What is your background/back story?
“I grew up in County Durham and have been in the culture sector for 25 years. Starting out with a degree in Industrial Archaeology, I’ve got a keen interest in science and industrial heritage. I’ve worked at Beamish, Discovery Museum, Locomotion, and all across the North East with Culture Bridge North East. I love working with audiences, engagement, education, community, telling stories – particularly those which are under told, misrepresented, or hidden.”
How long have you worked for Redhills?
“I’m Programme Manager. I started mid-May 2024 so just over 4 months ago, but I have supported Redhills for a long time and I helped out with some of their early consultation work around education.”
What do Redhills do?
“Redhills Miners Hall is a Grade II listed building dating from 1915. It’s the ‘Pitman’s Parliament’ and was named by Historic England in the 100 irreplaceable places list. It is ranked alongside the Palace of Westminster as one of the country’s top ten landmarks in England’s history of power, protest and progress.
“It was the democratic hub of the Durham Miners Association (DMA), and the heart of the Durham Coalfield. From Redhills, collective decisions were made which transformed the cultural and social fabric of the coalfield area. This included Homes for Aged Miners, healthcare for sick and injured miners, support for families and communities, and welfare halls and reading rooms. These were services to the people of the coalfield a generation before the national welfare state was established. The annual Durham Miners Gala, which celebrated its 138th year in 2024, is still going strong.
“Redhills Charity, formed by the DMA, exists to restore the building, saving its archives and collection, and to transform the venue into a centre for culture, heritage and education. It will serve the same communities of the former Durham coalfield as those who created it more than a hundred years ago.
“Following a period of closure for major building development, Redhills will be reopening in Spring 2025. The ambitious programme will transform the building into a multi art form cultural space. People will discover County Durham’s mining heritage through tours, collections, and state-of-the-art digital interpretation. They will explore the themes of welfare, community, environmental issues, and how collective endeavours can be impactful. Our motto is ‘the past we inherit, the future we build’.”
Plans for the future
“Plans at the moment are mostly moving toward a diverse programme starting Spring 2025. Redhills will be a place where people can find out about coalfield heritage and culture in lots of different ways. Expect to see music, talks, comedy, spoken word, and plenty more, responding to the coalfields culture as well as the heritage.
“I’m particularly excited to start developing our youth parliament and school engagement plans too. It is Important that we represent the carbon heritage story and encourage critical thinking and voice around current issues in the spirit of solidarity, debate, and collective endeavours.
“We are very busy as we prepare to open the venue which is currently a big building site. For the first time in its history, the venue will be fully accessible with a new entrance, lifts, hearing loops, blue badge parking spaces, and it will be far more energy efficient with 20 boreholes providing ground source heat pumps and underfloor heating with vents in pitman’s parliament.
“We will also be providing a number of commercial hire opportunities including weddings, office lets, and conferences. It will be an exciting new space for Durham City Centre, hopefully supporting the economic growth and tourism of the area too.”
Other initiatives
“A lot! We’ve been busy even whilst the building has been closed working with audiences and developing our plans.
“For example, we are one of a group of workers’ assembly halls and trade union headquarters globally being put forward for UNESCO world heritage status for Redhills role in championing workers. We expect to find out in 2026/27.
“Coal Face is an example of our current community engagement. A project combining portraiture by Andy Martin and biographies and poems by Dr Louise Powell created from personal recollections from Washington and Sunderland, capturing memories and sense of belonging in the changing coalfield.”
Other organisations
“We work with a really broad range of organisations and that will increase as we open, having a venue will create more opportunities to collaborate. Alongside partnerships with fellow cultural organisations and initiatives, we also work with union and charity organisations such as WEA and Unison and will be increasing our work with schools and youth support providers too. We’ll always work closely alongside the DMA to programme for the Gala and with Durham County Council especially programming for the Durham Brass Festival.”
Why the work of Redhills important
“Community. We start with the people living across the old Durham coalfield area today; County Durham, Sunderland, Gateshead, South Tyneside. They effectively own Redhills and are who we represent, it is a place for the people.
“Redhills, as a cultural venue, will provide something unique in the North East. Blending heritage and more intangible coalfield culture, sharing stories of collective endeavour and encouraging it to continue, being a place for reflection as well as inspiration.”
How do you see the history of Redhills is relevant to the present and future?
“Our motto is’ The past we inherit, the future we build’. This involves sharing hope, aspirations, collective endeavour, acknowledging the hardships. We can take lessons from the past, both good and bad, to inform decisions we make today and into the future.
“The mining heritage and associated coalfield culture is getting further and further away from living memory and is becoming less visible in the landscape. We don’t want it to just slip into nostalgia and to only be represented by the pit wheel sculptures in villages without context. It would be arrogant and wrong for us to say we are the last bastion of retaining that. We work with local heritage groups, communities, other cultural venues and organisations too.
“We also have the opportunity at Redhills to tell the stories and to be a place for the voice of underserved and under-represented people and communities. For example, programming around International Women’s Day and Pride weekend. We’ll be getting out into the communities and the building can be a central space for celebrations and showcasing local initiatives and talent.”
Can Redhills assist in a Just Transition for the Northeast?
“We have already been involved on a European basis through trade union conversations and with academics in Poland, Germany, Spain, and Italy. In Europe, advocates for a Just Transition want to unite social and climate justice and, like the North East, there are ex-coal workers in coal dependent developing regions who now lack employment opportunities beyond the coalfields.
“As we move toward a low carbon future, we need a green economy that is not only sustainable but is also inclusive and understandable for everyone to give us the best chance. By interweaving discussions and associated programming about both carbon heritage and future into the Redhills programming we can help reach a broad audience and support wider initiatives and organisations working toward this. We have a collective responsibility to bring awareness, opportunities, and ultimately work into under-served communities which very much includes the communities we serve.
“We want to be a green workspace and venue ourselves, which is why we have used the opportunity of the capital build work to invest in ground source heating for example. We’ll include interpretation about the carbon footprint of the coalfield which we can’t and shouldn’t shy away from discussing.”
What would be your vision of a better future for people in the Northeast and the country as a whole?
“What happened here in the Durham coalfields was hard and dangerous work, but people found ways to do things together in adverse circumstances. This is even more relevant in the current context of world division. Working together to keep solidarity, equal rights, diversity representation, and collective initiatives at the forefront of what we go on to do is crucial.
“In the North East, my vision is that we can nurture and attract employment opportunities to retain young people growing up in our region in future workforces, and also to give them authentic reasons to be hopeful for the future and aspirational about their local areas.
“I would also like Redhills to play a part in promoting the development of critical thinking skills. Something much needed in today’s society.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Watch this space for Redhills programme and come along on the journey with us!
To learn more about Redhills go to our website and follow us on social media:
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