Where Calverton Colliery Used to Be.

I used to wander around what used to be the site of Calverton Colliery in Nottinghamshire. It’s melancholy seems to linger in all of Post-Industrial Britain. My father worked in a steel works in Derbyshire until he was made redundant and as always, when left alone, nature began to reclaim that site too. Yet that reclamation, for me in my life, will always have a sense of defeat about it. I suppose as the Buddleia, Hawthorn and Birch make room for other species future generations won’t be reminded of the men with hands and faces as black as new school shoes. The ones that left their wage packets on the mantel piece every Friday.