Memories of going to the Boothstown Mines Rescue Station with my dad and looking at the cages of canaries.http://​www​.jonhind​.com/​w​p​-​c​o​n​t​e​n​t​/​u​p​l​o​a​d​s​/​2​0​1​9​/​0​7​/​I​m​a​g​e​-​1​3​5​1​5​3​-​E​d​i​t-1.png

Or when disobedience got a bit less civil

From:BBC Three Counties Radio

One hundred years ago the Town Hall in Luton burned down, an event at a time of great dissatisfaction with the treatment of returning participants from World War 1. Part of the folk‐law is that the crowd broke into Farmers Music Shop and took out a piano ¹ and sang Keep the Home Fires Burning.

From: www​.picturesofengland​.com

We’ll be singing Keep the Home Fires Burning on Friday 19 July at the very same spot — The ‘new’ (1936) Town Hall.

We are playing a tiny part in a big event, which itself is just one of a series in Luton over 2019: People Power Passion 

It’s exactly one week until #PeoplePowerPassion takes over Luton town centre. Everybody is excited about the celebration, which is completely free and family friendly. Watch our new advert to get a feel of exactly what you can expect on 19 and 20 July: pic​.twitter​.com/​d​v​B​ItxkvEh

— Luton Council Arts and Culture (@LBCArts_Culture) July 12, 2019

This is why this website has lurched back to life ! 

Sometimes it just clicks when Human beings explain stuff…

Please vote!

PleaseVote

Cartoon by Dave Walker (About, Twitter)

pleasevote​.org​.uk

All I need to do is find the bus and it will remind me.

http://​en​.wikipedia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​M​u​r​d​e​r​_​o​f​_​J​o​n​a​t​h​a​n_Henry

Well that was a quick six years since I updated this site.

I’ve made the twitter feed work again and am starting to integrate my photo gallery.

Of course the main thing is to get Jon working again, so the CV’s are up to date.

Please contact me about employment or short‐term assignments.

Happy new year, for 2010 — 2015.….

There was a regulation that in coal mines, canaries had to be available for use as gas detectors. According to the BBC this was until the late 1980s. My father was a mining engineer for the (British) [[wiki:National Coal Board]], the state company that used to own and run nearly all the coal mines in the UK. He retired shortly before the Lancashire coalfield closed.

As children, my sisters and I were taken to the Mines Rescue Station at Boothstown, in the heart of the Lancashire coalfield. I remember seeing a wall of canaries in cages. The rescue station also had an underground rescue simulator and one of my sisters recalls simulated gas explosions.

The history of the rescue station is described on a very interesting website. There are reminiscences and information about pioneering breathing apparatus, and much else.

I believe I read that canaries weren’t very effective as gas detectors — CO (Carbon Monoxide) maybe but not firedamp (methane). The theory that small body=small lungs=quick to respond may not have been right.

Does anyone know ? — to comment, click on the icon next to the title.

And then there’s the story written by **** ******** about a triplicated fire and gas system, which involved canaries in cages connected via piano wires to the three CPUs (Central Polly Units) that would squawk “There’s Gas in here…”

That’s why the canary…

Jon

This website is here to present my professional self, a Safety Systems Engineer of 30 years experience.

Have a look at my [[CV — Jon Hind|CV]] pages for my Resume and a paper I recently gave on Fire and Gas Systems. I am currently looking for a new opportunity and very happy to be contacted about any work you have for a highly experienced ICSS Safety Systems Engineer.

I’ll be adding to the site, starting with some handy links and an explanation of the canary.

I may well slip in some geeky stuff, trains and what’s smokin’ in fire and gas detection and cool in IEC 61508/IEC61511.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Jon Hind