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Fred Baxter has lived in the same house in Woodlesford all his life. He was born in 1927 and in 2010 was still having a pint (or two) in the Midland Hotel as he used to do when he came off shift at Water Haigh Colliery when he was a miner. Fred's parents came from long established Woodlesford families and his father spent most of his life working for the Armitage brickworks before finishing his days in the lamp room at Water Haigh, a traditional job for older men. Fred himself went straight from school to work as an apprentice with the pit top joinery team but after a couple of years he too went underground and spent about 20 years hewing coal. He later came out of the pit and worked as a drayman for Bentley's Yorkshire Breweries before moving to the Tetley brewery in Leeds from where he retired. Click on the link below to hear Fred talk about his family and working life. Fred Baxter
The pit top at Water Haigh colliery where Fred Baxter started his working life in the joiners shop.
The Old Masons Arms at the top of Fleet Lane where Fred Baxter joined his fellow Water Haigh miners to "slek" his thirst after coming off shift. Before the pit was opened in 1910 the pub, and its near neighbour, the New Masons Arms would have been frequented by stone masons and labourers from the nearby quarries. Confusingly the Old Masons was rebuilt in the 1960s so it now has a newer building than the New Masons Arms!
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