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Frances Rigby came to live in Woodlesford from Morley when she was one year old in 1911. Her father, George Sigsworth, had been offered a job at Water Haigh and Frances moved in with him, her mother Ada, and her sister Maude, to one of George Armitage's newly built red brick terrraced houses overlooking the pit. She was still living there nearly a century later. Her father had a long career at the pit and Frances can remember the explosion he witnessed in 1933. She went to work at Bentley's Yorkshire Brewery when she left school at the age of 14. One of her jobs was to operate the "crowner" putting metal tops onto beer bottles. She later worked at the colliery herself as a cleaner, arriving there at 6am every morning to light the fires in the offices. Through her husband, Bill Rigby, Frances also has a connection to the "big houses" of the local landowning families. His father, William Rigby, was a horse carriage driver at Swillington House and Methley Hall. Listen to Frances Rigby remembering her life in Woodlesford.mp3
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