A Winter’s Tale
The Hemingfield Colliery Friends and volunteers were anticipating what the weather might bring, as they met up on Saturday morning for another productive working day. Continue reading
Mining
Open Day and Working Party, 20th February 2016
Site Clearance and Teamwork
The Friends and volunteers arrived on site early on Saturday, hopeful of getting a few hours of work done before the impending doom of the forecast rainclouds. In the event, however, the weather held out long enough to make significant progress and the friends were joined by some very welcome visitors with stories to share.
South Yorkshire’s Community Foundation Grant
The Friends of Hemingfield Colliery are delighted to announce that we have received a grant of £950 from South Yorkshire’s Community Foundation (SYCF) to further help the development of the group and continue our work on site.
The grant is administered by SYCF and has been made from the AESSEAL Charitable Trust Grassroots Endowment Fund for South Yorkshire to whom FOHC would like to express our sincere thanks.
The grant is to help with the ongoing insurance costs for the site until October 2016, to develop promotional materials helping to raise awareness of the group’s activities, and to provide tools and equipment for volunteers to make real progress whilst on site.
About SYFC
South Yorkshire’s Community Foundation was founded in 1986, and over the past 30 years they have raised and distributed over £25m in grants to community and voluntary projects across South Yorkshire, and created an Endowment of over £10m providing a lasting legacy that will continue to support South Yorkshire for many years to come. Their work aims to demonstrate that:
- Local giving can transform lives
- Together we can build stronger communities
- Together we can achieve economic, social and physical well-being across South Yorkshire
- Everyone deserves the same opportunities to fulfill their potential, no matter where they live
About the Endowment
AESSEAL®, a Rotherham-based company specialising in the design and manufacture of mechanical seals and support systems, created a charitable endowment fund in response to the national Grassroots matched funding initiative from 2008-11. This endowment generates a sustainable source of funding which SYCF administer for the benefit of South Yorkshire.
14th November 2015 – Village Ramblings
Heavy clouds signaled the start of what would be a very wet weekend in Hemingfield, and an unsettled one for South Yorkshire. Site director Glen and regular volunteers Phil and Chris arrived to continue the site clearance work, but with only the odd break in the cloud for company, they decided to sound the retreat and stay dry. This gave us a chance to go and explore – and what could be better than a historical village ramble in Elsecar!
Open Day and working party – Saturday 31st October 2015
Autumn comes to Wath Road
After a week of miserably wet weather, Saturday arrived with bright sunshine and spookily unseasonal warmth, as Site Director Glen unlocked the pit gates ready for our last Open day in October. Just after ten o’clock a keen group of volunteers arrived on site ready for what would be a busy day of clearing the west end of the colliery, an area hidden by silver birch trees which sprang up over the last 20 years as the pit site was neglected and became overgrown. We certainly like a challenge!
Working Party Weekend 17th October 2015
Autumn Archaeology
The weekend saw a smaller working party than usual convene at Hemingfield Colliery, as Site Director Glen met with volunteers Nigel and Chris on an overcast Saturday morning. The team itself was far from overcast, however, and a bright and jolly mood pervaded as the work began.
Working Party Weekend 19th-20th September 2015
Cornish Engine House (c.1843) and concrete headgear (c.1934), viewed from Pit Row on Wath Road
This weekend was a quieter one on site; a time for reflection and planning. On Saturday site manager Glen and volunteer Chris met and discussed further insights from the wonderful Beedan Collection. The Friends are arranging the papers and hope to share highlights from the material over the coming months. On Sunday the Friends Directors discussed current plans and worked on proposals to secure an economically viable future for the site.
Working Party weekend 5th-6th September 2015
Lighting up the past – Bright sunshine on the pumping engine house.
As reported elsewhere, the weekend of the 5th-6th September 2015 was the occasion of ‘Elsecar by the Sea’ – a celebration of all things Elsecar and a chance for the Friends to get out and about and meet local people and visitors to raise awareness of the site; however the work on site must go on, and a working party gathered on Saturday to continue the clearance activity.
Working Party Weekend 22nd-23rd August 2015
Summer satisfaction: Sunshine, showers and slow but certain progress
Past, Present and Future
The Friends and volunteers arrived on site for a hot, humid and historic weekend of digging – literally and figuratively – into the past of Hemingfield Colliery. It made for a wonderful couple of working party sessions.
150th Anniversary of the Oaks Colliery Disaster
Oaks Colliery Disaster 1866-2016
Thanks go to the Dearne Valley Landscape Partnership the following logo is available to users free for non-commercial use in materials relating to the disaster.
December 2016 will mark 150 years since the Oaks Disaster in which over 360 miners died.
Friends of Hemingfield Colliery 