Open days and open minds in April, 2023

A low-level drone side view of Hemingfield Colliery site, at the top of the photograph a range of buildings fill the shot, the old pumping engine house on the left, the winding engine house in the middle, and roofless surface haulage building to the right. In the foreground the canal basin can be seen through trees, and in the middle across the picture is the line of the railway, currently out of use.
Chimney smoke rises as the Friends seek shelter on Easter Monday, 10th April 2023 (Photo Credit: Simon Hollis)

April 2023 saw a host of activities on site, as the weather tried, time after time, to confound and confuse. For the Friends it was a month of Open Days at Easter; of gardening and tidying, and of preparation for better days to come, or at least better weather on the many working days to come.

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Weather on the March 2023

March 2023 had it all, or almost – Spring threatened to appear at any moment, but Winter certainly reared its frosty head a few mornings – as an early March timelapse of our Pump House Cottage Garden tries to show. As wet weather and cold snaps passed into bright sunshine, so delayed bulbs and buds started to emerge from the shroud of Winter’s sleep.

How many seasons at Pump House Cottage Garden? (Timelapse through snow and shine 4th-12th March 2023)
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Refueling in February

11th February 2023

The restless efforts of the Friends and regular volunteers at Hemingfield Colliery continued in February 2023, with significant progress on small jobs and starts being made on some of the bigger tasks to maintain the site and prepare the way for repairs to take place as the weather improves.

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Twenty twenty-three: starting up

Foggy light: Elsecar 21st January 2023

A new year and another chance to make further progress on site, saving and sharing our mining heritage. Weather permitting, of course. The Friends demurred on the 14th as the weather was poor, but by the 21st they were eager to meet up and dive into planning activities for the year ahead.

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Levelling up? The Dearne and Dove Canal

Illustration of the second Cutlers Hall in Sheffield, built 1725, demolished 1832, from Robert Eadon Leader [1839-1922], History of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire, in the County of York, Volume 1, Sheffield: Pawson & Brailsford, 1905, p.184

At 10 o’clock in the morning, on Wednesday 29th August 1792, the Company of Proprietors of the Navigation of the River Dun held a meeting at the Cutler’s Hall in Sheffield.

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Hope and Heritage spring eternal, April 2022

Cold comforts…

2 seasons in one day: snow in the morning of 31st March 2022

Picking up from our previous update at the end of March, you might be forgiven for thinking that the seasons had jumped, with winter returning, as snow fell on site on the morning of 31st March; the pit briefly donning a white cloak, before warmer air, and the green shoots of Spring began to emerge more fully.

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March airs and nights of wonder

Reporting on a busy weekend 12th and 13th March 2022, the Friends were blessed with a lovely bright day, finally feeling warm in the sun; everyone was eager to get to work under the beautiful blue sky.

Beautiful birdsong greeting us to site from the headgear

Welcoming us to site, and a portent of Spring, was a symphony of birdsong, performing loudly all around the site. Looking up, we caught sight of a small group of birds alighting on the main headgear, heralding the changing seasons.

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