Opening date put forward for rebuilt Brinsley headstocks
The headstocks were part of Brinsley Colliery, which opened in 1842 and closed in 1934, although shafts at the site remained open until 1970 for access to other pits.
'International significance'
After the site fully closed in 1970, it was reclaimed as a nature and picnic area, with the structure acting as a landmark until its removal.The meeting heard the wider project - including a new wildflower meadow and remembrance orchard for miners who lost their lives at the pit - is more than half completed.Milan Radulovic, leader of the council, said: "It will be a tourist attraction not just for the area, but for the wider area and will have international significance."The April deadline reflects a six-month delay to the original project's goal, with the leader of the council previously aiming for the full project to be completed by October 2025.The delay was caused by the discovery of two old mining shafts back in October 2024 from a ground investigation partly using old maps.One of the mining tunnels is underneath the remembrance orchard area and while it was inaccessible, there were concerns the ground above could be unstable.There are also concerns over potential vandalism on the site after two trees in the remembrance orchard were stolen earlier this year,Kennith Hamilton, Chair of Friends of Brinsley Headstocks, the voluntary community group maintaining the site, said vandalism of a new memorial bench, for the 33 people known to have lost their lives at the pit, was his "biggest worry".He said: "It's such a beautiful bench, it's such a good thing for the miners that passed away or got killed at the pit. "If [anyone] vandalises it they should be ashamed of themselves."Radulovic said the council was preparing to put mobile CCTV in place "if we do have any occurrence of vandalism or inappropriate behaviour on that site".He added: "We expect people to treat it with respect and dignity… they [would be] betraying the previous generations that, that is a memorial for, and I expect people that do will be treated accordingly.Around £74,000 has so far been spent on the wider project, the LDRS said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
7/7 bombings: Stories that define the bravery of victims and responders 20 years on
Monday marks 20 years since the 7/7 attacks, which saw four suicide bombers kill 52 people and injure 770 others on the London transport network. The attacks on 7 July 2005 all happened within an hour of each other, with the bombers having met at Luton railway station in the morning before heading to King's Cross. Shezhad Tanweer detonated his device at Aldgate, Mohammed Sidique Khan at Edgware Road, and Germaine Lindsay between King's Cross and Russell Square - all within three minutes of 8.50am. Habib Hussain detonated his bomb on board the number 30 bus at Tavistock Square at 9.47am. Two decades have passed, but for the victims' families, survivors and the responders, the impact is still being felt. Sky News spoke to some of the people profoundly affected by the attacks. Passenger went back to the tracks to save lives Adrian Heili was in the third carriage of the westbound Circle Line train heading towards Paddington. It was in the second carriage that Mohammad Sidique Khan blew up his device at Edgware Road, killing six people. If Adrian hadn't been there, it may well have been more. He managed to get out of the train and, having previously served as a medic in the Armed Forces, instantly made it his mission to save as many lives as possible. "Instinct took over," he tells Sky News. 1:48 His bravery first brought him to Daniel Biddle, who had been blown out of the second carriage and was now trapped in a tight space between the tunnel wall and the track. Adrian remembers crawling in blood to reach Daniel, who he now calls Danny. His left leg had been blown off, his right severed from the knee down and he lost an eye, along with suffering other extensive injuries. He pinched shut the artery in Daniel's thigh to stop the bleeding until paramedics got to him. Daniel has written a book about his experiences, titled Back From The Dead, and has credited Adrian with saving his life. Adrian eventually helped first responders carry him out. Then he went back into the tunnel several times over to assist with the evacuation of 12 other people. He pays tribute to the first responders at the scene, who he says were "amazing". "Myself and another gentleman by the name of Lee Hunt were the last to actually leave Edgware Road," he adds. "And I remember sitting at the top of the platform on the stairs and just looking out after everyone had left." In his book, Daniel has been open about his struggles with PTSD after the attack. Adrian says he has had a "very good support network" around him to help him deal with the aftermath, and adds that talking about it rather than "holding it in" has been vital. "It still plays an effect on myself, as it has with Danny," he says, who he has formed a close bond with. He says PTSD triggers can be all around the survivors, from police and ambulance sirens to the smell of smoke from cooking. "But it's how we manage those triggers that that define us," he says. On the 20-year anniversary, he adds: "It's going to be an emotional time. But I think for me, it's going to be a time of reflection and to honour those that are not with us and those that were injured. "They still have a voice. They have a voice with me and I'll remember it. I'll remember that day and that, for me, is very important." 