On Wednesday evening 21 members met at the Wizard pub in Alderley for an underground tour of Wood mine. We were greeted by the Derbyshire caving club mine guide Paul Stubbs and his assistant the young Gareth. We were all supplied with safety helmet and miners lamp and set off through the woodland towards the mine. Part way there we were stopped by Paul in a large sandy clearing and given a history lesson, this area we were in held the processing equipment where the ore dug from the mine was fed into and eventually produced the copper we all take for granted today. We continued deeper into the wood land and eventually descended into the small adit entrance of the mine. We were taken through many passages and mined out chambers by Mr. Stubbs and informed of the many jobs that people performed on a day to day basis from 5year olds both boys and girls to adults usually from the same families. His knowledge made the trip very enjoyable and I am sure everyone came away with something. The most amazing fact I learned was the sandstone rock known as the Cheshire fault which Paul pointed out to us whilst underground actually starts just behind the Alexandra hospital in Cheadle runs straight through Wood mine and eventually finishes in Stoke...Wow. A great evening and finished off with a beer in the Drum and Monkey.
Paulb
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