© A.P.M.Wright

Jim Bugler discusses the past with John Rowley in August 2010. Jim liked to sketch and paint the miners at work. Years ago while working at Aldermoor, he picked out some pieces of plasterboard out of discarded rubbish. He then proceeded to sketch a comparison between the then modern miner, with battery lamps and pneumatic spades, and miners of the past, with candles and pick axes. He gave his sketches to fellow worker Pat Cleaver. They have now been donated to the Museum. Jim admitted to his daughter that he used to sketch ladies on the side of the underground tubs for the amusement of other miners.

© A.P.M.Wright

Jim and his daughter Shirley inspect the tunnel which is under construction at Norden. In the background can be seen the ramp leading up into the Transhipment Shed.

Jim started work in 1946 at the age of 16 and worked with Len Gover on the Locomotives at Cotness Mine.

This is a sketch by Jim of a clay worker Jim Christopher who was born in Tyneham in 1875 according to the 1911 census. The Census shows him living at "Bridewell nr Wareham" with his wife Harriet and 3 daughters and that he was a clay miner (below ground). Jim's caption for this sketch says Jim Christopher was a tipper who works above ground, so between 1911 and when Jim Bugler did the sketch, Jim Christopher must have gone from the arduous work underground to the not so arduous work working as a tipper.

When the Museum is fully open we hope to have a display of Jim's other art work.