'Instinctively, I decided to see if there was something I could do to help' You may recognise Paul Dadge from the photograph below, where he's helping a 7/7 bombing victim after she sustained severe burns to her face. 1:17 It went viral before the social media age, featuring on the front of national newspapers, and in others across the world. The Londoner, who was 28 at the time, was on his way to an office in Hammersmith where he had just got a job. He passed Edgware Road, where he saw a commotion as people rushed out of the station, and an emergency responder go in. He didn't yet know that one of the bombers had just set off the explosive in their backpack. "Instinctively, I decided to see if there was something I could do to help," he told Sky News. Paul, who was a former firefighter, made an announcement to those standing outside the station, telling them to stick together if they had been affected by whatever had happened and to wait at a shop near the scene until they had spoken to a police officer. Many had black soot on their faces, he says, adding that he initially assumed it was due to a power surge. Eventually the store was evacuated, so Paul went with the victims to a nearby hotel, and it was while doing so that photographers snapped the famous photos of him comforting the victim with a gauze mask, who had been badly burned. He started noting down the names and details of those who had been injured, along with the extent of their injuries, so that he could pass them onto the emergency services. It was only three hours after the incident that Paul found out the injuries had been caused by an attack. His actions had him deemed a hero by the public. "I know that after that bombing had occurred, everybody worked together as a team," he says. "I think it's a bit of a British thing, really, that when we're really in trouble, we're very, very good at working together to help each other." He says he is still in touch with people he met on that day, including the victim he was photographed with, who was later revealed to be then 25-year-old Davinia Douglass. He also says the rest of his life has been "carved" by that day, and that he is now much more politically active and conscious of how emergency services respond to major incidents. He believes emergency services are "a lot more prepared than they were on 7th July", but adds that he still thinks they would find it "very difficult" to deal with an incident on the scale of the 7/7 attacks today. 'What is haunting are those screams' Sajda Mughal is a survivor of the bombing that hit a Piccadilly line train between King's Cross and Russell Square. She tells Sky News that about 10 seconds after leaving King's Cross "there's a massive bang… which was the explosion". "The train shook as if it was an earthquake, and came to a sudden standstill. I fell off my chair to the ground, people fell forward, lights went out." 1:22 Sajda adds: "The black smoke that was coming through, it was really intense. And then all I could hear was screams. I could hear people screaming, I could hear people shouting, someone grabbing on to me saying, 'are you okay'." She was "frozen and just going into that thought process of we're going to die, and then me thinking I haven't said bye to my loved ones, I haven't got married, I haven't had kids, I haven't seen the world." She says that "what is haunting from that morning are those screams and hearing 'blood, she's hurt, he's hurt'". Sajda says that as she and others were escorted out through the carriage to King's Cross, the emergency services told them not to turn around and don't look back. She thinks that was because the rescuers didn't want them to see injured individuals, "so it was a very, very surreal, very traumatic and emotional experience". Sajda, who is the only known Muslim survivor of 7/7, says getting through the attack alive "turned my life around 360". "I took that pain and I turned it into a positive because I didn't want that happening again. And so I left the corporate world, I left my dream to want to change hearts and minds." She became involved with the JAN Trust, including its work countering extremism. "I have travelled across the UK, I've worked with thousands of mothers and Muslim mothers. I have helped to educate them on radicalisation. And I've heard from mothers whose sons… went to Syria, who joined ISIS and died." Calls for a public inquiry Graham Foulkes, whose son David was killed in the Edgware Road Tube bomb, wants there to be a public inquiry into what happened. He says a "public inquiry is the only way because at a public inquiry people can be compelled to come and give evidence. At an inquest, they can just say 'no, I'm not coming' and that's what happens". 1:17 He adds: "The fact that we're here 20 years later, there are unanswered questions and terrorists are still slipping through, still getting past MI5, still get past MI6 and MI5, needs to be answered. "We need to have a better system in place and by not being honest and open about what happened 20 years ago, we've got no mechanism in place at all. "It's still the same people making the same decisions that allowed MSK [Mohammed Sidique Khan] to get through and allowed the Manchester Arena attack and the Westminster Bridge attack. It's still the same people, still the same processes. The processes need to change." Speaking of the last 20 years, Graham says: "We're lucky enough to have a daughter, and we have the two most wonderful grandchildren as well. But we should have a son, and he should have his family. "And I shouldn't be having this conversation with you. I should be at home at this time having dinner or going to the pub with David, and it's not possible to describe the feeling of having your son murdered in such a pointless way." 'The resilience was as inspiring as the attack was ghastly' "Most of all, my thoughts are with the families of the 52 people who lost their lives and also the more than 700 who were injured, some of them horrifically seriously on that day," Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley starts as he speaks to Sky News. He then pays tribute to those who stepped forward on the day, like Paul Dadge, and the emergency services, who he says acted "extraordinarily" to help others. "They and the families and the victims - what strikes me is how they're still carrying the effects of that day through to today and for the rest of their lives," he adds, saying you can still see the "heavy burden" many of them carry 20 years on. 1:30 The commissioner, who was a senior officer in Surrey at the time, says he remembers the "slow horror" of watching on as investigating and reporting uncovered what had happened. "The way everyone stepped forward, the bravery… the resilience was as inspiring as the attack was ghastly." He says the attacks have led to "massive changes" in counter-terrorism work to better protect the public. "The first was the changes that brought policing and our security services, particularly MI5, much more close together so that we now have the closest joint operating arrangements anywhere in the world," he says. "And secondly, counter-terrorism work became something that wasn't just about what was based in London and a network was built with bases in all of the regions across the country." He adds the unit now has a reach "far stronger and far more effective at protecting communities than we had before that day". Asked about those who may still feel under threat from similar attacks now, he says the public has "extraordinary people working hard day in and day out to protect you" and that policing and security services have strengthened due to experiences like that of the 7/7 bombings. "The efforts of all those who were involved on that day… that all feeds through to today… [and gives us] one of the strongest and most effective preventative approaches you could possibly have," he says.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Letchworth Lido clean-up operation begins after flooding
