Wendy Lively and the last
pit pony at Rising Sun colliery, July 1969
Not so the
pit pony that was whisked away from an open field of lush green grass into a life of stones and coals, drudgery and darkness."
Her most famous book was the novel
Pit Pony, the story of Willie, an 11-year-old boy in early 20th-century Nova Scotia who is forced to work as a trapper in a Cape Breton coal mine, and Gem, the Sable Island "pit" pony he befriends.
.Below - Bevin Boys attending the Annfield Plain pit school in January 1944 .Bevin Boys at a coal mine in the North east in 1944 .Bevin Boy trainees at a North-east colliery harnessing a
pit pony during the war .A group of trainee miners in County Durham - in huts similar to those used George Grainger during the war years
Scotland's last
pit pony retired in 1994 and animals have not been used to haul coal wagons anywhere in Britain for more than a decade.
MY WEEK Punting high Backing Black Bear Island for my maximum in a match bet against
pit pony Gan Amhras in the Derby.
In the same month you can also visit and meet over 25 horses and ponies at the
Pit Pony Sanctuary at Fforest Uchaf Farm.
Production for younger audiences in the region comes from a strong tradition that boasts successful programs such as the CBC's still-going strong Street Sense, Cochrane Entertainment's Theodore Tugboat and
Pit Pony, and Salter Street's popular Emily of New Moon.
But Peckham continues to plead for money for his own venture - despite the fact he only appears to have rescued ONE
pit pony.
When Polonius the
pit pony escapes from the coal mine he's worked in all his life, he joins a family of Travelers.
At the
pit pony stables, hardworking ponies will demonstrate how coal tubs were hauled.
The procession is to leave Dangerpoint at 12.30pm for the official unveiling of the Winding Wheel and the
Pit Pony and Miner at 1pm.