict quality control procedures needed to be used. When heated in the absence of air (carbonisation) different coals react differently. Some expand, which can make discharge more difficult, and some contract making the product very friable. Coal supplies needed to be blended in order to ensure appropriate quality. We aimed to make a coal blend that, when processed, resulted in a hard compact Coalite product that had the same volume as the original blend of coal, termed “G” on the Grey King Assay Test Scale. The size range of coal supplied was also important, as this affected bulk density , which influenced how much could be loaded into a retort. Generally “washed smalls ” around 1 inch were used, sometimes with added “singles” up to 1.5 inches, or “fines” up to 5mm. Washing the coal reduced ash and sulphur levels and was therefore a further requirement for supplies.

Originally 95% of coal supplies were delivered to the Bolsover works by rail, but with the Beeching cuts to the rail network, colliery closures and the closure of customer depots, this completely changed to 95% of incoming coal and outgoing Coalite being by road. At one point Bolsover had 10 miles of rail track within its boundaries, but these were removed over time to accommodate more lorries and stocking areas.

Since 1970 North Sea Gas slowly eroded the solid fuel market and the move to greener fuel signalled the beginning of the end for Coalite. Job losses became unavoidable and the newest plant (Rossington) closed in 1976, followed by Askern in 1986 and Grimethorpe in 1994, leaving Bolsover to remain for a further 10 years. The main reasons for Bolsover works remaining throughout this time was its close proximity to the refinery and the good industrial relations that it enjoyed.

The Bolsover complex had an older, mature and stable workforce with a high number achieving the 25 year service award. After the second world war and with a shortage of home labour, many young Italians were recruited from areas of high unemployment such as Naples. They were initially housed in communal “barracks” in Inkersall, Staveley and slowly family members came over and began to integrate into the community. Names like “Tozzi, Montecalvo, Rosato and Marchetta” became commonplace in the area and second generation family members started to be employed. This gave stability and continuity to the Bolsover works.

As well as the mine closure programme and the development of North Sea Gas, other events were to also have a significant effect on the company. In 1984, Eric Varley, who had been M.P. for Chesterfield and Minister of State for Energy resigned his seat to become Chair and Chief Executive of Coalite. Eric was a miners son from Poolsbrook and had been a Labour M.P. since 1964.

Coalite had by then merged with Charrington Fuels (1978) a major coal and oil distribution company in the south of England. Other companies included in this merger were the Falkland Islands Company, Dormobile. as well as a number of car franchises and builders merchants. In 1986 Coalite again expanded by acquiring Hargreaves Fuels and it became a FTSE. 100 Company on the stock exchange and very “cash rich”.

In 1989 David McErlain (Anglo United) borrowed £427 million from HSBC and carried out a hostile takeover of Coalite. McErlain had roots in open cast mining, and his plan was to sell off the non core businesses to finance his loan and become the biggest player in the shrinking UK coal sector. At this time ,however, the company was paying 14% interest on the loan – a massive burden. The sell-off did not generate the projected funds that were crucial to the plan and a raid on the Company Pension Scheme and the Board Room antiques, took place. With no investment in the works and no cash, moral was at its lowest and the company declined rapidly.

In 2002 the company was sold to John Wilson & Partners who were local developers. In spite of developing a Tyre Pyrolysis process which gave some hope for the future, there was not enough time to develop this fully. Further assets were stripped out before the plant closed in 2004.

The action of Anglo United with regard to the pension issue was a bitter blow for the workforce who lost out financially. Thankfully Gordon Brown, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer brought in legislation establishing a a compensation scheme which made the financial hit on pensions less severe for the hundreds of long serving Coalite employees.

The world has moved on apace since the closure of the works and the site is now full of shiny new businesses that have completely changed the landscape of the old Bolsover Coalite site. I still smile with pride however, when passing by, especially when I get a slight Coalite smell of phenols!

Coal is still in the blood.

DAVID GOUCHER
June 2024