The Coal Gleaners Of Ilford -- Cheerful Ilford housewives on their way home with their coal "treasure trove" today. Coal gleaners of Newbury Park, Ilford, are solving their own fuel shortage. With pickaxes, garden rakes, iron rods and shovels, they are digging their way through a frozen sports field at the back of Newbury Park School, beneath which is a layer of coal, buried since a bomb struck a dump during the war. Although it's extremely hard work the diggers are finding the labour worth while. Most of them are housewives who are leaving their shopping to garner a harvest of coal. February 13, 1947. (Photo by Fox).