Former miner to perform one-man show at Eastwood mining heritage event

David Coleman, also known as ‘The Eastwood Pitman’, started working at Moorgreen pit when he was just 15, before spending much of his life as a miner and rescue worker at Thoresby Colliery.

In 1991, David was involved in a very serious accident underground.

“It nearly wiped me off the planet,” he said.

“Two of us were on an underground train going from one level to another and three men at the top let two trucks go.

“They went straight down the ‘drift’ and hit us head on.

“I was knocked unconscious within a spilt second and got multiple life-threatening injuries. I spent nearly a year in hospital.”

It was while David spent time in hospital that he had the idea to write a one-man show all about mining.

“I kept working and working at it before I decided to start performing my show all around the local area and also in schools, like history lessons on mining,” he said.

David performs his show dressed in miner’s gear with dirt smeared across his clothes and face for full authenticity.

“The kids can’t make it out because they’ve never seen a miner and have grown up not knowing what miners look like,” he added.

During his entertaining show, David uses poetry and storytelling to tell the history of mining from the 1900s up to the present day.

He said: “I tell it how it is. I don’t wrap it in cotton wool. There’s a lot of people interested in local history and I’m determined to keep that history alive.

“Sometimes I get people out from the audience doing things and we have a really good laugh.”

David is set to perform next at the Mining Heritage Day event at Eastwood Library on Thursday, May 25, which is on from 11am until 4pm.

The event welcomes ex-miners and families to go along and share stories from their mining days.

Local lad Anthony Kirby will also be sharing his collection of mining memorabilia, and David Amos’ exhibtion ‘Eastwood: Coal, Community and Change’ will also be on display at the free event.