Inspired By The Past and Made In Britain 🇬🇧

Kirsty and Paul’s website and instagram –
https://cycloneworks.co.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/cycloneworks_/

Paul’s incredible YouTube channel – https://youtube.com/@bacop001?si=XFtRGcw-PdBSJ26J

Snibston Colliery – https://www.visitleicester.info/see-and-do/snibston-colliery-park-p806161

Support for the channel come from the links below

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wanderingturnip

https://www.patreon.com/WanderingTurnip

Welcome to Coalville!

A totally unplanned adventure to the ex mining town of Coalville in Leicestershire. I was invited down by 2 people who watch my videos, and they promised me many things that I would be sure to like…and they were not wrong.

I stumbled across the incredible Snibston Colliery and got to explore and hear stories from the miners themselves.

Leaving the old industry behind, I then headed to check out what Kirsty and Paul make, fitting perfectly with my ‘Made in Britain’ series.

It really is a fascinating place where industry has always been previlient. There was also an abandoned pub so took a look at that as well.

I hope you enjoy,

Until Next Time,

W.T

#mining #abandoned #industry #explore #history #britain #bikes

oh the amount of bikes we’ve made here is ridiculous we’ve sold them literally all over the world we both managed to give up our full-time jobs so that now we both do this looking at the world looking at houses looking at housing prices and looking at work just in a slightly different way I don’t know feel like it sort of Rose From the Ashes of cville you know do you want to blast Jack and you all have a good Blaster SN blow your brains out you know what I’m saying but it great welcome to cville and to another video where I’ve got absolutely no idea what’s going to happen so two people that watched my videos got in touch and said look we make something in Britain obviously I’m doing my new series why don’t you come down and we can show you what we do but also this place cville has a crazy mining history so why did you come down and explore that as well so I’m Mega interested I’ve purposely not done too much research I’ve got no idea who I’m about to meet what I’m about to find or what’s going to go on but I really like these videos these unplanned so yeah we’re about to meet these two people now and then hopefully we’ll go check out some of the mining history and then head and find out what they’re making in Britain because it’s something to do with bikes strange bikes and it looks Ace let’s explore kville oh hi hey how you doing nice to meet you great meet you please to meet you David lovely to meet you right so I’ve just met Paul and Kirsty and they’re going to take me around Coalville they’re going to take me to the Cy first Cy yes definitely and then we’re going to go back and look at the bikes that they make so first little sign of the mining history Miner here what a shop Roger Bol stride General engraver tanker’s cups jewelry love it and here we go a lost pub what is it the Stamford and Warrington hotel look at that Clos to about about a year ago oh really yeah yeah yeah it’s mad is it cuz they always look like they’ve been shut for so much longer this always had the it shut sort of Alo that was already looking like that yeah it it was an amazing place though really you know like really really stepping back in town to like the 60s sort of thing and you can just imagine you know like the miners going in there and down in a point day an abandoned Pub of cville right on we go anyway cuz we’re heading down to the cery now and I think some of the old miners are going to be there aren’t they down at the color to give you a bit tour def yeah I think they’re going to be there it’s uh it’s day so yeah they should all be around so hopefully some people to talk us through what it used to be like people used to work in the mine here as well which is just going to be mad it’s going to be so interesting so let’s get down there when did you first go down the pit about 1972 really how old are you not very old not very old yeah I was in M teens wow was that like your first job yeah wow young lad do you like it BR was it what you wanted to do it be great the only snag is you took things for granted as you do you know it’s like your wife do in the house job you take it for granted you try and do it yourself the back kills you so that’s what you did you took it for granted as a job and then all left before the pit shot this is desperate pit right yeah desperate pit shot 84 I left 82 don’t ask me why I done that I can’t answer you but I just left I wanted something different yeah time and then I found out that the people were going to shot and I was trying to get back but they wouldn’t recruit they weren’t recruiting I couldn’t get back and ever since that day I’ve missed the pit don’t ask why there you are you know everybody down there everybody took the Mickey out on you here and there and uh you know your little watch your pocket watch in your tin with cotton w so you knew what time were and then You’ see old guys do you want to blast Jack that’s what you’d say for example and there’s your snu in and you’d all have a good blast to snu blow your brains out you know what I’m saying but it great yeah this is where you would go down the mine wow if you’d like to step onto the C no way so so how many will be in here there’ll be 16 on here 16 then yeah and 16 on the deck below wow Al it’s double it’s a double and double go down together that this