A clean-up operation has begun after a town's 1930s outdoor pool was forced to close as a result of flooding. The operators of the 50m (164ft) lido at Norton Common, Letchworth in Hertfordshire, announced the closure after the rain on Active, which operates the pool for the council, posted on Facebook and said: "We are busy cleaning up after the flood... it is now raining again". It added it would provide an update in due course. Owner North Hertfordshire Council is due to mark the pool's 90th anniversary with a family celebration event on 26 July. Everyone Active did not expand on the nature of the flooding in its social media someone responded to the post saying the Pix Brook on the common "burst its banks and flooded the whole area with nasty water" adding it "def seems to happen every year or two". Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Why I kick down Peak District stone stacks
BBC Stone stacks are a common sight along hiking trails up and down the UK. But one walker is on a mission to highlight the damage they can do to the environment - by kicking them over. Stuart Cox says some people have been building the stacks - some as tall as 6ft (1.8m) - using stones taken from an old wall near Mam Tor in the Peak District in Derbyshire. A recent video he filmed of himself kicking down the stacks has been watched more than a million times on social media. And the Peak District National Park Authority says the structures are "detrimental" to the area, and have become more prevalent in recent years. "Look at this," Stuart says, before swearing in frustration during his Facebook video on 20 May. "Destroy the lot of them." He then proceeds to kick down a stone stack. The 57-year-old, who works as a chartered engineer, lives in the Derbyshire village of Castleton, a short drive from Mam Tor. He's passionate about the area, and regularly documents his hikes on his Peak District Viking page. But his post about the dozens of stacks, built next to the busy Great Ridge footpath - about a 15-minute hike from the summit of Mam Tor - has received the most engagement. "The majority of people have been quite supportive saying: 'Yeah, I hate them. We reduce them back to their natural state if we see them. Totally agree with you'," he said. "Then I had the opposite reaction which was: 'Don't tell me what to do. I'll build them if I want and I'll carry on regardless'. "I even had a couple of threats by private message, but I don't worry about those." The Peak District is far from the only location where stone stacks have proven problematic. For example, campaigners said towers of stones on a Scottish beach were a worrying trend. Stuart says the stacks in his video have been built using stones taken from a former boundary wall, which ran alongside the popular Great Ridge walk. He is concerned this has damaged the habitats of the small creatures - such as frogs, toads and insects - that lived inside the wall. It is a view shared by the National Trust. "The majority of the stone stacks featured in this video are not on National Trust land," a spokesperson said. "However, there have been stacks created on parts of Mam Tor, and staff and volunteers will infrequently disassemble any found." The trust says stone stacks have also been an issue on land it is responsible for. It added rangers had carried out extensive work to protect and preserve the hillfort at Mam Tor, which is a "scheduled monument and is of great archaeological importance". "The Peak Forest Wall is also historically significant, itself dating back to 1579," a spokesperson added. "Sadly, the stone stacks are not only impacting the history of the site, but they are also affecting the natural habitats of wildlife that live and feed within these ancient walls. "In the longer-term, it will disrupt the delicate balance of the landscape." Stuart says there is evidence of stones being removed from paths, which he says could lead to further erosion at an already popular walking spot. According to The Countryside Code, visitors should "leave rocks, stone, plants and trees as you find them and take care not to disturb wildlife including birds that nest on the ground". Anna Badcock, cultural heritage manager at the national park authority, says the stacks damage the "special qualities" of the national park and that the problem has got worse in recent years. "[Stone stacks] are created by stone removed from historic features," she said. "They are very detrimental to the historic environment which we have a statutory duty to conserve. "Like walkers' cairns [a marker along a trail], once one is created, it encourages more." The authority says its rangers generally do not remove the stacks "unless they are dangerous or causing an obstruction on a right of way". "We're aware that the National Trust rangers have removed some at Mam Tor for this very reason," a spokesperson added. Stuart said he had tried to make contact with the owner of the land on which the stacks are located, and had offered to help rebuild the wall. And while his video has attracted some debate on social media, he hopes it might make a small difference to the place he loves. He added: "I'm very passionate about the area, it's an area people live and work in, and to see it being trashed, you know, it does rile you a bit. "The more important element [of reaction to his video] was: 'I thought you were a bit of a fool when I first watched the start of the video but by the time I got to the end of it I realised, actually I didn't know that and from now on I will not build the stacks'. "That's the important bit for me. Even if a handful of people have realised the error of their ways, then that made it all the more worthwhile." Follow BBC Derby on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@ or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.
