Wearmouth pit - a 30th anniversary memory - video Dailymotion

The Sunderland pit where the last shift clocked off on December 10, 1993

Transcript

00:00 Weermouth Colliery, a part of Sunderland history for 158 years.

00:06 But 30 years ago today, it all changed when the last shift clocked off.

00:12 Its closure marked the end of the Durham Coalfield, which had once boasted more than 300 mines.

00:18 At its height, it employed 165,000 people.

00:23 Weermouth Pit alone employed more than 2,000 in the years before its shutdown.

00:30 Its history stretches back to 1835 when it first began producing coal.

00:37 By 1914, 2,600 people worked there.

00:42 The pit was still a mainstay of Wearside employment in the 1950s, and a new tower winder was added.

00:50 By 1957, there were bright days when production records were set.

00:56 There were 1 million tonnes of coal lifted at Weermouth in 1987.

01:01 And the hard-working Wearsiders always had that summer treat to look forward to,

01:06 a day at the big meeting, such as this one in 1984.

01:11 The pit was a huge operation.

01:14 There were the men who went underground, the canteen workers, management,

01:19 all contributed to a slick operation.

01:23 But darker days lay ahead.

01:25 The threat of closures and unemployment led to the miners' strikes of 1984.

01:31 Hundreds turned up on the picket lines.

01:34 The end came in the early 1990s, and the last shift clocked off on December 10, 1993.

01:42 A year later, this was the scene.

01:46 Hundreds watched as the 200-foot-high De Schaaf Tower was demolished.

01:52 By 1995, there were hopes of a new future, but not for mining.

01:58 The site was being considered as the new home for Sunderland Football Club.

02:03 And by 1997, hordes of supporters would flock to the very place

02:10 where men once toiled hard for coal.

02:13 Weemouth Pit may be gone, it's never forgotten.