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The memories of African Caribbeans who worked in Nottinghamshire’s coal mines will form part of a new lottery funded project. The Voice spoke to Norma Gregory to find out what inspired it.
THE SAYING, ‘You are only a handshake or two away from a coal miner’, seems to resonate now more than ever before, in Britain’s social, political and industrial landscape. However, little is known about the experiences of miners of African Caribbean heritage in the UK until now.
Nottingham News Centre, a community interest company that aims to improve the sourcing, collating and sharing of diverse local history and community news has been awarded a special grant to launch a special project looking at the history of African Caribbbean miners.
Coal Miners of African Heritage: Narratives from Nottinghamshire, will document the memories of former African- Caribbean coal miners in Nottinghamshire.
The project will cover the nationalisation of British coal in 1947, the miners’ strikes of the 1970s and 1984/1985 and to the demise of British coal mining in recent years.
The project, which is funded by a £9,600 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund East Midlands and will involve supporting organisation Communities Inc., will work with volunteers from the local community to focus on captur¬ing, preserving and recording the memories of black minority ethnic (BAME) ex-miners of Nottinghamshire’s coalfields.
And according to Norma Gregory, historian and founder of Nottingham News Centre, the project is a hugely important one.
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