As part of the Friends of Hemingfield Colliery’s National Lottery Heritage Fund project Hemingfield’s Hidden History, the group organised a creative heritage activity at the Ellis primary school in Hemingfield village.

Creative collaboration

Working with Barnsley Museums and artist Fabric Lenny, the pupils celebrated the village’s mining heritage, and biodiversity, with images, stories and objects from the Friends of Hemingfield Colliery’s collection.

Joining the pupils to view and celebrate their work, Friends volunteer Mitchell Sutherland expressed his delight, “It has been an incredible experience witnessing the excitement within the room when I visited the school. Being able to look through each of the 360 pieces of artwork that we’ve received, as well as being able to display the collaborative piece created by artist, Fabric Lenny. “

Artist Fabric Lenny, a.k.a Paul Slater, spent two days at the school on 2nd and 4th May, together with the Barnsley Museums team from Elsecar Heritage Centre. During the sessions the children explored their coal mining heritage and created some brilliant artwork inspired by what they heard and saw.

Artist Fabric Lenny (Paul Slater) said, ‘The art the children produced, responding to the history of the colliery and its biodiversity now, really was inspirational.’

Emily Edwards, Head Teacher at The Ellis School, said, ‘Having Paul work with the children has been extremely positive for them. We look forward to celebrating our village’s heritage with the colliery long into the future.’

Installation and exhibition

Following the activity days in May, the artist Fabric Lenny worked hard to bring the pupil’s individual drawings together in a fabulously large-scale expressive and colourful artwork to be installed at Hemingfield Colliery. A print will be presented to the school for pupils and families to enjoy for years to come.

The finished artwork arrived at Hemingfield Colliery in June, ready to be mounted in Pump House Cottage as part of an exhibition on site, celebrating the project, and the new connection with the people and pupils of Hemingfield.

Glen Sheppard, from the Friends of Hemingfield Colliery, said, ‘This project has transformed the colliery and how we can engage local people with it. We look forward to having fantastic artwork installed here, inspired by the children of the village.’

The Friends will be mounting a celebratory exhibition of the pupils’ artwork and the inauguration of the finished piece which we invitae eveyone to come and see at our Open Days in August (Bank Holiday) and the Heritage Open Days in September. Stay tuned for a digital celebration of the hundreds of individual artworks pupils have produced.

The final words go to our volunteer Mitchell acknowledging the school’s energy and enthusiasm: “Thank you for collaborating with us. We can’t wait to install the work within the cottage in the near future!”