whole cage would go down and the other side would come up wow they working tand as one goes down yeah wow so small in here isn’t it that’s crazy yeah you get 16 men on there wow and and how far did you say it went down again 1200 ft 1,200 ft in what 47 seconds 43 seconds 43 seconds yeah the worst morning was Monday when you’d been out for a couple of PS I bet so that bit there is so interesting so that’s where it would go down into the Earth 1,200 ft into the Earth imagine that how hard’s your job what do you do did you go 12200 feet into the Earth in 43 seconds crazy this is so interesting already can’t wait what else to see it’s got to be remembered that there was no place called koville and until 1835 the town didn’t exist it was it was known as long Lane and there was a farm uh a coaching stop and in 1828 uh William stensson sank what was originally called long Lane C it later became known as witty Cy the problem with stenson’s cures is that there was no Canal nearby so Stenson had to take his call to the main Market which was Leicester or lro where there was Canal connection s uh by pacor right which was both time consuming and costly so Stenson really saw the need for a railway and it’s worth noting that you know this was one of the earliest steam Railways in the world so koville had a railway before London Edinburgh Paris Moscow New York you know we were the white of technology in this are wow that is huge so so that is what powers the shaft yeah wow yeah if you notice a rope comes off at the top yeah and a rope comes off at the bottom so one rope is W round one way yeah and the other rope is round the other way okay so as one’s winding out the other’s winding in and that’s how we get the cages to work in tandem down the shaft amazing you can smell that still can’t you you can smell the grease the industry on it oh I love it how old are you then when you first went down uh 15 that was this pit here you went down at 15 wow so I just up looking at the shaft before so you’ll have been in that you’ll have gone down oh know that yeah wow yeah I an uncle here he got killed in the mine yeah what happened he went around what they call the Sharad for some reason was the wrong side of the thing he got killed straight away and all you could do pick him up in just bags the bones and stuff like that we have morphine here which is the only industry to have morphine steel Works don’t have it but we do well you can see clyve he’s lost fingers but they could lose toes hands lacerations down to the bone we usually talk about this cuz when I first started as a young lad uh we had had a pit Pony really called star so this is star no way yeah so you had a pit Pony yeah wow so what year was that that they were still 1958 so they were still using pit ponies in 1958 they spent 50 weeks a year underground and the only time they came out was a July fortnite when the miners W holiday so actually they spent 50 we 50 weeks a year in the dark and they pretty much lived entirely underground yeah oh I must stress they were extremely well looked after they were checked monthly by the vet they were fed on the best products and the Hustler that’s the man that looked after the pit ponies was shall we say always a big man so you looked after your pit bony because you didn’t want to have to face the Osler yeah yeah what keeps you volunteering here then is it is it that like com comaraderie that’s still there and it’s like you kind of still got around you and you yeah everybody is the same you’ll all have a giggle and the laugh at the Mickey but you’ll all help each other out so it’s the nearest thing you’re going to get so you make the most of it you make the most of you keep it brings about the memories and that yeah the country just seems to uh gone not how it was when you were down the pit or whatever you were doing in them days it but were say we focus on the pit didn’t matter how hard it was it was Nor days work that so you never moaned about it you just done it well now I think young kids today you give him them jobs they’d run them mock I don’t think there other guts to do it yeah you know and that would be it it great it great it’s interesting isn’t it because I did a film recently about Community about some people that bought back a pub and I find it great when I come across community and it exists here and I’ve always found this with whatever I’ve researched into the mining communities the people who worked in the pits it always stayed strong with them and like they were just saying before this place this mine shut in 1986 and yet still in 2024 ‘ got a group of people gathering together looking out for each other helping out with whatever they can that Community really does exist and I absolutely love it I find it hard to think of other careers other Industries which had as a stronger Community as the mining industry so interesting so here we’ve got a modern Detonator you inserted that did a half hitch to hold it in and then you put another couple of stick to Dynamite behind it if you were pretty close to the explosion it made your ears right and you just produced thousands and thousands of cubic meters of gas fast as that so now where we’re standing it will be the so interestingly just in that room the dynamite room where they were talking about what it was like setting off Dynamite down in a mine now I actually went to a still working silver mine in ptoi in Bolivia you could go to this little shop before you went down wasn’t really a shop it was just a little Shack but you could buy cigarettes dynamite