£2m help for coal museum expansion

Mar 6 2008 by Joanne Douglas, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

THE National Coal Mining Museum has been given a boost of nearly £2m.

The £1.95m from the Heritage Lottery Fund will be used to open up the mining shaft and extend the underground tour.

Two government departments are also contributing £300,000 towards the improvements.

Staff at the museum are delighted with the cash boost and say it will help to conserve and re-develop the mine.

Chairman of the Museum, Baroness Estelle Morris of Yardley, said: “This is fantastic news for the museum and has come as a great boost during this, our 20th anniversary year.

“We recently won attraction of the year for Yorkshire and I am very proud of the team at the museum.

“Of our 130,000 visitors every year, around 95% enjoy the underground tour and we expect the re-development work to enable us to cater for a diverse range of visitors.”

The museum opened in 1988 as the Yorkshire Mining Museum and was awarded national status in 1995.

Free admission was introduced in 2002.

The underground tour has remained the same since 1998.

Staff at the museum now say the multi-million-pound grant will help expand the tour.

It will allow the museum to open up new underground roadways, install new conveyor belts in the drift mine and incorporate more interactive aspects to the underground tour.

Fiona Spiers, of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: “Once a pivotal part of the UKs industry, mining is a deep rooted part of our shared heritage.

“Yet today, new generations are growing up in mining towns where the industry on which their communities were founded has disappeared.

“We need to find new ways to make sure the stories of the pits are passed on and to secure any remaining landmarks.

“Our funding will do just that.”

Work is expected to begin on conserving the furnace shaft imminently. Plans for the new displays are still to be finalised.