May/100
Lottery dream comes true for former mining town
The East Midlands town Newstead celebrated a £400,000 cash injection of lottery money to help revive the area.
Former mining town Newstead has been awarded money through a project called Village SOS. The scheme is ran by the Big Lottery Fund and the BBC.
The money will be put towards a ten year community plan which involves creating a country park on the site of a pit slag heap.
The scheme, titled Future Newstead, headed by Mick Leivers stated “It’s exciting times. As a community we worked our socks off to put ourselves in a good position to get lottery funding,” he added.
“Out of the selection process we were one of the most deprived villages in terms of finance and facilities.”
The nationwide scheme is supporting six projects, awarding money across the UK. Future Newstead will offer a variety of facilities including an eco-friendly resource centre, fishing lakes and music festival.
The development will spread across 220 acres of former colliery spoil heaps purchased in autumn last year that had been backed by an East Midlands Development Agency.
Mick Leivers is particularly positive about the development in fishing that could help in several ways.
“This was a really popular choice amongst local villagers.
“We will be providing training for young people interested in angling so we can perhaps professionalise some of the lakes around Nottinghamshire and provide, through fishing, a means for people to learn about their environment.”
A documentary
The Newstead SOS has been surrounded by much media inetrest. The village will be filmed by BBC cameras and a documentary is due to be screened in April 2011 to show how the scheme has changed the area.
Publicity surrounding the award is reaping benefitsWord of the award is already reaping benefits according the Mr Leivers.
“The number of volunteers we’ve had has been phenomenal. We set up a Facebook site and had 1600 members join within a matter of weeks. It’s obviously going to engage a lot of people.
“It’s all about the local community but also about bringing other people into the community to share our village and realise what a fantastic place Newstead really is.”
The community are backing the development 100% and believe it is a positive step towards Newsteads future. Tracey Sabin a local resident said: “The scheme is going to be a lifeline to the village. It’s going to provide Newstead with some level of pride that was taken away when the pit shut down [in 1987]. It’ll get the community alive and kicking again.”
Head of the East Midlands Region for the Big Lottery Fund, Mick McGrath, echoed the locals enthusiasm saying, “This Village SOS award will kick start a revival in the former mining village of Newstead, helping to secure the future of the community by putting power into the hands of the villagers.
“I hope that their innovative ideas, which will bring tourists to the area as well as teach positive activities to disengaged young people, will inspire others across the UK to reinvigorate their rural communities.”
May/100
As the Tories regain power after 13 years, one of the last pits closes
Tory Prime Ministers and coal mines seldom make for a story ending with the words “happily ever after”.
And as if on cue, David Cameron was settling in at No10 as the last shifts ended at Welbeck Colliery.
In the 80s it was arrogant Conservative policies that destroyed swathes of British industry and robbed so many communities of their proud prosperity.
Now for Welbeck, closing down after 98 years, it is something just as uncompromising - the seam of coal had simply run dry.
The Nottinghamshire mine opened in 1912. At its peak 1,400 men worked at the pit and nearly all lived in Meden Vale village.
Fathers, sons and brothers worked together, bathed together then drank together.
As a group of miners headed to the pit-head bath for the last time on Friday, one lad started to sing. It was a traditional mining song to the brave men who work the seam.
“It’s a sad, sad day,” said Gary Cox, 50, carrying the last lump of coal his shift brought to the surface.
“I have been here for 34 years, since I was 17. This has been my life. We are like a family here. It is a piece of history.”
Gary, a loco driver, followed his father Billy down the pit. They worked together for a few years before Billy retired. Father-of-four Gary said: “We both wanted to be the gaffer, to be in charge.
“But we enjoyed working together and I did learn a bit from him.”
Billy died last year aged 87. He lived long enough to hear the news the pit was to close. Gary said “He was sad that it was to shut and it’s a shame he didn’t live to see the final day today. Or maybe it isn’t. He had spent his life here, too.”
Welbeck had 400 employees when the decision was made to close it. Many of the final shifts finished on Friday and scores of men headed into nearby Mansfield for a farewell booze-up. Up to 60 of them have taken redundancy. The rest have been transferred to the three remaining UK Coal deep pits at nearby Thoresby, Daw Mill, close to Coventry, and Kellingley, North Yorks. Just two more big pits remain - at Maltby and Hatfield in South Yorkshire - along with a handful of smaller private concerns.
Manager Geoff Mountain said: “There were 220 deep mines when I began in 1979. It’s sad for Welbeck but work goes on elsewhere.
“We have plans for the site. You have great equipment here and it would be perfect for industry. We want to get that going so that will bring jobs to the area.”
