Preserving memory

David Amos, ex-miner and History PhD student is leading on two project bids to preserve and promote the coal mining heritage of the East Midlands and beyond. 

• Coal was our lives - a Nottinghamshire view
• National Mining Memorabilia Association (NMMA)

David has extensive experience of working with local community groups and schools. 

Coal mining was our lives - a Nottinghamshire view

Bilsthorpe Heritage Society will be acting as bidders for a Project entitled “Coal was our Lives – A Nottinghamshire view”. The Project will aim to look at how the end of deep coalmining affected people in various communities across Nottinghamshire. The other main aim is to record aspects of local coalmining culture and heritage from those communities which otherwise may be lost forever. The Project will use an interactive website/archive and aspects of social media as the median for recording the information.

The Project will look at the following former coalmining communities:

• Ashfield (Annesley-Bentinck: closed 2000,
• Bilsthorpe: closed 1997;
• Cotgrave: closed 1993;
• Eastwood (Moorgreen Colliery: closed 1985)
• Selston (Pye Hill Complex: closed 1985).
• Silverhill: closed 1992 and
• Sutton: closed 1989);
• Thoresby (near Edwinstowe - last operating deep coalmine)

David will be putting the Pre-Application together in the near future.

National Mining Memorabilia Association (NMMA)

The NMMA was formed around 15 years ago to collect items of mining memorabilia mainly consisting of pit pay checks / motties, lamps and trade union lapel badges. In conversation the NMMA Secretary recently raised his concern that the organisation was starting to lose the initiative for which it was initially formed. David suggested a HLF Bid may be the best way forward to ensure that all these wonderful collections of mining memorabilia are digitally recorded and an online archive is created in which each item of memorabilia is photographed/camcorded and the appropriate history description and context attached.

David will be meeting the NMMA Secretary in the Spring of 2012 to look at the logistics of the bid