News on Screen

Series

Series Name

Mining Review 4th Year

Issue

Issue No.

11

Date Released

Jul 1951

Stories in this Issue:

• 1. EASINGTON
• 2. WARMING THE POT
• 3. LATE NIGHT FINAL
• 4. FESTIVAL MINER

Story

Story No. within this Issue

2 / 4

Summary

BFI Summary - pottery manufacture.
BFI synopsis: China making in the Potteries, at the W.T. Copeland & Sons Spode works at Stoke on Trent, using coal for firing from the Norton Pit.
NCB Commentary - For hundreds of years these familiar "bottles" have been the landmarks of the Potteries, the Five Towns of the Midlands whose china is world famous.
China making is a craftsman’s job, though to watch Leonard Potts at work it seems too easy. He throws a prepared pancake of moist clay onto the mould. His hands and eyes tell him just how much to smooth away so that each plate is exactly the same size and thickness.
After the china has been dried, the pieces are packed in an earthenware dish called a sarggar. Then they’re carefully stacked in the oven which is inside the bottle.
With several thousand pieces of china in the oven, the doorway is bricked up and the all important firing of the china can begin.
For longer than most people can remember, the coal they use here has come from the Bowlng Alley seam of nearby Norton Pit. Eight tons of it are stacked round the oven, while Jim Evans, the china fireman, stokes the fires. For three days and 3 nights they will burn, and Jim is in complete charge. His is the most responsible job in pottery, for he can make or mar the whole batch in the oven. No one is even allowed in without Jim’s permission - and he holds the key.
Time and heat are the important things.
Every few hours on the last day Jim takes out a test piece from each side of the oven. These pieces he compares with a standard to check the translucency and size. For china shrinks in firing.
This plate hasn’t been fired yet. This one has, and look how it’s shrunk.
After glazing, the chinaware passes on to the painters. And int he showroom are hundreds of examples of fine china - export only - china that depends for its quality on the skill in handling their fierce ovens of men like Jim Evans - men who appreciate good design for their own cup of tea even if it’s plain and utility.

Keywords

Arts and crafts; Industry and manufacture

Locations

England; Stoke-on-Trent; Staffordshire

Written sources

British Film Institute Databases   Used for Synopsis
The National Archives COAL 32   /3 Scripts for Mining Review, 1949-1956

Credits:

Production Co.

Documentary Technicians Alliance

Sponsor

National Coal Board