Lea Hall Colliery,Rugeley, Staffordshire Remembered.

Subscribe to my you tube channel for 220+ more coal mine tributes and counting. In Rugeley the £14 million Lea Hall Colliery opened in 1960 by the National Coal Board with the Rugeley A power station constructed next door so coal could be transported directly on conveyor belt to generate electricity.Lea Hall Colliery was the first all-new colliery that had been planned at build by the National Coal Board with a planned life of 100 years and at one point was described as being the highest producing single colliery in Western Europe.The Rugeley power stations were a series of two coal-fired power stations located on the River Trent at Rugeley in Staffordshire. Construction of the first power station at the site, Rugeley ‘A’ station started in 1956 and station’s generating sets were commissioned between 1961 and 1962.
The ‘A’ station took coal directly from the neighbouring Lea Hall Colliery by conveyor belt. The colliery was put into production some 6 months before the first generating unit was commissioned in the power station. This was the first joint venture between the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) and the National Coal Board (NCB). The Lea Hall colliery was sadly closed on 24 January 1991 after just 30 years., meaning all coal burned in the stations needed to be delivered by rail.

[@jeffreyhodge5564]

Everything has gone ,pits ,power stations ,manufacturing ,ship building ,glass ,footwear ,clothing and on and on and on the list goes ,how out of kilt is our economy 80%service ,20% at the most manufacturing ,I know for those working in the service sector how worrying a time this is ,I was made unemployed in the early eighties but surely now we must remit our economy back to manufacturing ,governments of all shades investing heavily in plant ,design and the greatest asset wie have The British Workforce ! During this pandemic we now are beginning how unbalanced our economy is!

[@kevablade]

Just read your comnent 2 years later .its even worse .

[@takerhapsody]

My dad was an electrician there . Used to go in on a Friday with him to collect his wages . I then went into the canteen for a bottle of vinyl and a packet of crisps. Used to love watching the wheels going round and saying good luck and stay safe when they went one way and welcome back when it was the other . The noise the power station used to make when it let off steam

[@johnkelly983]

What year did lea Hall open

[@leahall]

Sinking began feb 1954. productionJul 1960 Full production1964. I worked there from july 1978 until it closed.

[@ronplimmer1493]

1960 to 1991 a sad day