SOME people talk - and write - a load of romanticised tosh when it comes to the mining industry.

It's all too easy to see the past through rose-tinted glasses.

For every story of proud pals working underground together, there are stories of lives lost, lungs scarred, knees crippled, compensation payouts painfully slow in coming.

Make no mistake, these men were brave - to work in cramped conditons, hundreds of feet underground every day, face the possibility of a roof fall or explosion, and keep going back for more to feed your family is an act of great courage.

But if many of those men had had a well-paid alternative to the pits, they would have willingly taken it.

I have lost count of the number of older relatives and neighbours I heard as a child saying all they wanted was for their sons never to have to join them underground.

I also cannot forget the sight of my grandmother, a miner's wife, physically flinching whenever she heard any kind of siren - the traditonal call to let the town know there had been a pit accident.

This industry did not merely scar our landscape - it scarred our psyche.

Schemes like the proposed creation of a park on the site of Markham Colliery and expansion of tourist sites in former coalfields towns and villages go some way to dealing with those scars.

Last week, the miners of Tower Colliery marched out of their pit for the last time with justifiable pride at their achievements in keeping themselves in work, and their community alive, for the past 13 years.

And when it comes to the future of the Tower site, the plans are for job-creation for future generations. And jobs where people do not have to risk their health underground.

"We're hoping 1,000 jobs could be created, maybe in retail, leisure and housing. There could be lakes there, and places to walk," Tower cobbs Tyrone O'Sullivan said.

"I believe our company can leave a legacy to the community that will see today's toddlers able to find a job up in the valleys when they're 16 or 17, instead of having to leave the area.

"It will be the greatest tribute that the workers could give.

"We'll be leaving jobs, not statues."

It's a fine ambition. But now, the Assembly, councils and UK government must work together to ensure that these new jobs are not all seasonal, low-paid or part-time.

AND finally...

SWEDISH police report that criminal gangs are using dwarfs to hide in suitcases in the hold of coaches, unzip themselves, rifle through other bags and get back into their own bags with the loot and wait to be carried out by accomplices.

A police spokesman said: "We are looking at our records to identify criminals of limited stature."

Perhaps they shold be looking for the mastermind behind all this....Snow White.