Underground experience celebration paves way for Miners’ Gala

A celebration event to mark the creation of a new underground experience and to raise awareness of this year’s Miners’ Gala took place at Snibston Discovery Museum last week on Thursday 19th May.

A team including volunteers and staff have re-created the dark and cramped conditions of working underground. They have built a coal-face, pit pony stable and displayed mining equipment in one of the former Snibston Colliery buildings.

Supported by the Volunteering, Internships and Placements (VIP) project the team was made up of ex-miners, staff from the museum and volunteers. The project also received support from local businesses – J.S. Bloor, CPL Distribution and Hydra Engineers, who all provided a range of materials and equipment to help complete the project.

Piloted earlier this year, the underground experience has been very popular with visitors to the museum since it opened and forms part of the valuable work that Snibston undertakes to preserve Leicestershire’s mining heritage.

Other important activities include the annual Miners’ Gala which takes place this year on Saturday 17th September. First launched three years ago, this one day event attracts over 3,500 people and receives considerable support from the National Union of Mineworkers and local communities. The Miners’ Gala will this year be even bigger and better than ever and will include favourites such as colliery bands, horticultural shows and family activities.

Over the past few years, the County Council run museum has been working with local people to preserve the heritage and memories associated with this once major industry. This work has involved recording interviews with former colliery workers, developing major plans for the preservation of the colliery buildings and new displays and learning programmes for schools. There is also a monthly programme of well-attended ‘Miners’ Mornings’ with talks by experts on related subjects and themes.

Snibston is a major Leicestershire attraction and since opening in 1992, has had over two million visitors. In 2009/10, Snibston contributed over £2.3 million to tourism and the local economy and last year had well over 100,000 visitors.

David Sprason, Leicestershire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Adults and Communities, said:
"The colliery buildings at Snibston are of national importance and the museum itself is unique in the way that it preserves mining history for future generations. The annual Miners’ Gala attracts thousands of visitors each year and goes to show just how interested people are in Britain’s mining history and coming together at a major community event to celebrate this heritage."

For further information about the Miners’ Gala please visit: www.snibston.com/minersgala

The VIP Project is currently funded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and creates provides cultural volunteering activity across Leicestershire.

The former Snibston Colliery, created by George Stephenson, was scheduled by the government as one of five nationally important sites in Britain in 1998.