and alcohol and you take that into the mine so I literally took cigarettes handed them out to the miners this was what you were me to do as you were visiting their workplace you went hundreds of meters into the Earth and you’re drinking this alcohol when you down there and you also take Dynamite down and and and they light it and just Chuck it it’s totally Lawless but I’ve got a video so what that guy was just saying there this is what it’s like setting off dynamite in a mine it was [Music] crazy one more many of you watching this will remember having a p toy toy action man tiny tears action force even tressy or pepper they were made in Coville so our second claim to fame the to company I always find it fascinating talking to people who worked in the mining industry they’ll always tell you how brutal it was how hard it was how far into the Earth they had to go how young they were when they were sent down there how how dangerous it was how many of the friends died down there and then they’ll go oh but I miss it God that work was good and it’s so interesting isn’t it because you just imagine for a career that was so dangerous people would think God I’m glad that’s gone but so many people do miss it and I think it is all about that Community aspect to the work there really was true Community around it where you felt like you were valued as a person and in your work and how many jobs like that exist anymore I’ve I’ve worked a lot of jobs meaningless office jobs where I’ve just been like what am I doing lonely isolating jobs where I’ve just been on my own I’m just been like there’s there’s no Community around me and it really did exist in the minds and it’s so interesting to see anyway that was colville’s old industry let’s go have a look at ville’s new and slightly more bizarre I think industry let’s do it yeah so I worked as an environmental health officer um and my colleague she told me that she used to hire these things called smoothie bikes and they were rubbish they just sort of mash up the fruit so it’s it’s it’s literally a bike that you ride and while you’re riding it makes a smoothie yes so there basically it’s a bike with a blender bolted on the front and as you spin it spins the blades makes you a smoothie and she said she um been hiring them out for like 250300 a day and they were rubbish so I said to Paul oh you should make one we didn’t know what they were because Paul can make Rich anything so it was bored one day and decided to make smoothie bike as you do and then I designed a website which I’m not very good at website design I just got one of those little packages cheap one um and then the following day this bike that we’ made was hiired out we literally thought that somebody was one of our mates was you know winding us up cuz it was too good to be true we’ made it in a way that it actually made a smoothie it didn’t you stir it created like the full Vortex and spun as quick as a real smoothing machine they were like this is the best smoothie bike ever can we buy it we were like well no because we want to hire this out but we could make you one and we made them one we just got enough work on one smoothie bike then another smoothie bike then hiring out that smoothie bike now oh the amount of bites we’ve made here is ridiculous we’ve sold them literally all over the world we’ve sold them to Dubai France Germany Holland Switzerland I mean since brexit we don’t ship abroad anymore out of the UK because it’s just too hard yeah um but prior to that we did finding something we could make ourselves yeah and then scaling down our whole sort of financial way of living to a point where that would just support us and it’s uh we both managed to give up our full-time jobs so that now we both do this PO works in the workshop doing making the bikes we don’t just make smoothie bikes we’ll show you some of the other bikes later we make all sorts s of bikes I don’t know I feel like it sort of Rose From the Ashes of coille you know coille definitely somewhere that’s on the up there’s a lot of building going on around there but to have a business it’s just those sort of Embers of the um you know the mining days the engineer the heavy engineering and and that still exists there still companies from that time and they’re perfect we need things Machining we need to buy steel we’ve just we’ve got it all here do you want to show me some of your products yeah let’s do it let’s do it let’s go so these this is one of our crazy bikes so we make these out of just scrap bits of bike and um basically ride them if you can and this one’s my favorite so you have to sort of back yourself onto it right so oh my God right okay and then it’s like that and then just pedal and then you got the brakes there as normal so just just left brake yeah you got your feet that is Bonkers that’s it oh yeah there we go that’s it got it right talk me through some of these bikes then what on Earth have we got here so we’ve made like a little makeshift display area you’re doing this I’m not doing this yeah I’m doing this one killer so what the the the aim of this game is you pedal as fast as you can and it turns the clock one rotation right okay but there’s no gears so it’s crazy crazy fast and then we do a time and then you go on the leader board of see you’re going to be top on this one over here we’ll make a painting for you so this is my favorite so we get old LPs yeah put them in here you pedal really gently put some paint on and then you reveal a LP that’s like a Damien Hurst style splatter painting no way and then they