Three families became the embedded subunits of the second phase of the research. The first family included married couple Tom and Amy and their son
Paul who live in a two bedroom council house property near the centre of the original village. All three have always lived in Grimethorpe and still enjoy doing so. They have always rented their property since moving into it after the birth of their first child. They have no intention of wanting to leave the village, which they say has 'greatly improved over the last decade due to the new houses being built across the village along with more shops and businesses coming to the area. Both Tom and Amy agreed that this had 'breathed new life
into the village'.
Tom was 47 and worked full-time as a warehouse operative at a factory near Barnsley, a position he had held for the last seventeen years. His wife Amy was 43 and worked part-time at the local school as a cleaner, a position she has held for over twenty years. Their son Paul is 20 years old and although he has had several jobs since leaving school, mainly through agency work, he was at present unemployed. Tom and Amy also have two older children Mark who was 22 and Vicky who was 23, both have left home and the village. Mark is a painter and decorator and lives with his wife and son in Sheffield and Vicky is also married and lives in Barnsley, where she takes care of the family home and two children. When asked about their total family income Tom and Amy eventually came up with a figure of around £23,000.
Tom's father (and grandfather) worked at Grimethorpe Colliery and his mother was a housewife. His mother lives on the same road in the house that Tom grew up in. He has two brothers one who lives in Grimethorpe with his wife and two children and one who lives in Hull. He has a good relationship with his mother and brother in the village but not with his brother in Hull. Amy's father also worked at the pit and her mother was a housewife. Bother parents were still alive and lived at Red City. She has two brothers and a sister, but
none live in Grimethorpe and only her sister keeps in touch.
Both Tom and Amy went to the local schools and both left with no qualifications. Tom hated school and could not wait to leave, only having bad memories of school and a particular dislike of the teachers. He hated most of the lessons taught - although he enjoyed art - and did not believe what was
taught to him would be of any use in his future. Amy also disliked school and like Tom left without any qualifications. Paul had also disliked school but had left with four GCSE's, three Grade E's in English, Maths, Art and one Grade D in Physics - what he referred to as 'shit results'. Tom, Amy nor Paul had anything good to say about their experiences of school and none have attempted to undertake any further education since.
In terms of perceptions and use of ICT and the Internet Tom was convinced they were of little value to him, his life or his situation. As a result, he had very little to do with computers or any other type of mobile device. There was still no computer in the house and his mobile phone was a Boqi which allowed the person to ring and send text message but little else. Sky television was installed at the property which had not been there in the first phase of the research. They also had their telephone and a broadband connection with Sky. Amy disagreed slightly with Tom and felt having a smartphone was really good, although she pointed out she did not fully understand how to use it properly and had to keep asking her son for help. Tom had a pay-as-you-go mobile phone both Amy and Paul had contract mobile phones. Both had the iPhone 4S, and Amy had only got hers last year due to her children who kept pestering her to get a ‘decent mobile’, her old one had been a Nokia and was very similar in function to Tom’s. Paul was perhaps the most enthusiastic family member and really liked his mobile phone - although he ‘really wanted
the iPhone 5’. Part of Amy’s and Paul’s mobile phone contract allowed for a
certain amount of internet access - 500mb per month. Paul used most of this allowance outside of the home and connected to the broadband Internet connection at home. Amy rarely used the Internet outside the home and was usually logged onto the broadband connection.
9.4.2 Family 2
The second family were a retired married couple Geoff and Sue who lived in their own three bedroom house at the top end of the village called Red City. They had bought the house after Geoff was made redundant from the pit. Sue was very happy in her home although she said it sometimes felt a little
empty since the kids had left home. Geoff also liked the house but really enjoyed the garden and was 'always doin' sommat in the back garden'. They had two sons, both married with families and both had left the village some years earlier. The eldest son had moved to Cornwall and the younger one to Nottingham.
