No real theme in these, I just found each one interesting.
Female mill workers, 1900. (Partially colourised.)
Young mill girls with their bobbins, 1901.
City boys evacuated to the countryside during WW2, 1940.
WW2 rescue workers at the scene of German bombing of Cardiff, 1941.
Children in front of their bonfire for Guy Fawke’s Night, 1957.
A pub in Wales, 1960.
Slum conditions in Northern England, 1960.
Welsh miners help each other in the shower after their shift. 1960s
A teenage boy after his first full shift down a mine. Wales, early 1960s.
Welsh miners attend a union meeting outside the pit, late 1960s.
A man with his beloved racing pigeons, 1970.
beetleypete 
I really enjoyed these, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad to hear that, Jennie.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
HI Pete, I think mining, especially coal mining, is one of the worst ways in the world to earn a living. I’ve been down a coal mine and it is horrible. I’ve also watched open cast coal mining which is dusty and dry.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes indeed. Not only awful working conditions, but lung disease and a shorter life very likely.
Thanks, Robbie.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The teenage boy didn’t look as though he’d enjoyed his first shift down the mine. i can’t think why!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It must have been grim down those pits.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
He suddenly realised that going down the pits was to be his lot for the rest of his working life.
LikeLiked by 1 person
(1) “I read that by the year 2000, we’ll live in a fully colorized world!”
(2) God gave Eve a bobbin to facilitate making clothing. But she threw it away, put on a fig leaf, and went bobbin’ for apples.
(3) “Well, life on the farm is kinda laid back. Ain’t much a country boy like me can’t hack. It’s early to rise, early in the sack. Thank God I’m a country boy!”
(4) WW2 palindrome – 2WW (2 Working Women).
(5) When a guy fawkes up his job, he is either fired or is forced to resign.
(6) While the adults enjoy their pub in Wales, the children play with toy whales in their tub.
(7) “Slumwhere over the rainbow, skies are blue…”
(8) Erich: “Hey, Billy! After we get out of the shower, let’s go watch Midnight Express.”
(9) “If I keep mining, I’ll end up looking like Nat King Coal.”
(10) “I think we can all agree that the conditions in the pit are pitiful.”
(11) Racine pigeons are no faster than the ones in San Luis Obispo (SLO).
LikeLiked by 1 person
(5) Firework Night was such a big deal here, we would prepare for it all year. Saving money to buy fireworks, collecting wood for bonfires, etc. It was killed stone dead when we imported Halloween from America.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Some real stories in each of them pics. There have been a number of films about the kids going to the countryside during the war – ‘Railway Children’ but one.
As for clothing, I’ve mentioned before here how I recall at school immigrant kids came with what I call “a British uniform” = a well worn suit jacket & stout shoes. I would say that was standard manufacture after WW1.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This sentimental film about a WW2 evacuee is hugely popular here. It is still shown regularly on TV.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodnight_Mister_Tom_(film)
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing, Warmest regards, Ed
LikeLiked by 1 person
Always a pleasure.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Is it same to assume that black lung disease also affected Welsh coal miners? When you have no other option to support yourself and your family, a coal miner could choose between the devil and the deep blue.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, Silicosis was very common, and incurable of course.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That miner boy doesn’t look very old. The evacuee boys look happy enough. It’s just occurred to me, where did the mums get the boys’ clothes from that you see in all those sort of pictures. Was there a special shop for identical cheap scratchy clothes; did they look like that to start with or only after being handed down!
LikeLiked by 2 people
You could leave school aged 15 in the 1960s. (I stayed on until 17, but most of my friends were working at 15) I’m guessing the young miner was just 15. As for the clothes, they might well have been second hand, or hand-me-downs.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes it was 15 in Australia when I was at high school. Three years of junior high, then two years of senior. I stayed on, but I was still only sixteen when I finished.
LikeLiked by 1 person
In the US, the miners’ clothes would have been bought in “the company store.”
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nice glimpses of the past, Pete.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Don. Glad you liked them.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLike
The face of that teenage boy says it all. I suppose this is where the term “the pits” comes from. Unimaginable. Do kids still ask for “a penny for the Guy?” I suppose it would be a pound now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I haven’t seen kids with guys for over 20 years now. The tradition appears to have died out.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLike
Overtaken by Halloween I imagine!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That, and ‘child safety concerns’, Janet.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great bits of history!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Sue. Glad you liked them.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I do!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting…I compare it to today and the smart phone….like their lives a bit better. chuq
LikeLiked by 1 person
Simpler times, and often happier ones too.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So very true chuq
LikeLiked by 1 person