Ceremony Takes Place to Celebrate Installation of Miner’s Lamp Sculpture, in Fitting Tribute to Ferryhill’s Mining Heritage
Ferryhill Town Council would like to say a big thank you to everyone who attended and participated in the Celebration Event held on Wednesday, 4th February, at Surtees Corner, Ferryhill Station, to mark the Installation of a 4-meter-high Miners Lamp Sculpture.
The Sculpture, which was designed by Professional Sculptor, Andrew McKeown, was installed to commemorate the mining heritage of the Town, creating a fitting tribute to Mainsforth Colliery, which operated from 1872 to 1968.
The event commenced with a speech by Deputy Mayor, Councillor Carole Atkinson who welcomed everyone to the event and paid tribute to the Miners, who worked so tirelessly underground to extract coal to power homes and industries in the area, and their families and local community who supported them through those labour-intensive years. Councillor Atkinson went on to thank everyone involved in bringing the project, which cost £35,000 to fruition.
A speech followed by Andrew Mckeown, who explained how his Sculpture designs were created to help preserve and celebrate the Town’s History, by incorporating occupation names and terms unique to the Durham Coalfield areas, such as Spragger or Trapper, Chargehand and Shifter around the column of the lamp, so that they can be kept alive for future generations to learn about.
The proceedings included a blessing of the Sculpture by Methodist Minister, Reverend Elizabeth Catford, which was followed by ‘The Miner’s Hymn – Gresford’ played by members of Ferryhill Town Band. The Mainsforth Colliery Miner’s Banner was also displayed throughout the event by members of the Ferryhill Miners Banner Committee. The event concluded with a delicious buffet served at the Surtees Arms Public House, which overlooks the Sculpture.
Deputy Mayor of Ferryhill, Councillor Carole Atkinson said “I would like to say a big thank you to everyone involved in this project and who attended the Celebration Event on what was a very cold day. A special thanks to Sculptor, Andrew Mckeown for all his hard work on the project, to residents who put forward occupation names and suggestions for the final sculpture design, to Ferryhill Station Primary School for taking part in Sculpture Workshops, to Reverend Elizabeth Catford for blessing the Sculpture and to Ferryhill Town Band for playing the Miner’s Hymn at the event. Also, a big thank you to the Surtees Arms Public House for the wonderful buffet. Finally, I would like to say a huge thank you to the funders of the project; the National Lottery Heritage Fund and former County Councillors Peter Atkinson and Curtis Bihari and the 4Together Partnership, without whom the project would not have been possible.’
For more information about this or any other project delivered by Ferryhill Town Council please contact: Karen Younghusband at Ferryhill Town Hall on telephone: 01740 652157 or email kyounghusband@ferryhill.gov.uk
