CRAGHEAD REVISITED
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| Angela's adopted brothers
and sister |
Angela Bruce, well-known
actress of stage and screen revisits her former home town of Craghead
in County Durham. Join her as she looks back at how this mining community
has changed.
Like many villages in the 1950's, Craghead was a thriving
mining community employing more than 1600 people.
It was once the life blood of the area and had an optimistic
tight knit community spirit.
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| Craghead in
the 1950's |
But in 1969 all this changed when Craghead Colliery closed
its doors for the last time. The impact on the local community was devastating.
Angela Bruce grew up in this small village and left in 1970, a year after
the pit had closed.
Inside Out invited her back for the first time to see
how it has changed.
Angela's Story
| FACT FILE |
|
Craghead
The history of the County Durham Village dates
back over 200 years.
Craghead began mining in 1869 and was of major
importance to the development of the small village.
The colliery closed in 1969 with a loss of over
1600 jobs.
A majority of the former pit employees found employment
with the Ever Ready factory at Tanfield Lea.
The Craghead Colliery Band was subsidised by Ever
Ready after the pit had closed.
The band was then known as The Ever Ready Band.
Angela Bruce
Angela moved from Craghead in 1970 to star in the
musical 'Hair'.
She has starred in many TV programmes such as;
Angels, Dr Who, Holby City, Coronation Street and Lovejoy
Anglea is also a Horse Rider, Alto Singer and can
Free Style Dance.
In 2000, Angela was made an Ambassador of Derwentside
alongside Denise Welch, Susan Maughan and Sir Bobby Robson
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Angela came to the village by chance when she was three.
She was born in Leeds and sent to a children's home in Newcastle.
After a brief stay, she found herself in the village
when a nurse working with Barnardo's children's home had the opportunity
to take a child home for the weekend.
Angela had such a great time with the nurse, that when
the woman came from the children's home to collect her, she turned and
said "bye bye Mummy and Daddy".
The nurse would soon become Angela's adopted sister as
the Bruce family couldn't let her go.
So they took off her coat and she stayed, never to return
to the Barnardo's children's home.
Life in the village
Angela has very fond memories of the village and the
people in it. She was quite probably the first black person many in Craghead
had seen in the 1950's.
There were rare occasions of racism in Craghead, but
on the whole Angela felt happy and looked after by the people in the village.
"I remember when we were playing netball and another
school came to play."
"And our lads from the village would always sit
on top of the wall. And that school brought with it one of those black
plastic winky dolls, and tied it to the goalposts."
"And I remember them lads looking at it, looking
at me, looking at them, and they went "charge" and came off
that wall because it was their Angela. There was a big punch up and we
had to abandon the netball match".
Angela's memories of the village are largely positive.
She remembers Craghead as a busy, vibrant, tight knit community.
In Angela's time the local economy was almost 100% dependant
on the coal mining industry.
These days of course it's a different story.
Craghead Today
 |
| Angela as Mrs
Justin in Ghosthunter. |
Angela left the village at the age of 19; a year after
the pit closed its doors for the last time and hasn't really been back
since. She felt that there had been many changes.
"What do I feel about coming back to Craghead?...
sadness. Sadness that there is so much change, the pit's gone, the community
is decimated - but also proud, and happy to have lived here, met the people
I have and to have all those good memories"
"I'm fortunate to have grown up in Craghead, I
really am".
What Next?
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| Craghead
as it is today |
Craghead, like many mining villages of its time was devastated
with the closure of its pit.
However it has survived, mainly because it has been able
to grow and evolve, just like the community around it.
Many people have moved away from Craghead, the community
spirit has changed, the pit has gone and buildings have been demolished.
But Craghead's history and Angela's memories of the village
will never be forgotten.
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