A GUIDE at the National Coal Mining Museum for England has retired after 17 years.

Brian Gooder joined the Yorkshire Mining Museum near Grange Moor in 1988, just after it opened and was there to see it receive national status in 1995. He worked as a guide for underground tours.

Brian, of Barnsley, trained as a mining electrician at 16 and worked at Wharncliffe Silkstone Colliery for 10 years. He then had 10 years at Rockingham and Royston Drift.