At last our car is at the dealers.......

After picking up a courtesy car on Friday as mine was 3 weeks late, ours has arrived and the dealer is very apologetic and we get mats as an extra :-).
Anyway i took the weekend off and on Saturday we went out with the new camera to Durham city and Haswell.  First Haswell, it's a small(ish) village not far from the A19 and about 20 minutes from Durham.  It was a thriving pit village but has changed a lot. 

The Haswell Colliery was sunk in 1835, and sent the first coals to Sunderland by rail in 1837. The seams  worked were the Five Quarter, at a depth of 558 feet; Main Coal, 663 feet; Low Main, 812 feet; and the Hutton, at a depth of 1931 feet. During the last few years, from twelve to fifteen hundred persons had been employed daily at the colliery, and nearly 400,000 tons of coal were raised annually. The colliery was held on lease by the Haswell, Shotton, and Easington Coal and Coke Company Limited, who possessed the coal royalties from the colliery to the sea, including the adjoining under sea coal.

One of the most fatal explosions on record in the north of England occurred in the "Little Pit" in this colliery, on the afternoon of Saturday, September 28, 1844, when no fewer than ninety five lives were lost, either by the explosion itself or by the after damp.

The pit closed 31 Dec 1896 as it was deemed 'unprofitable'.

My mother in law shows me pictures of the village up until as recent as the 70's.  Th village has changed so much and looks totally different.  She and Kelly tell me stories of when the Church Brigade was a major part of the village life, parades and annual camps in the lakes with local companies competing against each other in various sports and activities.  Now the camps are fewer than a hand full of people which is sad, as an outsider the commitment is still inspiring but maybe will finish in ten years.
I'm from Sheffield, mining was a major part of life but generally steel was the main employer.  There was Orgreave mine and coking plant which saw major trouble in the strikes in the 80's. I can remember going to Orgreave and watching the fights between the striking miners and the police, miners rolling fuel soaked telegraph poles set alight at the police and the cops actually diving over them and then standing in rank once back on their feet.
Remember being in the local pub and blokes coming in with what we called 'Pit eye liner', this is the residue of coal on the eye lids which didn't always come off with normal washing, i think most blokes were proud to sport it to show a honorable profession.  Wonder how that honour feels now after 30 November 1984 and the death of the taxi driver??!!
Anyway, i do seem to go off on a tangent but Kelly did get some good pics which she wishes to be kept unpublished until ready to show.
We had a walk up the side of the Wear in the heart of Durham, not many people out on boats etc but still a nice day.  First time i'd been to the cathederal and what wonderful place.  A massive structure which is still in good nick(ish).  Apparently it costs £60,000 a week to maintain but i reckon worth every penny as it is still a good attraction and there were lots of tourists there.  I did get to see the Haswell Miners Banner which is proudly displaid and heard so much of it from my mother in law who is passionate about her history and her village.