Move to create garden to enhance pitmen’s memorial at national memorial site
A PUBLIC appeal has been launched to create a memorial garden around a £100,000 memorial to pit workers.
The memorial to commemorate the men, women and children who worked in the national mining industry and served or died for their country has been installed at the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas.
The unveiling was attended by Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester in September and the ceremony included music from the Lea Hall Colliery Brass Band and the Wolverhampton and Walsall Male Voice Choirs.
The memorial cost £100,000 and now an appeal for funding has been made for a garden area and the final instalment for the memorial itself. Each of the panels has been sponsored by individuals or interested parties. It is all thanks to a group of volunteers based in towns within the former Cannock Chase coalfield.
CHAPS (Chase Arts for Public Spaces) was given the go-ahead to place the monument, following numerous requests to the group to find a way of recognising the country’s mining heritage.
The structure, which stands 5m long an 2m tall, has the backing of the National Union of Mineworkers, MPS representing former mining constituencies and the Arboretum.
CHAPS, set up in 2003, works to support and promote public works of art and to celebrate its area’s diverse heritage. President Mike Mellor said: “During research for these particular projects and from queries received from around the country it appeared many mining areas were without some form of recognition of their mining heritage.”
From that point the idea was conceived and following discussions, a design was agreed upon with sculptor Andy Decomyn, whose work includes the Shot at Dawn memorial at the 150acre site, and the four mining sculptures at a roundabout in Rugeley.
Built in Derbyshire stone, the memorial has a bronze frieze depicting the history of mining including recognising the colliers’ contribution to the two world wars.
Research has discovered that 45 miners were awarded the Victoria Cross for their actions in the Great War, plus two from the Second World War.
Each of the 25 bronze panels depicts scenes of the life of those involved in coalmining, including “Victorian Boy” sponsored by the National Union of Mineworkers, “Pit Ponies”, two panels on “Mines Rescue”, two panels on “Roof Collapse”, a “Father and Son” sponsored by Sir Michael and Lady Parkinson and family, a “Mother and Daughter” sponsored by Craig Watts and family from Cannock, World War Two “Bevin Boys”, “Testing for Gas” sponsored by Cannock Chase Mining Historical Society and four panels on the miners who joined the Tunnellers digging galleries under the Great War trenches of the Western Front. There is also a bronze panel of information about the project. An example of one of the pages in the booklet describes the life and the action in 1917 that led to Lance Corporal Thomas Bryan, born in Lye, near Stourbridge, being awarded the Victoria Cross (see panel, facing page).
Cannock Chase MP Amanda Milling is supportive of the project. She said: “CHAPS have done amazing work creating mining memorials across Cannock Chase. I am delighted that they have secured a Miners’ Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum.
“With such a rich mining heritage it is fitting that CHAPS, a local group, have led this initiative. I would like to congratulate everyone who has been involved in getting us to this point in the process and I look forward to continuing to support this project.”
Mr Mellor added: “It’s fantastic that the project was finally approved. CHAPS was engaged in raising the appropriate funds to construct the memorial which honours the contribution miners have made in service to their country.
“We sincerely hope the public approve of our project, particularly those living in areas with a mining heritage, and that they feel able to donate to the project, which will be a fitting legacy to the miners.”
There are a limited amount of copies of the A4 size, 108-page booklet available to purchase, which includes information about the project and has a page of information and photograph on each of the Victoria Cross recipients.
For more information visit www.chaseartsforpublicspaces.co.uk