A public appeal has been formally launched to help safeguard and transform National Mining Museum Scotland, which is home to a Recognised Collection of National Significance, Scotland’s first ‘super pit’, and the country’s last surviving colliery built in 1895. The initiative aims to preserve the legacy of coal mining – an industry that powered the Industrial Revolution, drove innovation and social change, advanced workers’ rights, and shaped Scotland’s landscape. It has been designed to give everyone who has a passion for preserving Scotland’s national heritage an opportunity to ‘be part of’ the museum’s future.
The Be Part of Our Future appeal marks the launch of community centred, nationally significant initiative to preserve the memories of Scotland’s mining heritage. It is hoped it will support the museum in caring for and interpreting the nationally significant collections it houses, maintaining and repairing aspects of the A-listed colliery buildings and grounds; developing green energy and community initiatives; and enhancing the venue’s capacity to host community and cultural events across the site.
Launching the initiative, Mhairi Cross, CEO of National Mining Museum Scotland said: “This initiative is vital for the museum at this moment. This appeal brings together essential strands: raising financial support we need and gathering the stories and memories that keep Scotland’s mining heritage alive. Together, these strands strengthen our ability to honour the past while building the resilience the museum needs now, and in the years ahead. This is about preserving the experience of mining communities and ensuring that the museum remains strong enough to carry their stories forward.”
Living heritage site
Former mine worker at the Lady Victoria Colliery and Kilmarnock Mine Rescue Station, from a long family line of coal miners, Sinclair Sutherland (age 75) is supporting the museum in engaging young people with the appeal by telling his stories through a new series of child-led video interviews. Now a volunteer and family history researcher at the museum, he said: “I’m very pleased to support National Mining Museum Scotland and would urge everyone to ‘Be Part of Our Future’ in whatever way you can to protect this national treasure. It is an incredible living heritage site which triggers memories and stories. It’s like our generation’s form of social media, allowing us to share the important learnings we had down the pits in a really visual and inspiring way. There are not many heritage sites where you can meet and learn from the people who were involved. It is a real honour to represent the pit community, but we also want to make sure that our legacy lives on in the next generation. Younger people will be the tour guides of the future, and sharing stories as part of conversations will enable us to continue to deliver a unique, authentic, and worthwhile experience.”
Fellow interviewee, former timekeeper, Marion Brown age 90 from Newtongrange, agrees: “Working for the coal mines was so much more than just a job. From the social clubs and our cooperative stores to the landscapes and monuments, the industry made so many of the communities we know today and it’s important to remember that. It’s not just been part of our family heritage, it’s our national heritage and we must do all we can to preserve it and the living memories we still have access today.”
The Lady Victoria Colliery was opened in 1895 as Scotland’s first super-pit. It ceased production in 1981 and now serves as an example of one of the best-preserved Victorian Collieries in Europe. The National Mining Museum Scotland was established to make Scotland’s mining heritage relevant to everyone by embracing the legacy of Scotland’s mining communities and found in Newtongrange, Midlothian.
For more information about the Museum’s ambitions for transformation or to donate to the Pithead Circle, visit www.nationalminingmuseum.com/ourfuture. To share a mining story or find out more about the museum’s Living Archive From the Depths of Coal, Rose the Scotland We Know, email: [email protected].
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