Mexborough & Swinton Times – Saturday 01 August 1942

Wombwell Main Presentation

Appreciation of Long Service

In appreciation of 62 years’ continuous service with Wombwell Main Colliery Co. Mr. Willie Milner (73), of 101 Wombwell Main, has received a gift of a case of pipes.

The gift was handed over by Sir Samuel Roberta, Bart., Chairman of the directors, at a gathering at the ” Elliott Hall,” Wombwell Main, last Thursday. At the same time Mr. James Bartholomew, vice-chairman of the company, set Mr. off with a gift of choice tobacco.

Making the presentation, which came as a complete surprise to Mr. Milner, Sir Samuel said Mr. Milner had been with the company for two-thirds of its existence. As a brother pipe smoker he hoped Mr. Milner would find them sweet and good and long lasting, and that every time he used them he would think to himself, ” That shows’ what the Wombwell Main people think about me.”

Mr. Bartholomew said 30 years ago he knew Mr. Milner well, adding, “We had some very happy days together, Willie and I.” It seemed rather wonderful after all those years to see the same old face and the same old smile. To see Mr. Milner at Wombwell Main was like “home from home.”

The case bore the inscription, ” Presented to Willie Milner by the Chairman and Directors of Wombwell Main Company, Limited, in recognition of over sixty years of loyal and faithful service.”

At the same gathering Mr. Milner presented Mrs. Bartholomew on her silver wedding with a basket of flowers raised by himself in the colliery gardens. Mr. Milner was born at Blacker Hill within a mile of the colliery and at 11 years of age, he started work as a lamp carrier at Wombwell Main, where his father, the late Mr. Elijah Milner, was a collier.

From lamp carrying he went to pony driving and then passed through every grade of employment until he got a set of tools of his own. For 25 years he was chauffeur-gardener to the late Mr. C. H. Elliott, J.P., director and general manager. He now tends the Colliery gardens. In the whole of his long service he has had only one accident and has never lost a shift’s work since he had a serious illness in 1929. Mr. Milner, who has never married, is an old member of the Oddfellows.