get to take it away with them wow oh that’s incredible we make about 6,000 of them a year it’s amazing wow yeah we go all over the country and people just love it that’s incredible that is absolutely amazing and then this is here is this the Smoothie bite this is the smoothie bik wow let’s look at this this is the most popular one that we sell Frozen St in there pineapple [Music] juice yeah that would do seem good it’s got it yes oh yeah oh yeah M that banging Chin Chin I think that’s the first powered that’s good drink I’ve ever made in fact I think man powerered Drink Man powerered by myself drink genine is really nice good it yeah yeah yeah it’s yeah yeah I love it I absolutely love it I mean this is utterly bizarre Bonkers and I absolutely love it cannot believe what I’ve stumbled across here in cville it’s amazing what an interesting place so you made all these yeah that’s incredible oh except for the gray car which is just wildly modified all of them as well I made the whole body everything’s from scratch there’s no there’s no like car parts on any of them yeah yeah on the on the purple car that literally is there’s only the wheels in that picture that I’ve not made and this car the the one on the end of tomaton that really is that was a every single part on that how so how long did that take you to make that about 3 years 3 years wow yeah yeah that’s incredible 3 years a lot lot of lot of work and again another great cville thing is load PE people with laser cutters around it to cut in really heavy sort of metal and stuff right and so this is the bike frame you just stri down nothing on it now just down to the metal and this is where the real sort of modification to make it into a smoothie bike starts cuz CU we’re going to going to get rid of the back wheel just have the front wheel but the front wheel is going to be driven by the pedals rather than the back wheel so there’s quite a bit of modification to do and we get all the parts off of these that we don’t use so say the front wheel the brakes all of that we always try and give that to local cycling charity and I think now I’m going to go give a bit of welding a go I’ve dabbed my hand in a bit of carpentry in the first episode then some rubber molding and today it’s welding let’s do it so first you need mask on mask how does that go so when you’re welding you want it to be you want it you know sort of like balance it hold it probably that far away and then just pull the trigger and it’ll weld this this this is good little bit of a gap here but other than that that’s that’s there we go get there and you know what as well like it might not look pretty but that weld you’ve just done you’ve just welded that you know yeah it would never break that’s that’s awesome yeah I was going to say if not what we could have done is put you in the North Face jacket the black and orange with this on ohing away look how good he is look how he’s going there we go we end up with a finished smoothie bike frame and then um this is ready to have all those brand new bits put back on it off of that bike and that’s it with this mechanism on the front this links into the blender and we’ve got a smoothie bike oh it’s amazing so we went around our friend’s house who lived in cville and um cville you know is an ex mining town um still you know still a lot of engineering goes on a there’s a lot of places you can buy steel there’s all the things we needed were here but it’s you know at a lot lower price that meant we could come come here we could build the bikes and then in time we could both give up our jobs and just work on the business and sort of have a a more sort of laidback way of life yeah cuz we went to see our friend Cher who’s actually from CT we went around to see her new house and um it was it was almost like two Terrace but it had a huge Garden you could get a car in the back and then she said we said oh this house is lovely how much you pay for it she it was quite expensive like I don’t know how much and it was £100,000 100,000 really just we were like what and then on the way back we both looked each we’re moving yeah it really is it’s it’s just been it’s just been a great way of you know looking looking at the world looking at houses looking at housing prices and looking at work just in a slightly different way get your work life balance right you get the work life balance just so much better and uh my only regret in life is that we didn’t do it years before damn what an interesting place cville is the most interesting place I’ve never even heard of mining history there was an abandoned Pub we saw people making things in Britain but most importantly and I’ve got to say it just great people interesting people great characters people doing really really cool stuff and it’s almost like Paul and Kirsty found cville while simultaneously koville found Paul and Kirsty they’re amazing people and they’re such an asset to the community honestly Paul the stuff Paul can make is mindblowing those cars that he was showing me everything he does is absolutely incredible you’re absolute Legends for inviting me down thank you so much to all the people at snibston cery as well for showing me around do go check it out down there I’ll link all the stuff below Paul and Kirsty stuff everything please go and check them out and kville a place where industry once prospered and that faded away whilst new stuff’s coming through so yeah fascinating trip thanks for watching bye so what’s this this is Jeff’s Oscar for what I’ve just done and that’s your lot I love it