Joe was on permanent night shift. He and his ‘marra’ (work mate) were responsible for transporting girders ‘in-bye’ (from the shaft to the working area). This was 1956, before helmets and safety boots were compulsory. Each had a safety pin set horizontally above the peak of their cloth cap, on which they hooked their cap lamp. Both insisted on wearing casual footwear, and a folded hessian sack doubled as a shoulder pad. Joe had the most unlikely physique for the work he did, but no one ever ran short of girders.

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: South Shields Museum & Art Gallery, Tyne & Wear
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Robert Olley (b. 1940)
Date: 2015

Image details
Date: 25 September 2025
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/50s
ISO: 400
Licence: Image of a North East Museums asset. This image cannot be licensed.

Going down a mine shaft in a metal box for the first time is a daunting experience and is nothing like using an elevator in a hotel or office block. The cage usually has three or four open-ended decks with metal gates on either side and carries eight men to a deck. Only the top deck is high enough to stand upright in, so men in the lower decks must adopt a crouching position. The cages are guided by greased vertical wooden rails called “skeets”. The cages rattle past each other half way up the shaft. Both are suspended on a single wire rope about two inches (5cm) thick attached to four chains on the top of each cage, and there are also four safety chains as a back-up. Both cages can travel at around 3o feet per second. However there are two speeds, one faster for coal drawing and the other for man riding.

In time much more powerful winding engines would be capable of handling much heavier loads at faster speeds. Westoe Colliery for example had three decks capable of carrying fifty men to a cage.

By law, following the 1862 disaster at Hartley Colliery, Northumberland, all collieries must have two shafts. Powerful fans draw air into the mine via the “Down” shaft. The air circulates round the mine workings then is drawn out of the pit by the extraction fans in the “Up” shaft.

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: South Shields Museum & Art Gallery, Tyne & Wear
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Robert Olley (b. 1940)
Date: 2016

Image details
Date: 25 September 2025
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/50s
ISO: 400
Licence: Image of a North East Museums asset. This image cannot be licensed.

Twenty minutes mid shift was the allotted time for bait (in other areas it was called “snap”) when all the machinery was stopped. This was no picnic with fairy cakes or fancy biscuits. Spam or jam “door step” sandwiches washed down with tap water from a rusty tin water bottle were the order of the day. In earlier times the sugar content of the jam was the only way to quickly boost energy levels. Fancy chocolate bars were unheard of.

Smoking underground was a serious offence with severe penalties.

Many miners would substitute the craving for a smoke by chewing tobacco or inhaling snuff, both of which could be purchased from the canteen. Snuff (ground tobacco leaves) was usually placed on the back of the hand or held between the thumb and index finger then “snuffed” into the nostrils to give a short hit of nicotine and a lasting menthol flavour. Chewing tobacco was also a substitute for smoking. An inch long piece would be placed between the cheek and gum, or between the teeth, then crushed but not swallowed, to release the bitter flavour of nicotine. Unwanted “baccy” juice was then spat out. Uncle Jeff Fine Chewing Tobacco or Rubicon Twist were the most common brands.

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: South Shields Museum & Art Gallery, Tyne & Wear
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Robert Olley (b. 1940)
Date: 2018

Image details
Date: 25 September 2025
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/50s
ISO: 200
Licence: Image of a North East Museums asset. This image cannot be licensed.

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: South Shields Museum & Art Gallery, Tyne & Wear
Material: Oil on board
Artist: Robert Olley (b. 1940)
Date: 2022

Image details
Date: 25 September 2025
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/50s
ISO: 400
Licence: Image of a North East Museums asset. This image cannot be licensed.

Toney is depicted raising a glass of red wine, in front of an Italian flag, a nod to his proud Italian heritage, although he was British-born. Toney “swore by red wine” and he lived to be 89. A ripe old age to live to, but not quite as long as Toney’s grandmother, who never left a little village in Italy, and who lived to be 102. Toney’s nana’s secret, evidently passed on to her grandson, was: Pane Rosso (bread) and Vino Rosso (wine).

Provenance: On loan from Toney Minchella

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: South Shields Museum & Art Gallery, Tyne & Wear
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Robert Olley (b. 1940)
Date: 1997

Image Details
Date: 24 February 2024
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Telephoto Camera 52mm ƒ/2.4
Focal Length: 52mm
Aperture: ƒ/2.4
Shutter Speed: 1/50s
ISO: 320
Licensing: Image of a North East Museums asset. This image cannot be licensed.

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: South Shields Museum & Art Gallery, Tyne & Wear
Material: Oil on board
Artist: Robert Olley (b. 1940)
Date: unknown

Image Details
Date: 9 September 2023
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Telephoto Camera 52mm ƒ/2.4
Focal Length: 52mm
Aperture: ƒ/2.4
Shutter Speed: 1/45s
ISO: 500
Licensing: Image of a North East Museums asset. This image cannot be licensed.

