South Yorkshire Times, June 16th 1933

Barnburgh Colliery

Retirement Of Mr. T. L. Soar

Kilnhurst Official Appointed

Mr. A. F. Linton, assistant manager at Kilnhurst Colliery, has been appointed manager of Barnburgh Main. in succession to Mr. T. L. Soar, who is to retire at the end of this month, after being for eighteen years in charge of the colliery. Mr. Thomas Levi Soar is a native of Kiveton Park. where he learned his mining. He was appointed manager at Barnburgh shortly after coal was reached there, succeeding the late Mr. W. Bunting, who was in charge of the sinking and whose son, is now manager of Brodsworth Colliery. Mr. Soar comes of an old Kiveton family. When he left his native place, it was to take over the management of Dinnington Colliery, a post he held for seven and a half years. Following that he was manager for 18 months at Maltby Main, and from there went to Barnburgh.

During his long stay at Barnburgh Mr. Soar has devoted his spare time to public work. For sixteen years he has sat on the Doncaster Rural District Council, was chairman for two years (1925-7) and for the last ten years has been chairman of the Sanitary Committee. He has been chairman of the Doncaster and Tickhill Water Board since its establishment fourteen years ago. He has seen great developments in that undertaking. involving the expenditure of nearly 1200,000, and the Board now supplies 46.000 of the estimated population of 49,000 in the rural district, in addition to partial supplies to neighbouring urban districts, and the county borough of Doncaster. Mr. Soar has been chairman of the Don Valley Assessment Committee during the last three difficult years when problems created by the Rating and Valuation Art have been dealt with. The Committee dealt with 680 appeals last year alone. For the last nine years he has been a governor of the Mexborough Secondary School. He was a member of the old Doncaster Board of Guardians and was vice-chairman of its Housing and Finance Committee. He has been chairman of Bolton Welfare Committee and is a local trustee of the Miners’ Welfare Fund. He is also on the committee of the Wath Mines Rescue Station. He has taken a keen interest in ambulance work at the colliery, and one of his teams won the Wood Shield in 1919. During the war he took an active part in raising funds for supplying the soldiers with comforts, and the balance of the money raised was used to erect the Barnburgh Memorial Hall, which has proved such a boon to the village. He is president of the Barnburgh Cricket Club. Mr. Soar is going to live at Doncaster and will devote his leisure to public work. Mr. Linton is a native of Abram, near Wigan, a son of the late Rev. A. Linton, vicar of Abram for thirty years. Mr. Linton began his mining career with the Abram Coal Company Ltd., and on qualifying was appointed manager of Abram Colliery. Later he managed the collieries of Crompton and Shawson Ltd. at Wigan, for fifteen years. and those of the Hollybank Coal Co., Staffordshire. for eight years. For the last two years he has been assistant manager at Kilnhurst Colliery. He is a keen sportsman. and last season played cricket tor Kilnhurst. During his two years in Kilnhurst he has taken a great interest in village affairs, and as vice-president of the Welfare Committee has helped considerably to develop the centre’s activities. He has tutored many successful students in mining classes. He takes over the management of Barnburgh Main on July 1st.