When I went down the coal mine, I had my own lamp and my own helmet and Dad had the same as me. Mam had a cup of tea.
We went in a big cage down under the ground. Under the ground it was dark. My job was to help Bob the miner by opening the doors. I had to shout for the people to mind their heads on the low bits. Bob was a good miner who told lots of funny stories and interesting things.
At the end he showed us a Davy Lamp. We have one of them in our house. You use the Davy Lamp in a mine when you want to see if there is gas.
Then we had chips. I bought a slap band with Big Pit on it and a Big Pit bottle.
Editor’s note: Dad’s version of the visit is here.
off the record 
Hi Master Griffin, I really enjoyed your blog about visiting a coal mine. I remember going to Big Pit when I was eight years old (a long time ago!). The lift was very fast and it was really dark. I thought it was brilliant.
I hope you enjoyed and thank you for sharing your coal mine experience with us.
Steve
To Master Griffin,
That was really good.
Love,
Nia
The best dressed miners I have seen for a long time. Going down Big Pit was a real eye-opener. I couldn’t believe people used to walk/crawl as much as 5 miles UNDERGROUND to work.