Football legend Andy Cole has spoken of how his father was a 'pioneer' as he worked in one of Nottinghamshire's collieries for more than two decades. The footballer is an all-time Premier League great, with his and Alan Shearer’s joint record for the most goals scored in a 42-game season only recently broken by Manchester City's Erling Haaland.
But Cole, 51, a direct descendant of the Windrush generation, is also an authority on coal mining and the context of his incredible achievements, as reported by The Mirror. His dad Lincoln emigrated to the UK from Jamaica in 1957 and worked as a coal miner in Gedling Colliery for 22 years from 1965 to 1987.
The contribution of Black Caribbean miners to that industry is among the many stories still under the radar as the 75th anniversary of Windrush approaches this week, with Cole praising his father's role. “My father was one of the first,” says Cole. “He wasn’t an individual who would shout about it.