Seventy men will stay behind for a few months to reclaim £6million of equipment from the works. The windings, symbol of mining history, will have to come down.
“Daft people will try to climb them,” said Geoff. “It’s dangerous.”
Softly spoken Tony Ambler, 49, looked back wistfully at the pit head as he left his last shift.
He had followed in his stepdad’s footsteps. Tony said: “He worked during the war, keeping supplies going.”
“Here we are a family. In the village we all knew each other. We grew up together and joined the pit together.
“Our friends and their dads were there. In the village, doors would be left wide open. There was no crime there. It’s changed a lot.
Everyone in the village works away. The character has changed.”
Mining is still a dangerous business. Just three years ago all were reminded of the perils inherent in the job.
On November 3, 2007, Paul Milner, 44, died when the shaft collapsed on him as he and three colleagues tried to remove a hydraulic roof support from an exhausted seam.
Ninety tons of earth fell, trapping him for five hours.
Gary said: “You do everything you can to get the man out. It hits you very hard because we are a family here. Losing someone is terrible but all know we have to carry on working.
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“It was a terrible day. We will always remember it.
“Everyone was superb that day. Mine rescue were there but we all know it will take hours to get to you. That is the reality.”
Neil Bradbury, 44, has served 23 years underground and sees an uncertain future. He has been transferred to Daw Mill and will have to drive 70 miles home each day after an arduous shift.
The father-of-three said: “It is a hell of a journey. But I have to keep working. We aren’t going to move. We were brought up here and the kids are settled. We can’t uproot them all from everything they know. I will have to do it.
“I could take the redundancy but there are no jobs out there.”
As the lads head off for a bath and a farewell pint, one of the last pieces of coal mined at Welbeck lies cracked and broken on the pit-head floor - the final discarded remnant of a discarded industry.
UK’s deep coal mines
KELLINGLEY, W YORKS
OPENED: 1960
EMPLOYS: 800
Future: In 2004, Coal Investment Aid Scheme pumped £7.2million into the mine.
THORESBY, NOTTS
OPENED: 1925
EMPLOYS: 700
Future is safeguarded until 2017 following a £55million investment from UK Coal.
DAW MILL, WARKS
OPENED: 1956
EMPLOYS: 680
Warwickshire once boasted 20 collieries but now there is just Daw Mill, which has a predicted lifespan of another 18 years.
MALTBY, S YORKS
OPENED: 1956
EMPLOYS: 500
Owned by transport firm Hargreave Services, it produces 1.2 million tonnes of coal a year.
HATFIELD, S YORKS
OPENED: 1920
EMPLOYS: 380
Closed in 2001 but reopened four years ago. Work is due to begin on a new coal-fired power station and industrial estate called Hatfield Power Park which promises cleaner, greener coal power.
Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/latest-news/celebs/2010/05/13/losing-a-coal-way-of-life-115875-22254745/
Apr/100
Gravitas Law Holds Miners meeting at Bold Miners welfare Friday 23rd April 2010
Gravitas held its first roadshow at Bold Miners welfare Club (St Helens),the turnout was better then expected and all formers miners left satisfied with the advice given.
Gravitas Laws legal team advised miners on Undersettling of Vibration White Finger Claims and also on Miners Knee Claims Via the DWP and information on the forthcoming test cases for Miners Knee(Osteoarthritis).
Gravitas Laws legal team will be travelling the country hosting events in mining communities.
For additional information please contact Bobby Kennedy on 01744 744090.
Apr/100
Police Investigation into Miners Settlements
The multibillion-pound compensation scheme for Vibration white finger claims and Miners knee claims was set up by the Government in 1999 and has paid out to tens of thousands of miners suffering from chronic lung disease and vibration white finger.
The probe centred on the Union of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM) which broke away from the National Union of Mineworkers during the bitter year-long miners’ strike in 1984.
The Nottinghamshire-based UDM, which had around 1,300 members at the time the probe was launched, was dealing with claims for compensation on behalf of miners whose health suffered from working down pits.
At the time the investigation was announced Labour MP John Mann (Bassetlaw) said he was delighted police were investigating the claims. He had waged a long-running campaign to highlight alleged abuses of the miners’ compensation scheme.
Mr Mann claimed millions of pounds had been paid to solicitors involved in dealing with compensation claims which he believed should have gone to miners.
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Mar/100
Vibration White Finger Compensation
The mineworkers’ compensation scheme has attracted the attention of press, parliament and the public and always for the right reasons. The main issues discusses has being the millions of pounds that solicitors have earned and the deductions that solicitors had made from the miners compensations. A more recent concern has hit the deadlines, the qulaity of the service of the service provided by the solicitors.
