My Blog List

Monday 9 July 2012

A NEW BBC DOCUMENTARY on STUFF LIKE SEACOAL

The BEEB are doing a documentary on "THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION". It will be shown early next year.
We were asked by one of the researchers to help locate sea-coal for filming. She had found some info about it on one of my previous blogs.  Sadly, it has not been a good year for sea-coal any more than it has been for summer. The incidence of sea-coal on the beach is a complicated algorithm involving tides, prevailing winds, beach profile and luck. 
The producer came to meet us at Seaton Carew to check out locations for filming and very luckily there was some on the northern stretch of the beach and it was being raked up and trucked out. So we all got to meet Steve-the-shoveller on the beach at Seaton Carew.
The layer of good quality coal is raked in by Steve, who's been doing it for 50 years. A small truck takes it away. They sell it to the local power station for not much money.
The Industrial Revolution is over. It seem we are back to being peasants.
Cheers Gillian

2 comments:

carol said...

How exciting! I'll watch out for the programme and hope to see you!

Lyn said...

sounds interesting, will keep an eye out for it.
xxx