MINERS' fortnight is being recalled with a special exhibition at Big Pit, Blaenavon.

The traditonal workers holiday which was taken in the last week of July and the first week of August whilst the mines closed for two weeks for annual maintenance. Thousands of miners and their families would flock to the seaside .

Des Harris, 62, now at miner guide at the Big Pit Museum, took his first holiday with his family in 1970 during the fortnight holiday.

Mr Harris, grew up in Markham and started working underground at the colliery when he was 15 years-old. He remembers going on day trips to Barry Island every summer as a child.

The father-of-three, who retired from the 32 years later, saved up and took his family on their first fortnight holiday to Porthcawl during Miners Fortnight in 1970.

"We were picked up by a bus from our village and taken to Porthcawl where there were thousands of other miners and their families," he said.

"We rented a caravan at Trecco Bay caravan park which at the time was the biggest in Europe . We used to call it ‘Butty Bay’ as you would often bump into friends whilst there."

Mr Harris returned to the resort for the next five years with his children Karan, Claire and Joanne.

"Going abroad was expensive in those days but when the wages went up we were able to go to Spain," he added.

Fellow miner guide, David Trapnell, 54 of Blaina began working in Roseheyworth Colliery, Abertillery, at the age of 16 in 1974. When it closed he moved to Oakdale Colliery in Blackwood until its closure in 1989 and worked for a short time at Taff Merthyr.

He remembers holidays in Porthcawl as a youngster with his father who was also a miner.

He said: "I was about six or seven when we would visit the fair, spend time on the beach eating candy and toffee apples–it was an exciting adventure in those days."

"It took forever to get there as we didn’t have cars," he added.

The father-of-three, who has been a Big Pit guide for seven years, said his first holiday abroad was in his late teen’s when he went to Paris, France after he got married.

To mark Miners Fortnight visitors to Big Pit Museum can see a Sea, Sand and Coaldust exhibition and watch documentaries about the seaside in times gone by. The museum has been transformed into a seaside resort with traditional deck chairs and Punch and Judy.

Activities for children include a seaside art workshop with artist Becky Adams, making mini passports, postcards and luggage labels as well as magical storytelling and seaside memories of summer for those in the coalfield communities.

The Museum is open between 11am and 4pm . The workshops take place on 1,3,and 5th August.

For details visit www.museumwales.ac.uk