Why this charity wants Pleasley Pit to stay at the heart of the community for years to come
At the root of every community is a group of hardworking individuals who pour their heart and soul into making where they live a better place for us all.
In many cases that dedication to the cause is carried out by volunteers and charities who willingly give up their time and effort for the area that they love.
That’s very much the case over in Pleasley where one group of kind-hearted locals are doing their pit for the former coal village.
They are volunteers at the Pleasley Pit Trust, which is based at the former colliery site, and work across a number of areas such as the fascinating Heritage Museum, visitor centre and the cafe.
Deborah Darrington is Chief Operating Officer at the Pit Trust and, with strong family links to the Colliery, it’s a role she is very proud to be in.
“I have immense pride in what this place stands for and I hope to goodness it is still standing in another 150 years,” she said.
“It is a privilege to have this job and I take it very seriously. My work is about bringing in new people to see what is here, not only from our locality but from wider afield as well. “Coalmining is a very interesting subject and lots of people want to learn about it.
“We run a cafe seven days a week so we are here for anyone using the country park. Our facilities are open to everyone and that’s how we fund the work we do for the community.
“We employ local people ad have people from college doing work experience as well, so we are helping out younger people as well as the older generation.
“Pleasley Pit is a lot bigger than just Pleasley, although we are so proud and privileged to be in this little community.”
But there’s far more to their vital work than just being on hand to serve up cuppas and have a natter about what mining life used to be like.
In fact there’s a busy summer schedule of events on the horizon aimed at bringing people together to showcase all that is good about the area.
The events programme features a dog show, a food festival on 22nd August and a non alcoholic festival called Hope Fest, which run in partnership with the Rhubarb Farm support charity.
The highlight though is undoubtedly the upcoming Heritage Weekend, which is set to take place over the weekend of 12/13 September. It will feature stalls, charities, fun and games for all the family, music and fully operating steam engines over in the Heritage Museum.
And, for delighted Deborah, the variety of entertaining events are all part of further strengthening the pit’s role in bringing the community together.
“It is all about celebrating the community,” she explains. “We are connecting our heritage and are all about people. We also welcome new people to the community and help them understand the heritage of where coalmining came from and hope it shaped the country park.
“We are hoping to get schools more interested in coming. Pleasley Pit was always the heart of this community when it was an operating colliery because everyone worked here and everyone had a family member who worked here.
“Now it is becoming the heart of the community for connecting people to the country park, to doing nature activities and we have got all these activities that relate to community involvement.”
For further information on what Pleasley Pit has to offer, pop down for yourself, or visit Pleasley Pit Trust on Facebook.