It could be a Friday, the traditional day for many to dine on fish and chips.

“Situated only a few hundred yards from the North Sea, Colmans is not only appreciated by human diners, but is also an attraction for hungry gulls with a penchant for top-quality fish and chips. As a gesture of appreciation for Mr. Ord’s excellent fare, a small deposit is often left by the gulls on his car!

“This painting, which usually hangs in the Ocean Road restaurant, has been admired by many since 1997, including the many celebrities that have been invited to speak at David Miliband’s annual lecture. They include Sir John Major, David Walliams, Hillary Clinton, Sting, Jo Brand, Gary Lineker and many others that have visited THE LEGENDARY COLMANS.”

Provenance: On loan from Colmans

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: South Shields Museum & Art Gallery, Tyne & Wear
Material: Oil on board
Artist: Robert Olley (b. 1940)
Date: 1997

Image Details
Date: 9 September 2023
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Telephoto Camera 52mm ƒ/2.4
Focal Length: 52mm
Aperture: ƒ/2.4
Shutter Speed: 1/50s
ISO: 250
Licensing: Image of a North East Museums asset. This image cannot be licensed.

“The skeg was fitted to the stern of the ship housing the rudder and propellers.

“I chose this subject to highlight the lack of safety precautions in the yards. Workers are perched precariously at great heights without safety harnesses. They toil wearing only cloth caps and old clothing that has seen better days, clothing that was once ‘Sunday Best’ or perhaps working men’s club attire.

“Hard hats, gloves and steel-toed boots seem to be non-existent.”

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: South Shields Museum & Art Gallery, Tyne & Wear
Material: Oil on board
Artist: Robert Olley (b. 1940)
Date: 2021

Image details
Date: 15 June 2022
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/50s
ISO: 320
Licence: Image of a North East Museums asset. This image cannot be licensed.

“Viewing from left to right, this painting illustrates the laying of timber decking. Lengths of timber are lowered by crane onto the steel deck which is being coated with a fixative. The pre-drilled deck boards are placed onto threaded bolts of the steel deck, and washers and nuts applied to hold the decking in place. Wooden dowels are then glued in place, before being trimmed off by a shipwright using an ‘adze. The gaps between the decking are then sealed by ‘caulkers’ hammering

‘oakum’ into the gaps between the deck boards. Finally, hot pitch is poured into the joints, allowed to dry, the deck is then soaked with water expanding the timbers, sealing the deck completely.

“Oakum was the name given to recycled old rope. In Victorian times old obsolete rope was collected from the many shipbuilding yards and docks and sent to prisons where the rope was unpicked by prisoners and recycled into balls of oakum then sold back to the shipbuilders!

This is where the saying “Money for old rope” originated.”

Robert Olley

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: South Shields Museum & Art Gallery, Tyne & Wear
Material: Oil on board
Artist: Robert Olley (b. 1940)
Date: 2021

Image details
Date: 15 June 2022
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/100s
ISO: 1,250
Licence: Image of a North East Museums asset. This image cannot be licensed.

Image details (above)
Date: 15 June 2022
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/25s
ISO: 25
Licence: Image of a North East Museums asset. This image cannot be licensed.

Image details (above)
Date: 15 June 2022
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/25s
ISO: 25
Licence: Image of a North East Museums asset. This image cannot be licensed.

Image details (above)
Date: 15 June 2022
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/25s
ISO: 25
Licence: Image of a North East Museums asset. This image cannot be licensed.

Image details (above)
Date: 15 June 2022
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/25s
ISO: 25
Licence: Image of a North East Museums asset. This image cannot be licensed.

“I was fascinated by the trade of riveting and riveters. Crews were made up of five men: the rivet “cooker” who was often the youngest of the squad, a catcher, a holder and two riveters, one left handed and the other right handed; the latter was usually the senior and paid more than the left hander.

“The rivets were cooked on a moveable forge until they were white hot then plucked from the coals and thrown to the catcher, sometimes metres away, who caught it in a leather or wooden bucket. He would give it to the holder who would place it in the specified hole in the ship’s plate and hold it in place while the two riveters on the outside of the hull plates proceeded to hammer the rivet into a domed shape over the hole. On cooling the rivet contracted, tightening the joint.

“The whole process taking less than five minutes. The Titanic had 3,000,000 rivets holding her together. Later, when pneumatic riveting guns superseded hand riveting, Clydeside riveter “Big” Tom Horn is said to have had the record of 6,075 rivets in eight hours. The din from the many riveting crews was deafening in a time when health and safety was almost non-existent.”

Robert Olley

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: South Shields Museum & Art Gallery, Tyne & Wear
Material: Oil on board
Artist: Robert Olley (b. 1940)
Date: 2021

Image details
Date: 15 June 2022
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/33s
ISO: 400
Licence: Image of a North East Museums asset. This image cannot be licensed.