BEDLINGTON MINERS' PICNICBack in 1960 Ken Russell made a remarkable film about mining in Northumberland called The Bedlington Miners' Picnic.
Forty five years on, Russell is back in the North East revisiting the people and places featured in the film.
It's a poignant story of survival, loss and community spirit.
South East Northumberland was once one of Britain's richest coalfields, producing tons of coal for industry and homes.
Today the coal mining industry is virtually extinct in the North East of England with no deep pits left in production.
Inside Out follows film director Ken Russell as he revisits the area where he shot one of his first documentary films in 1960.
Life's a picnic
"I've worked in the mines now for 10 years and I like it very much. What I'd like is to have five shifts a week till I'm 65 and I'd be a very happy man." John Gibson.  | | King coal - Northumberland was built on the black stuff |
John Gibson was a Bedlington miner in the 1960s working down the pit and making a decent living. He was also the real life star of a Ken Russell documentary film - The Bedlington Miners' Picnic in 1960.
The film is a celebration of the mining community, chronicling its big day out culminating in a brass bands competition and a picnic.
Inside Out reunited Ken Russell with John for the first time in 45 years - a lot has changed since they last met. End of an eraWhen they last met John Gibson was working down the pit, and playing in Pegswood Brass Band in his spare time. Today he's retired, and remembers the mining community fondly. He also recalls its sad decline in the 1970s and 80s. It was a period in his own life when he struggled to make a living. "When the mine closed, I went from colliery to colliery till 1988 when redundancies came up and I took my redundancy.  | | The big reunion - Ken Russell meets John Gibson after 45 years |
"I had to have a job. I had a family. I had a wife and mortgage." John Gibson had been young and fit when he first met Ken Russell. But John's health has suffered as a result of working in the mines for nearly 40 years. "I wasn't in good health due to the pits. I was underweight, overworked - I was 10 and a half stone. I was losing weight."
John Gibson has even had to stop playing his beloved baritone because he isn't fit enough to carry on - he has emphysema.
"I loved it - it was a great interest. I just couldn't blow no more. I got too much coal dust in the lungs." Ken Russell is shocked by John's story, "I'd had no idea that would happen". King coal?
"It looks as if it's finished - looks as if they're closing it for good. Coal mining has finished around here for good. It's a sad, sad time."
John Gibson.
| Bedlington Colliery |
- Bedlington Pit was located in South East Northumberland some 12 miles north of Newcastle.
- The pit opened in 1838.
- It closed down in 1971.
- Coal production peaked at Bedlington Pit in 1950.
- There were no major disasters at this pit but 178 men were killed during the life of the colliery.
- Common causes of fatalities were:
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being crushed by falls of stones/coal or collapsing roofs;
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explosions;
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being crushed by wagons;
- being run over by pit ponies.
- In 1960 Bedlington Colliery employed 2,858 men in A, D and F pits.
- 2,224 men worked below the surface of the pit in 1960.
- Other collieries in and around Bedlington included Francis Pit, Hannah Pit, Howard's West Hartley Pit and Ewart Hill Pit.
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At its peak in 1913, the Great North Coalfield employed almost 录 million men, producing over 56 million tons of coal every year from about 400 pits.
- The North East produced a quarter of Britain's coal in 1913.
- In the 1950s and 1950s the North East was heavily dependent on 'carboniferous capitalism'.
- Coal was known as "the black diamond".
- Ellington Pit was the last deep mine in Northumberland - its closure was announced in early 2005.
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Ken Russell and John Gibson decide to revisit some of the locations from the documentary film. Ken is surprised at how the area has changed. "All those landmarks I was familiar with when I came up here all those years ago, they're gone." Bedlington once owed its whole existence to coal, and mining was the focus for the whole community. Engine houses and their wheels dominated the skyline.
A trip to the site of old Bedlington A-Pit shaft is particularly poignant.
It's one of the few landmarks left. Ken feels depressed by what he sees.
"It's a monument to the mining community. "It's rather pathetic. It's rather sad. "It's all that's left of a thriving mine employing thousands of people." Today coal is no longer king - the last mines have closed and communities are coming to terms with rebuilding their fortunes and restoring their pride.
Nearby at Ellington the last deep mine in Northumberland is about to close.
