women and mining
It's nearly thirty years since women were last employed to do manual work in the British mining industry. Underground work by women was banned in 1842, but thousands of them continued to be employed on the surface. They were screen lasses, hauling and sifting through the material sent up by the miners working below.
The women who remember the harsh conditions are now in their seventies and eighties and a book has been published of their memories of work at the mines. It's called Ad Gar Back Tomorrer and is already a best seller.
Judy Merry went to Whitehaven in Cumbria to meet some of the screen lasses.
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