Manchester Evening News 03rd 4th to 5th April 1964 Wood Mine

BLAST WILL
SEAL MINE
Police were today searching a disused copper mine at Alderley Edge, Cheshire, to make sure no potholers were inside while officials of Macclesfield rural council prepared to blast the opening.
The blast will take place tomorrow at about noon when explosives will seal the entrance to the mine, which is regarded as dangerous.

Monday, 6 April 1964
WARNING IS DISCOUNTED
Police at Wilmslow today discounted an anonymous warning that two boys had gone down a disused mine at Alderley Edge which was being sealed off by blasting operations.
The warning came in a telephone call to the “Manchester Evening News and Chronicle” that the boys were down the old Wood Mine.
A police spokesman said : “The mine has been thoroughly checked and we are satisfied that all possible precautions have been taken.

Wednesday, 8 April 1964
Danger mine sealed off
BY OUR CORRESPONDENT
Four days after blasting began, the old Wood Mine at Alderley Edge was finally sealed off, ending the hazard to young would-be potholers.
In charge of the operation was Derek “Blaster” Bates, of Sandbach, Cheshire, who said “It will be one heck of a job for the kids to get in there again.”
Mr Bates, a demolition expert used 200 sticks of gelignite in five blasts to wreck the mine entrance.
The mine is one of a series of century-old copper workings which honeycomb the Edge. Last August two boys were lost in it for 24 hours.

Manchester Evening News 3rd April 1964

Saturday, 4 April 1964 (not in original format - See download)
Big Bang No 1 fails to end lure of danger mine
With a 5-4-3-2-1 countdown and a thunderclap explosion, the task of ending the menace of Alderley Edge’s Wood Mine began this afternoon.
But half a hundredweight of gelignite and the skill of explosives’ expert Derek Bates, from Sandbach, failed to seal the mine-the scene of several rescue operations in recent years-at the first attempt.
The countryside shook as the charge was detonated and boulders fell in the mine, but it stayed open, still a lure to adventurous youngsters.
Drilling began all over again after the failure.
Shortly before the blast, two young “potholers” arrived to go down the mine. They were armed with a battery torch-but were turned away.
30ft FALL
Wood Mine, a disused copper mine in White Barn Road, Alderley, is a labyrinth of narrow passages. Last August two schoolboys whose light failed were found after spending a night lost in the darkness.
The order to seal the mine came from Macclesfield Rural Council.
It is planned to create a roof-fall along 30ft of passage-way at the entrance to the shaft to prevent determined potholers from ever breaking again-as they have at other mines in the area which have been concreted up.
A small crowd watched Mr Bates, a veteran of many blasting operations in the Manchester area and an amateur “fast draw” enthusiast, as he set the charge. There was a last-minute hitch before the detonation when a dog ran across the entrance to the mine.
The Wood Mine remained more stubborn than the experts expected. Later, after a second charge has done no more than crack the roof, it was decided to call off the attempt until Monday.
Then a bulldozer will be brought in to scrape soil from above the mine entrance, so that the charges can be embedded in the rock.

Wood Mine, Alderley Edge

Unknown Origin 4th-8th April 1964

Thanks go to Nigel of the Derbyshire Caving Club for finding and transcribing these articles
Far more information about the mines in the area can be found at their website.
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