Geoff was 69 and born and raised in Grimethorpe and worked down the pit from leaving school until it closed. After this he was unemployed for a number of years until finding work as a night watchman for a security firm in Barnsley where he stayed until he retired in 2008. Sue was 67 and originally came from Brierley. She used to work part-time at the local school as a dinner lady before retiring at the same time as her husband. Both her sons were in the building and construction trade. When asked about their total family income Geoff and Sue did not come up with a figure but kept insisting they got ‘what
all pensioners got’. According to Which (2013) this is approximately £12,000.
Geoff’s father had been miner at Grimethorpe colliery and so had Sue's. Their mothers had ‘worked hard as housewives’ never working outside the family home. Geoff's family had all but disappeared from the village. He had one or two cousins, but most of his family, his two brothers and a sister had moved away in the aftermath of the pit closure. Several members of Sue's family had also disappeared from Brierley after the closure, but she still had a sister and a brother who she was in regular contact with.
Geoff and Sue both left school with no qualifications and although Sue remembered her time at school as ‘nice’, Geoff only remembered it as a chore. He pointed out that the only thing school ever did for him was 'teach
me to read and write, and then only poorly'. He remembers the teachers were
harsh with children and settled everything with the cane. Sue on the other hand pointed out how school for her was difficult, because she didn't
'understand half of what was being said' but liked to go because she was out
of the house which she shared with her parents, two older brothers and 2 younger sisters.
Sue and Geoff did not see the need for ICT and the Internet in their lives either. In terms of computer access in the home they had no computers or other mobile devices. Both had mobile phones but these were older type pay- as-you-go Nokia 4210 mobile phones with functions similar to Tom’s Boqi - they allowed you to ring and send text messages. Out of the two Sue was the one who used the mobile phone the most. They did have new 32” television with built-in Freeview and a telephone line from BT, but no Internet access at all.
9.4.3 Family 3
The third family include John who is married to Jane and their two children Paula and Alfie. John was 31 and Jane was 27 and their two children are 7 and 6 respectively. They live in their own modern, semi-detached house situated with other new houses recently built near the centre of the village. They moved in 3 years ago from rented accommodation in Barnsley where they had lived for six years after getting married nine years previously. The main reason for moving to Grimethorpe was based solely on being able to purchase a brand new three bedroomed house. When they first moved in they were a little apprehensive at leaving their friends and families but over the last three years they have come to call Grimethorpe home. They like the village and have found most people they have met to be extremely friendly and helpful, particularly their immediate neighbours who they are on good terms with. John had a younger brother who still lived at his parent’s home in Barnsley. Susan was the middle of three siblings, all girls. Both of her sisters currently lived in local housing association housing with their partners and her parents in the family home.
John was a deputy manager at an electrical store in Barnsley where he had worked since leaving school. Jane worked part-time as a school receptionist at a local primary school where she has been employed for the last nine months. Before this she was a school receptionist at another school in Barnsley. John’s father worked in a local factory and his mother was a cleaner at the local school. Jane’s father was a plumber and her mother worked part-time at
a local shop. When asked about their total family income John and Jane estimated around £38,000.
In terms of education John has good Grade A GCSEs in Maths and English and an NVQ Level 3 in Customer Service and Retail Management that he studied for through work. Susan also passed several GCSEs getting Grade A in English, and Grade B’s in Maths, French and Art. For John school was
‘oka/ and he ‘enjoyed if but he was pleased to have left and got a job. He
enjoyed the work he did and when his boss said he needed a higher level of education to ‘get on in this job’ he was allowed to undertake an NVQ Level 3 in Customer Service and Retail Management. Jane also enjoyed school, but like John was pleased to leave. She was not interested in undertaking further education even though her parents had wanted her to. Instead she got an office job, which is where she learnt many of the skills she now uses in her current position.
John and Jane were perhaps the most receptive of those interviewed to using ICT and the Internet. They had a fixed computer, a laptop and an iPad tablet. Both had the iPhone 4S on contract and they also had a Sky package including TV, Broadband connection and telephone. They loved being able to access the Internet and talk to friends and family and they did this both at home and while out and about.