Save it..!
A £5MILLION appeal backed by the likes of artist Grayson Perry and film director Ken Loach will be launched today to safeguard the future of one of the North East’s most historic buildings.
The impressive Grade II-listed Redhills in Durham was built in 1915 and is home to the Durham Miners Association, paid for by the subscriptions of the 200,000 members who were then members of it.
Known as The Pitman’s Parliament, it contains a council chamber where elected delegates from more than 200 collieries on the Durham Coalfield would take their seat.
Although the last colliery in the area closed in 1994, its importance is such that recently Historic England chose it as one of 100 places that bring to life the country’s “rich and extraordinary history”.
It appeared alongside the site of the Peterloo massacre in ‘The Power, Protest, and Progress’ category and was judged by historian and broadcaster David Olusoga.
The Redhills appeal, launched to coincide with the Durham Miners’ Association entering its 150th year, is looking to renovate it to help it both pay its way and return it to the people, according to programme director Ross Forbes.
He said: “For a sustainable business plan it needs to be able to host conferences, be a wedding venue, to be able to find ways of raising its own money to pay its way.
“Our first patron was Grayson Perry. We’ve got a video from him about how important he thinks the working class culture of County Durham is. He came to the Durham Miners Gala and was absolutely blown away by it.”
It has also been backed, said Mr Forbes, by ‘I, Daniel Blake’ director Ken Loach, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and award winning North East singer-songwriter Nadine Shah.
Mr Forbes said: “We’ve got quite a rainbow [coalition] of backers – not just Labour. We’ve had support from the Victoria and Albert Museum.
“The motto of the Durham Miners is: ‘The Past We Inherit, The Future We Build.’”
As well as appealing for public donations they will be bidding for cash from the Heritage Lottery Fund next year.
“The whole project want to get this done over the next three to four years,” said Mr Forbes who revealed uses of it were already expanding. The Pitman’s Parliament has been used for meetings and for gigs.
Around 200 people are expected to gather tonight for the launch where a range of people and groups will talk about how important Redhills is to them and about future plans for it.
Mr Forbes said: “It’s just too important to lose. It’s not just the bricks and mortar it’s the whole history of it and what it represents.”
Visit www.redhillsdurham.org