Community spiritBack in 1960, Bedlington was a close-knit mining community with its own social clubs, community facilities and brass bands.
Much of the community spirit remains, as Ken Russell finds on his visit to meet Wansbeck's Ashington Colliery Brass Band.
"They obviously got something of this community spirit down below while they all looked out for each other and it was terribly dangerous.  | | Top brass - Northumberland brass band contest in 1960 |
"When they went below the surface, they bloody well worked and they worked hard - and I was a witness to that. "And they've survived and they're not bitter about any of the injustices they suffered." Russell believes that the community spirit is still in the air, but he's not sure whether it will survive. "People are doing different kinds of jobs now, they're working at computers. "I don't know that the same spirit will be there in another 45 years time." Brassed off?John Gibson sees the brass band as perhaps the last flowering of the mining community spirit. There were once 24 brass bands in Northumberland's coalfields - now there are just three.
Today Wansbeck's Ashington Colliery Band is made up of some of the young band recruits that John knew in 1960.
 | | Still swinging - Wansbeck's Ashington Colliery Band in 2005 |
They clearly enjoy every minute of playing in the band.
People like Bob Thornton and Pauline Herbertson were teenagers when John was performing in the band in the Sixties.
Now they're part of a new generation of musicians celebrating an old tradition.
Although the pits have closed down, the brass bands are one of the few reminders that coal was once king in this community.
And the band played on...
Back at the rehearsal, Wansbeck Colliery Band sound as mellow and stylish as ever.
The band plays on with as much gusto as in the days when they took to their seats after a hard day down the pit. "I hope the brass bands stay for ever. I hope this one lasts forever," says John Gibson with a hint of sadness in his voice.  | | Sole monument to generations of mine workers |
Ken Russell is also feeling sad about the changes that have taken place over the last 45 years. "The image I'll sadly go away with is this sole cylindrical ventilation shaft with the funny top on it where they used to be a living industry. "That's the monument to a great community. Ken looks at the derelict site, once the heartbeat of the town with thousands of jobs and family livelihoods dependent on it.
But there's no shiney new development or towering memorial on the site of the old pit.
"I'm rather depressed frankly," concludes Ken.
Watch the filmIf you'd like to watch extended excerpts from A Bedlington Miners' Picnic, 大象传媒 Inside Out has exclusive online clips from the film.
Join John Gibson at work and at play, and hear him talking at length about a miner's life.
Watch the Pegswood Colliery Band as they prepare for a major brass band competition. Finally join the Bedlington mining community as they go on their big day out.
We need you!
We'd like to hear from you if you're a former miner or brass band member.
Simply email insideout@bbc.co.uk with your memories and any old photographs on jpeg format - and we'll publish a selection on the website.
Full list of film clips
The
Colliery Band - Bedlington Miners' Picnic (1960/b&w/sound)
Bedlington miner John Gibson talks about the Northumberland Miners' Picnic
and explains the brass band contest. (2 minutes 42 seconds 漏大象传媒)
Judging
The Brass Bands - Bedlington Miners' Picnic (1960/b&w/sound)
Northumberland's colliery bands compete to be top brass whilst the beauty
queens vie for the beauty crown. (3 minutes 27 seconds 漏大象传媒)
At
The Pit - Bedlington Miners' Picnic (1960/b&w/sound)
Miners toil down the pit for the end of a shift and then head off to meet
up with the colliery band. (2 minutes 15 seconds 漏大象传媒)
Band
Rehearsal - Bedlington Miners' Picnic (1960/b&w/sound)
The Pegswood Colliery Band tune up and practice for the Northumberland
Miners' Picnic brass band competition. (1 minute 56 seconds 漏大象传媒)
The
Picnic - Bedlington Miners' Picnic (1960/b&w/sound)
A parade of brass bands march down to the picnic field at the Bedlington
Miners' Picnic. (3 minutes 27 seconds 漏大象传媒)
Evening
Shows - Bedlington Miners' Picnic (1960/b&w/sound)
The Northumberland Miners' Picnic is in full swing with the miners' families
listening to speeches by the politicians and braving a thunderstorm. (1
minute 12 seconds 漏大象传媒)
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听听Inside Out - North East: Monday March 7, 2005
听听REALPLAYER REQUIRED