BIG Pit National Coal Museum is celebrating its 40th anniversary and preparing for a day of festivities.
Big Pitt will welcome visitors to revisit the past, enjoy the present and look forward to the next 40 years on Saturday, April 22, from 10am-4pm.
The day will include an artisan food, craft & gift market supplied by Green Top Events, performances from local rock band Full Dark, No Stars, Beaufort Male Voice Choir and Blaenavon Intergenerational Group, children’s craft activities, speeches, an underground tour and birthday cake.
Big Pit was one of the last working coal mines in Blaenavon until it closed on February 2, 1980, resulting in the loss of more than 250 jobs.
Standing shoulder to shoulder and fuelled by a camaraderie spirit, Welsh miners in the valleys were at the heart of this industry - thanks to the landscape's rich coal reserves.
Information assistants at Big Pit in 1983 with their manager Mr Gwynn Angell Jones (far right)
Ex Miner Terry Mason, who lives in Varteg said: "These valleys - like Blaenavon - are only here because of the industry.
"People moved to these villages because of the work.
"Because of the amount of coal we were at the centre of industrial Britain.
"It is very sad that the mines in this area have now gone.
"But that is the way some industries go."
Terry Mason a former miner. Picture: www.christinsleyphotography.co.uk
Soon after the pit closed, Torfaen Borough Council bought the site for £1 and it was given to a charitable trust called the Big Pit (Blaenavon) Trust to manage the conversion to a heritage museum.
The initial development cost £1.5 million with funding from the Welsh Tourist Board, the European Regional Development Fund, the borough council and Gwent County Council. The mine reopened for visitors in 1983.
On February 1, 2001 Big Pit Coal Museum became incorporated into the National Museum and Galleries of Wales as the National Mining Museum of Wales.
A photograph from the archives of miners in Big Pit. Picture: John Cornwell
Now instead of mining coal, Bit Pit draws in visitors as one of the UK’s leading mining museums.
A spokesperson for Big Pit said: “Big Pit has seen many developments over the last 40 years – from its conception as a charitable trust in 1983, to joining the family of Amgueddfa Cymru-Museum Wales, achieving lottery funding, winning the Gulbenkian Museum of the Year Award and more recently the development and growth of our succession planning and apprenticeship scheme.
“We are delighted to be celebrating our 40th Anniversary and look forward to welcome visitors and the local community to help us celebrate.”
Since opening in April 1983, Big Pit has welcomed over 4 million visitors. Attractions include a 300 feet underground tour to find out what life was like for the thousands of men who worked at the coal face.
Underground tunnel. Picture: Big Pit
In December 2017, The Museum welcomed its first female mining apprentice and tour guide, Emma Long, onto its apprenticeship scheme, which aims to ensure the future of the museum through maintaining the mine and its legacy.
At the time, Miss Long said: “It’s a unique opportunity to be a part of Big Pit’s future, moving forward.
“I think if you have a passion for something, regardless of whether you are a man or woman, you should give it a go."
In 2012, the museum invested in solar energy and installed 200 photovoltaic solar panels on the roof of the Big Pit museum building.
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