Visit to the National Coal Mining Museum
A late September morning saw a full coach of Durham Miner Project staff and participants leave County Hall and head south for a long-awaited visit to the National Coal Mining Museum at Caphouse Colliery near Wakefield. We were met by Alison, the ever-helpful librarian, who had arranged the visit, and welcomed by the Curatorial Director, and then it was a question of where to start looking at the displays. After the longish journey most people needed a reviving cup of coffee, or even a delicious early lunch, in the excellent restaurant before exploring the large site, but soon everyone was absorbed in the exhibitions both in the new Visitor Centre and the original coal mine buildings on the site. Groups of participants were soon exchanging notes on where the pit ponies were, who had found the baths, what an impressive range of machines were to be seen.
The highlight for almost everyone was the visit underground. For many it was their first experience of what it actually meant to squeeze into the cage and then drop down deep underground in the darkness. The consensus of opinion was that the underground guides were absolutely brilliant, really conveying a great deal of important information in an enthusiastic and interesting manner.
In the afternoon there was also a lot to schedule into the time available. Taster sessions had been arranged on the museum's photographic digitisation project, oral history recording and machinery collection, and several people also managed to spend some time taking advantage of the excellent library facilities. The verdict on the homeward coach journey was that it been a very worthwhile day, with many people hoping to pay another visit in order to spend more time in the Museum.
Questionnaire
Following on from the questionnaire that we sent out this is a reply from Neil, the Durham Miner Project Manager
"I would like to say a big thank you to all of those people who responded to the Durham Miner Questionnaires that we sent out recently. Your feedback is essential for our future planning and ultimately an improved delivery service to the People of County Durham.
The response rate was far greater than we had expected. 237 questionnaires were sent out, of which 115 responses were received (that's over 48%!!!).
Overall, the project has had a very positive response, which we are obviously very pleased about. However, one of the main reasons for the questionnaire was to get feedback with regards to improvement in our service. I would like to discuss some of these queries and explain what we are doing or going to do to make things better."
The full response from Neil will be included in a special newsletter to be published in the near future.
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