The Foundation sponsor a seat in The Pitmen’s Parliament
The Foundation was pleased to receive our replica pit token for the seat we have sponsored in the Pitmens Parliament to help with the planned refurbishment of Redhills in Durham. This was in recognition of all the miners who worked in collieries in and around the Crookhall area and were represented in Redhills by a delegate who would have sat in seat 169.
If you have a relative you would like to remember you can sponsor a seat by following this link http://www.durhamminers.org/your_seat
Redhills Appeal Background
Redhills located in Durham City was built in 1915 and is one of the world’s finest trade union buildings. Known as The Pitman’s Parliament, it contains a Grade II-listed council chamber where elected delegates from more than 200 collieries on the Durham Coalfield would take their seat. The collective decisions made in The Pitman’s Parliament resulted in the delivery of a range of welfare services and facilities for the people of County Durham, including medical provision, libraries, community centres, retirement homes and sports fields.
A survey by Historic England concluded that Redhills was one of the 100 most irreplaceable buildings in the country but the building requires extensive repairs to halt the irreparable damage being done to its structure
A campaign to save Redhills began more than two years ago, and has received messages of support from more than 2,000 members of the public, and organisations from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London to banner groups and individuals from across County Durham. Durham County Council has pledged to support the project with £1.1m of matched funding.
As part of this campaign an appeal was launched to save The Pitmen’s Parliament with tokens being sold to raise funds to help with its refurbishment. As a result of money raised the seats were fully refurbished and the tokens purchased affixed to the underside of the newly restored seats to act as a lasting memory for those people and organisations, such as The Foundation, who chose to support the project and honour relatives, friends and colleagues who worked at the various collieries represented.
It was announced in March 2020 that an initial Lottery grant of £400,000 had been awarded which will enable emergency repairs to be carried out and allow progress towards a second stage of funding worth £3.8m.
Immediate concerns for the building include curing dry rot in the roof and modernising the electrics. Other phases of the renewal include structural work to restore the fine façade and an archiving programme to save vital historic documents.
A key part of the programme is new, flexible space to the rear of the building to improve accessibility and unlock the potential of Redhills as a centre of heritage, education and culture for the Durham coalfield and beyond. We wish the project well.