were provided with hampers or turkeys at Christmas by the company. The Fletchers also contributed to the cost of St Michael and all Angels Church at Howe Bridge in 1877. In 1867 company employee Edward Ormerod developed and patented the "Ormerod" safety link or detaching hook, a device that has saved thousands of lives in mines. The company was a supporter in setting up the first Mines Rescue Station in Lancashire at Howe Bridge in 1908. In 1921 Heath Robinson visited the company's pits and was commissioned to produce its 1922 calendar. The collieries Among the old small pits working around Howe Bridge in the early 19th century were the, Old Endless Chain pit at Lovers Lane, the Old Engine Pit, the New Engine Pit (a gin pit), Marsh Pit, Little Pit, Sough Pit and Crabtree Pit. Colliers who worked for the Fletchers were entitled to free ale at the end of their shifts at the Wheatsheaf. In 1774 coal was sold for 2d. a basket but the price had risen to 5d. by 1805. The largest of the early pits owned by the Fletchers which eventually became the Howe Bridge Collieries were Lovers' Lane Colliery which lasted until 1898 and the Eckersley Fold pits. The Crombouke Day-Eye, a drift mine or adit dates from the 1840s when a drift was driven into the Crombouke and the Brassey mines at a gradient of 1 in 5. The Crombouke and Eckersley Fold pits closed in 1907. The company sank the deep mines of Howe Bridge Colliery in 1845. Three shafts were sunk to the Seven Feet mine, the Victoria pit where coal was wound at 447 feet, the Puffer for pumping water at 435 feet and the Volunteer, the upcast ventilation shaft. Howe Bridge Colliery was taken over by Manchester Collieries and closed in 1959. Gibfield Colliery's origins are in a shaft sunk to the Trencherbone mine in 1829 next to the Bolton and Leigh Railway line which opened in 1830. The colliery was served by sidings near Bag Lane Station. In 1872 the colliery was expanded when a new shaft was sunk to access the Arley mine at 1233 feet. A third shaft was sunk after 1904 accessing nine workable coal seams between the Arley Mine and the Victoria or Hell Hole mine while the original Gibfield shaft was used for ventilation. The first pit-head baths in the country were