On Friday 16th August 2024, we set off and completed a lovely scenic 5 mile walk around trails in Derbyshire to see the newly installed Headstock Wheel which is now a memorial site for the old Silverhill Colliery.
The wheel had been salvaged from the old Colliery in 1993 when the pit closed, and has now been refurbished and successfully installed in two halves within Silverhill Woods as a focal point for people to learn about or remember the days of ‘pit life’.
Make have made significant contributions to get to this point, both in terms of time and financial contribution and we were really happy to be able to take the whole team along to see the finished project. There have been many hoops to jump through in order to ‘Make this happen’ but it was definitely all worth it.
The highlight of the visit was meeting Alan Batterham at the site who worked at Silverhill Colliery as a coal face worker from 1980 until it closed and has been the main driving force for this project. It was really very interesting and also valuable for the team to hear stories of working down the pit and the conditions the pit workers entered every day, but equally great to hear about the laughs and friendships they built up along the way.
Alan talked us through the history of the pit closures and the conflict it caused between miners and it really brought home how important these Collieries were to Britain in the past – you can relate to how important the pit was to our older generations and why this memorial spot is so important to the ‘Friends of Silverhill’ and ex-miners in the area.
We finished the walk with a great meal and a few drinks realising how lucky we are to go to work every day feeling safe within our lovely air-conditioned offices!