Letter written to Isabella May Cox (nee Dixon) from Margaret McMahon on 22nd June 1995.
Granny (Christina Dorothy) came from Northumberland (and Durham?), and she always spoke with a 'Geordie' twang.
Granny was in demand as a midwife and was often called to difficult cases by the doctor to supervise after care. Her qualifications? - Common sense and scrupulous cleanliness.
She was out early one morning to go to a case and slipped on a small icy footbridge and fell into the rocky creek bed. She was not discovered for some time. Then Dr MacBrearty and his son 'Doctor Jim', who had just returned home after post graduate studies in Edinborough, were called. She had fractured her skull, but in spite of the old doctor's doubts 'Doctor Jim' operated on the kitchen table, and she recovered. But she always walked with two walking sticks when we knew her as children (Isabella May remembers her in a wheelchair).
She was on the scene at the time of the explosion - when 65 men died in the Brunner mine. She and other women washed the bodies of the victims as rescue teams brought them out. This aided identification, as they were black with coal dust, and hair and beards had been burnt off. I think she was 3 days in the mine - working in a shed with one other woman helper. No medals in those days for such jobs.
