Black Miners Museum

With valuable support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) Midlands & East, partners

and made possible by National Lottery Players.

We hope you will become part of this project, just contact us to find out more.

Introduction

Black Miners Museum Project, led by Nottingham News Centre CIC, aims to grow lasting partnerships with existing mining museums and industrial-related museums across the UK, by enriching and enhancing current visitor exhibitions and displays through the integration of recently unearthed narratives, memories and creative representations of former coal miners of black/ African-Caribbean heritage and other diverse groups within UK mining history. Through the inclusion and access to selected new material such as: images, audio, film, research, rare artefacts, publications, art installations, digital concepts and more, visitors will learn more about Britain’s diverse, multicultural, industrial history.

Get In Touch

‘No Joke’ mix-media artwork by Honey Williams, artist and project volunteers © Black Miners Museum

Project Objectives

Achieved with valuable support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) and National Lottery Players, our partners and the public.

Project Partners

As project lead, Nottingham News Centre CIC works in collaboration with our project partners such as:
Communities Inc. Nottingham
National Coal Mining Museum for England (NCMMfE)
Nottingham Industrial Museum & Wollaton Hall
Woodhorn Mining Museum Northumberland
Durham Mining Museum
as well as a variety of additional, supporting organisations and individuals from around the world, passionate about preserving heritage.

Project Legacy

Due to the resounding success of Nottingham News Centre’s various industrial heritage projects: Miners of African Caribbean Heritage, Narratives from Nottinghamshire (2015-2016) and Digging Deep, Coal Miners of African Caribbean Heritage National Narratives from across the UK (2017-2018) and the momentum gained from a renewal in public interest into mining heritage, we have helped secure a lasting legacy through access to diverse industrial education for all.

Enterprise Growth Through Innovation and Education

The project will continue and develop, build on resilience and heritage enterprise growth, from August 2021 and beyond.

Project Significance For Diverse Audience Engagement

This unique national heritage project, will help to attract and to engage new and younger audiences, including diverse groups and hard to reach communities into mining museums and other industrial-related museums, by publicly sharing and celebrating the contributions of former miners from diverse communities, becoming part of our global story and shared history.

Help us continue this important, diverse, national mining heritage work preserving and sharing heritage by making a donation today.

About Nottingham News Centre CIC

Nottingham News Centre, founded in 2013, is a community interest company (i.e. social enterprise) specialising in heritage project management, heritage research, heritage content and media production for exhibitions, including print, online and broadcast mediums.

We provide B2B consultancy, oral history/heritage training, project management, curatorial, exhibition support and heritage publishing services for national and international organisations.

View our portfolio at www.nottinghamnewscentre.com/portfolio
or visit www.nottinghamnewscentre.com for information on how we can help you. View works by Norma Gregory (MA) at www.normagregory/profile

About the Heritage Fund

Thanks to National Lottery Players, the National Lottery Heritage Fund invests money to help people across the UK explore, enjoy and protect the heritage they care about – from the archaeology under our feet to the historic parks and buildings we love, from precious memories and collections to rare wildlife. www.hlf.org.uk. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLottery and #HLFsupported.

Help us continue this valuable heritage preservation project by making a
donation today

Testimonials

“We are delighted to be involved in the project and feel that these are voices and memories from the coal industry that would otherwise be lost. Miners of Afro-Caribbean heritage are under-represented in our collections and
this is a wonderful opportunity for us to work towards redressing this.”

– Mike Benson, Museum Director, National Coal Mining Museum for England, Project Partner

“Big Pit National Coal Museum Wales are very interested in the heritage project, ‘Digging Deep’ including its aims and outcomes as described in the application made by Nottingham News Centre CIC.
We would be willing to assist in any historical research needed during the duration of the project.”

– Dai Price, Head of Museum, Big Pit National Coal Museum, Wales

“Communities Inc. is pleased to be involved in the ‘Digging Deep’ National HLF Project. The pilot project in 2015-2016 that led to this advanced project, highlights the importance of capturing and showcasing the heritage of diverse communities and their contribution to life in the UK. Scaling the project up is a brilliant idea.”

– Michael Henry, Director Communities Inc. Project Partner

“I believe that this is a critical time to capture the experiences, memories and cultural contributions of black miners.
The project offers diverse cultural opportunities and activities, which will engage individuals and families and raise awareness of their cultural contributions to wider audiences.”

– Chris Weir, Historian & former Principal Archivist, Nottinghamshire Archives

BLACK MINERS MUSEUM