Tuesday 20th November 2012

Chesterfield has a proud mining heritage and now, former miners and their families are invited to share their memories to help shape an exciting new artwork on the site of Derbyshire County Council's flagship regeneration scheme.

Thousands of local men earned their living at Markham Colliery, near Bolsover, before it closed in 1993 after 111 years of coal production.

The county council is investing £77m in the site, now known as Markham Vale, with the long-term aim of creating around 5,000 jobs for local people.



Artist Stephen Broadbent has been commissioned to create a permanent on-site reminder of the area's strong mining heritage, and honour the 97 miners who lost their lives in the two Markham disasters of 1938 and 1973, for generations to come.

A new artwork called 'Walking Together' (artist's impression pictured above) is to be built in a £188,000 scheme. It will provide a walking tour of Markham's mining heritage in the form of 100 steel figures on a route through the site, symbolising the walk to and from the pit head by miners.

Each two-metre-high figure will carry 12 mine tags with the names of former miners. Each tag will trigger a different piece of information - including video, audio, and written works - via apps and web links through mobile phones and hand held devices.

These will include interview with local historians, accounts of mining disasters, and GPS-generated maps of tunnels running beneath the feet of visitors.

Anyone with connections to the colliery is invited to the first working group meeting to share their ideas about how to develop the Walking Together project at Markham Vale Environment Centre, on Wednesday 28th November, from 3.30pm.

Councillor Kevin Parkinson, Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Member for Regeneration, said: "Markham has a rich mining past and we want the community's help to build a memorial of that for generations to come.

"Every family in the surrounding area will have someone who earned their living down pits, or know someone who did, and this is a fantastic way for them to share their memories for a permanent reminder in the Walking Together project.

"We want to create a tribute which brings together their mining experiences and is enjoyable and educational for visitors and schoolchildren."

As well as nearby residents, representatives from district, borough and parish councils, and local community and history groups have been invited to attend the workshop.

Grants and sponsorship are being sought to meet the cost of the installation works which are expected to start early in the new year.

For further information about the event members of the public should call Markham Vale Environment Centre on 01246 826000.

The address is Markham Vale Environment Centre, Markham Lane, Markham Vale, Chesterfield, S44 5HY.

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