Roy Meldrum

• Friend of Chatterley Whitfield
• Member of Chatterley Whitfield Community Group.

Roy’s late father Mr H. Meldrum moved from his native Scotland to Stoke on Trent in the 1950s to work in the coal mines. He worked underground as a development worker on the coal face at Florence, Hem Heath, and Wolstanton collieries. Roy’s birth certificate records his father’s occupation as “coal getter by hand”.

By coincidence Roy’s wife’s parents also moved from Scotland to the North Staffordshire area. Roy’s late father in law, Ian McNeil, qualified as a Colliery Surveyor, and then Mining Engineer for the private coal mines In Scotland. He worked at N.C.B. Western Area HQ Staffordshire house in strata control and finally in the plant pool department.

Roy studied A levels at the Stoke on Trent Sixth Form College. He succeeded in obtaining a Scholarship from the N.C.B. and a place at Nottingham University where he gained a BSc (Hons) in Mining Engineering. In 1980 Roy joined the N.C.B. Engineering Trainee Scheme and was appointed to Florence Colliery, Longton. Roy continued to work underground at Florence until its closure in 1993, carrying out duties as a Shot firer, Deputy, Face Manager, Development Overman and Colliery Overman.

Roy joined the Friends in August 2003 after an English Heritage tour of the site and would like to see Chatterley Whitfield kept open as a reminder of the important part that coal played in so many lives and in the history of the area.