Rainworth Miners Welfare football team with Rufford Colliery in the background in the 1980s. Source: Mansfield Chad

Social

Coalmining was always more than just a job – it took miners and their families from cradle to the grave. Many families lived in ‘pit villages’ built in the early part of the 20th Century by mining companies in order to attract workers to the new coalfields. These ‘model villages’ were integrated with attractive amenities, including schools, shops and playing fields. Social activities such as team sports, fishing, pigeon and whippet racing, allotments, and the Miners’ Welfare Club, played an important role in the life of miners and their families.

Giant headstocks (winding gear) dwarfing the houses of Newstead Colliery Village in 1972. Source: Coal Authority

Wash-day on Telford Road, Newstead Colliery Village in the early 1980s. Source: Mansfield Chad

Modern pit housing in the 1960s. Source: Coal Authority

13. Miners’ Welfare, caged bird show in the 1960s. Source: Coal Authority

Concessionary coal being delivered by the ‘coal-man’ in the 1960s. Source: Coal Authority

Fishing at Vicar Water, Clipstone in 1968. Source: Mansfield Chad

Pleasley Colliery Silver Prize Band in the late 1970s. Source: Pleasley Pit Trust Collection