I’m really proud to be from a long line of Durham coalfield miners so when I heard there was an exhibition, telling the stories of our mining heritage in Sunderland through the faces, body parts and words of the ex colliery workers and the people who knew them best, I really had to capture it for people to see.
Coal Face is running until the 15th March 2025, this free exhibit at the Sunderland Winter Gardens and Museum is on the top floor, just up the stairs from the glass making section.
Explore 150 years of hard graft through film and tintype portraiture by local photographer Andy Martin that combines beautifully with the words and poetry by Writer Dr Louise Powell who used interviews of those who saw the collieries up close.
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13 Comments
Brilliant history content, the photos and stories make you understand how the miners and their families lived. 😊 x
It’s well worth a visit
Me Dad and Grandad were pitmen ,Me Grandad worked at Seaton Delaval and me Dad was at Seghill. When the pits started closing down me Dad moved from Seghill pit to the Eccles pit in Backworth then the Fenwick pit at Earsdon then his last workplace was Bates pit at Blyth , God we hated Maggie Thatcher ,she not only killed the pits but the men who worked in them like me Dad from the age of 14 till he was made redundant by the closure of the pits . God Bless All the Men who worked at the mines ,Them below and them on bank.🙏🏻
Thanks for that.. youve sold it to me, a visit is a must!
Great video, will hope to be visiting this.
My uncles and grandad worked down the mines and in the shipyards, I'll give this exhibition a visit.
Thanks very much for this video Kathrine 🙂👍
Great episode, thank you. Pitty the exhabition will be over when i come home in April/May
I Love your content….well done….i live in NZ, originally from Birtley, i have a lot of research applicable to miners from County Durham and Northumberland…same family.
Lake Poets..Shipyards song, being a Sunderland supporter resonates and is close to my heart
It was Labour under Wilson and Callaghan that started to close down all the pits. when Wilson got elected in 1974 as a "sop" to the miners he gave them a 34% pay rise. which Scargill accepted. When Thatcher got in her government just carried on with the same agreement. Scargill said "What are you going to give us?" and they said nowt you had your bribe from Wilson. So Scargill blamed the pit closures on the Tory Government and brought the miners out on strike when they had nothing to do with it.
The people of Sunderland were betrayed when they shut down the pits and yards. Removing the industrial heart of the town whilst it was still beating, leaving a deindustrialised hollowed out shell of a once vibrant, proud, great town.
My Dad still worked underground until 2015. Like a lot of north east familys we move down to Yorkshire as Durham coal field started to shut down, we lost our house in Washington due to the minors' strike he still lives in Yorkshire with my mam that's why you get lots of Sunderland fans in Yorkshire and Nottingham lovely video ❤❤
30 years before I was born but my Granda was killed in Silksworth pit was a hewer working in a 2 or 3 foot seam and was crushed.
The irony being he survived 4 years of the Great War only to be killed a couple of years later in the pits.
I am the last Coal Miner in my family. My Fathers side of the family were Durham Miners for well over 200 years, meaning some of them worked underground aged 7 and possibly some of the female members, although a little older. This stopped with an Act of Parliament around 1840. Two family members (Father and Son) were killed in the Easington explosion on 29th May 1951. I have happy memories of working at Wearmouth Colliery.