>From the Kilkenny People Thursday, November 09, 2006 : ____________________________________ Castlecomer - Local miners interviewed for book VANISHING Ireland is an impressive book penned by James Fennel and Turtle Bunbury. It features numerous interviews with a generation that is fast disappearing. The days when kids walked to school barefoot, were fed on cabbage and potatoes and salty bacon that hung from the kitchen ceiling. In those days there was no electricity, no running water, no washing machine, no fridge, no television or telephone. Most had a donkey or horse which would be hitched to a trap if the need arose. The authors travelled the length and breadth of the country inter-viewing men and women of practically every trade and task you could think of. They eventually made their way to Castlecomer where former miner Michael Brennan (Roe), Maryville, recalled his time underground. In 1951 a few weeks after his 14th birthday Michael made his first trip down the dark, wet tunnels of the Deerpark Mine. As he says himself, sure coal dust was in his blood literally, alluding to the fact that his father, grandfather, great-grandfather were miners on both sides of the family. For the next 18 years Michael worked six days a week, eight hours a day Monday to Friday and five on a Saturday. In his own words: “ Sure in the winters you’d see no sunlight until Sunday.” Michael was trained in by Murt Brennan, (R.I.P.), Kilkenny Street, an old collier who had been mining since before the First World War. “You learned quickly what to do. You couldn’t whistle or sing because you’re dependant on your hearing, you’d have to sit on your haunches in case a rock fell.” Michael’s first job was as a hauler “letting down empty tubs and pulling up the coal.” Source Vanishing Ireland.