School digging deep into mining history

Mar 3 2009 by Nicola Juncar, Evening Chronicle

THE miners’ strike may have happened 25 years ago but its effects are still being felt in our region today.

It’s not just the memories of the workers and their families, however, that allow the mining heritage of the North East to live on.

A new generation of schoolchildren are being taught the importance of the industry and the impact it has left, especially in former pit villages.

The aptly-named Collierley Primary, in Dipton, County Durham, is one of many schools in the region that make a point of teaching the history of the industry to its pupils.

The school has been at the heart of its community since 1878. It’s taught countless miners in its time and the majority of its 75 current pupils are related to a former miner.