There is a tailpiece to the last chapter which happened about two years after the above incident. I did not connect it at the time nor have I any proof that the following event connects with the above but the facts are true, here goes:
It was almost two years later. By this time Robin Hood pit had been landscaped, and little evidence could be seen to denote that a mine shaft had been there. Only one small building was to be seen and even that was hidden by shrubs. About a hundred yards away, going towards Leeds at the Wakefield Road / Sharp Lane junction was a building. In my younger days the building used to have MOD (Ministry Of Defence) and RAF roundels attached. As of a few years ago these signs had been taken down. The signs then denoted that it was a private printing company. The now modernised, building is still there to this day and has now become part of a public library.
One evening Brenda, my future wife and I were sitting on a bench talking. The bench was at the side of one of the roads that leads to the Robin Hood and MOD site. As we were sitting chatting a very large black car drew up and stopped adjacent to us. The car held four very conservative looking men. I am tempted to say they looked like spies but at the time that was the last thing I was thinking of.
The front passenger wound his window down and said, “Do you know where the Robin Hood is?”
“Is it the pit or the pub?” I asked
“It could well be either one,” he said, “It’s near a military establishment, that’s what we are really looking for”
“No I don’t know. There’s no Military Establishment round here” I answered.
“None at all?” he persisted
“There used to be an RAF building down near there,” I offered, “but they have moved because there are no signs on the wall now, its a printing company now.”
“That still might be it, “he said, “which way?”
I gave him directions and thanking us they left. It was months after I thought of the incident and tried to put two and two together. I may have arrived at five but… Were they spies tracking down potential military targets? If they had been genuine MOD men why ask for directions? They would have known where the ex. RAF building was, or at least have an address.
Did the ex. MOD building have, or even do they still have, an entrance to the underground Shelter? The Atomic Underground Shelter that I saw was not far from the Robin Hood pit bottom. Stranger things are likely.
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