February turned out to be the warmest on record, but also rather wet. To put it mildly. It also saw some snow, so it was not the most prospicious for making progress on site and yet the regular volunteers did their characteristic best in what turned out to be a short but busy month.

Jumping to it

2024 is of course a leap year, and so February was just a little longer than normal.

Recapping the working days in turn and the many hours of volunteer effort put it, on Saturday 3rd Feb regular volunteers Janet, Jeff, Mitchell, Paul, John, Andy, Jamie were down and busy on site, later joined by late-shift Chris.

Keeping warm and somewhat dry were the main orders of the day, but weeding, can crushing and general tidying were the main focus.

The skies above remained stubbornly grey and the air was cold and damp, with the odd moment of glee as the sun shone down on the garden of pump house cottage.

Moving on to Sat 10th February, the hard core were back at it, with Janet, Jeff, Paul and Paul, John and Andy. 

On 17th February Janet, Jeff, Paul, Mitch, Chris and Jamie were at it again.

Making the most of the long(ish) pause before it started to rain, the year’s first substantial restorative works commenced with Janet working on the railingsof Pump House cittage. They were brushed and protected by Paul at the end of last year, but now a primer coat was added before proceeding to repaint them green once more (similar to the work we did in recent years on he rainwater goods on Pump House Cottage).

Elsewhere regular checks on the water level in the pumping shaft, and cleaning and tidying the paths around sites for the year ahead meant there was much to be getting on with.

Talking and Training

Midway through February the Friends were honoured to be invited to attend an oral history training day at Elsecar Heritage Centre. Arranged by Gemma Clarke as part of the Building Bridges project, and delivered by trainer Michelle Winslow on 16th February.

Under the aegis of the Oral History Society, Paul, Mitch, Janet, Jeff and Chris attended and spent an interesting day together learning about the methods, aims and equipment employed in capturing oral history recordings and transcriptions.

This added to training other membrs of the Friends group had attended in September 2019, and together with recording equipment secured by the National Lottery Heritage Fund Project. Many thanks to Michelle and especially to Gemma.

Memories

On 24th February Janet, Jeff, Paul, Andy and John were once again busy on site. At the same time volunteer Mitch represented the group at an important event at Elsecar Heritage Centre. The ‘Making History Day‘ at Elsecar Heritage Centre. Again, part of the Building Bridges project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to help protect, share, and celebrate the village’s heritage.

Many local people passed through the visitor centre to see collections of objects and photographs and to share their own memorabilia from working at Elsecar Main Colliery, the New Yard Workshops or simply aspects of village life. A most successful event.