Miners could recieve compensation for a combination of reasons like damages, general damages, loss of services. Solicitors don’t always claim for the concepts causing the miners aloss.If that is the case the facts need investigating so the miners can receive redress.
Injured former coal miners might have a claim against their solicitors for under-settling of compensation claims. In some circumstances solicitors did not pursue claims for loss of service or loss of opportunities in the employment market. That mean that miners received less money th at they were entited to. Some claimants can recieve as much as £20000 or £25000.
The way claim has been settled under the miners compensation scheme and the advice given by the solicitors for the Claimant to accept the settlement in full and final settlement might been negligent.
Mar/101
Latest News on Miners Knee and Vibration White Finger
A debate for miners knee was held in Westminister Hall last week. It was suggested by Michael Clapham MP for Barnsley West that the government should undertake a no fault liabilty scheme for miners knee like that of Vibration White Finger and COPD, MR Clapham argued that those diagnosed with miners knee should be able entitled to a lump sum based on their age and the degree their disbaility has affected them. Mr Clapham believed that this would eradicate the need for ‘protracted legal process’ concluding the issue fairly and efficiently he went on to say that this alternative was more cost effective than running an expensive court case.
Although Mr Claphams reasoning behind his policy was supported by many the Energy and Climate Change Minister David Kidney raised concerns regarding the scheme stating that having one blanket system of assessing claims would result not be suitable in miners knee cases as the sufferers illness was far more varied than other industrial injuries. Mr Kidney believed that tailoring a court case specifically to each claim was the best way of achieving clarity when assessing compensation claims.
Mar/100
Miners Urged to Claim Refund
A Yorkshire MP has urged miners to move quickly to demand a refund from a Barnsley law firm found guilty of misconduct over compensation claims.The Wentworth MP is reminding former miners and their families that complaints must be lodged with Barnsley solicitors Raleys by the end of February.
In November the firm wrote to 22,000 customers who had deductions paid to the NUM.
Raleys Solicitors took over£7.5m from Miners compensation payouts and passed it to the Miners union. In return the NUM provided Raleys with up to 29,000 clients.
Three Raleys solicitors were suspended for professional misconduct a year ago after a tribunal found the firm failed to act in the best interests of its clients and the NUM deal was of no real benefit to the clients.
Mr Healey MP for Wentworth said: “I know from constituents that not all those who might be entitled to claim back money have received the letters, some may have moved house or want to claim on behalf of deceased relatives.
“Raleys are only giving you until the end of February to reply to this offer, so if constituents haven’t received a letter and think fees may have been deducted from compensation, they should get in touch. I want every miner or their family who is entitled to it to claim this money.”
If you have missed this deadline please contact Miners Rights by the following means on 0800 612 7014 or email info@gravitaslaw.co.uk
Dec/090
25th Anniversary of the Great Miners Strike
This christmas marks the 25 years since victimised miners last received a wage. The National Justice for Miners Campaign has been working to help every sacked miner receive some Justice.
To date, none of them have and so the campaign is still prevelant today.
Shockingly after so many years of a “Labour” Government being in power they have yet to carry out any of the resolutions which were passed at the 1985 Party Conference in Bournemouth.
Labour had voted overwhelmingly, to reinstate every one of the victimised miners whom have been left with savagely damaged pensions and no form of redundancy. A hard punishment for the crime of supporting their trade union and trying to protect the future of the coal mining industry.
If you wish to support the Justice for Miners Campaign you can purchase a new Justice for Mineworkers badge to record 25 years since the strike. Price £5.50 per badge.
More information on how to purchase a badge and the campaign is available from http://www.justiceformineworkers.org.uk
Dec/090
The Miners Brass Band Festival 2010
The Butlins Mineworkers National Open Brass Band Festival 2010 is one of the most ‘must visit’ contests in the brass
band calendar. The contest will be taking place at Butlins Skegness. It is the perfect venue for such an event
with everything you could want. With superb accommodation, good food and drink it promises to offer great family entertainment.
The Festival is hugely popular and attracts Brass Bands from all over the UK. All five brass band sections will compete on
Saturday 23rd January. The Championship section bands will compete in an entertainment contest (hosted by
BBC Radio 2’s Frank Renton) on Sunday 24th January determining the Butlins Champion Band for 2010.
Nov/094
Miners urged to have the VWF settlements reasssed
Are you one of the estimated 50,000+ claimants who were mis-advised or “short-changed” in relation to a claim for coal health compensation?
Following analysis of the administration of the compensation schemes for vibration white finger, a number of potential areas have been identified where solicitors have not properly advised claimants, or have undersettled claims.
You will probably not know the answers to these.
Let us assess this for you FREE OF CHARGE, you may be entitled to more compensation.
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