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Some of the images used on this padlet are from Social media sites and are used for education purposes only “no copyright infringement is intended”

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Thinking of street signs, the history of Blackhall Colliery, I thought I would push this a bit further and incorporate it within the Ecopoem, as in possible illustration and came up with this piece below. The background I created using black masonry paint, mixed with mod podge to create texture, I then rubbed over the textures with charcoal. I then experimented further and added pencil shavings with mod podge on some of this, interpreting the demolishment of the mining buildings. These textured backgrounds lead you into East street which then take you into the numbered streets, where the miners lived. I did outline Sixth Street a bit bolder, as this street was apparently where the mining officials lived, the bigger terraced houses.  I had thought about breaking the numbered streets up to create the word ‘drugs’ in the bottom half of the poem, but thought this might be a bit too much, as I do think it does a look a bit overcrowded, I probably could have been a bit more poetic in the placement of the mid section of the poem.

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A Collaborative idea of Place and its memories

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A Collaborative idea of Place and its memories

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I have created video footage of the process of my idea for creating a memory time capsule in the shape of a piece of coal, but I have been unable to upload to my blog, due to file size constraints.
I began with printed images of some of the miners, folded these images up and placed into a small plastic capsule. I printed images of the mines, the wheels, the history, the demolition, then wrapped these around the capsule. I mixed black masonry paint with mod-podge and spread it over the wrapped capsule, then left to dry.
Thinking about this on a larger scale, this would be a great project for the residents of Blackhall Colliery to be part of, for those where family members were part of the deep-rooted history of the mining industry, providing images, memories and placing them within the capsule before it is sealed and converted into an illusion of a piece of coal filled with memories.

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My creative response to my derive in Blackhall Colliery took me down the deep rooted history route of the mining era and the familiar numbered streets.  I started with the image of the mining wheel, replacing the spokes with the interpretation of the numbered streets originally belonging to the miners.  Then I came across a great image from my Facebook research with the long lift used to take miners down the pit and thought this would be a great addition to add as the main support for the wheel.  The initial idea was for this to be created using engraved metal, although I thought this was a nice idea, unfortunately I don’t have this talent.  I then moved on to experimenting with creating coal textures using black masonry paint mixed with mod podge, then when dry, rubbing over the the textures with charcoal sticks, which I believe produced quite a good resemblance to coal, adding some shiny textures against Matt as you do see in coal.

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Although I do love a bit of poetry, my confidence in this subject on a scale of 1 - 10 is a 2.

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But not to put a negative on Blackhall Colliery. This village has some of the most honest and nicest people.  I came across an article where money was being left in bags in random places across Blackhall Colliery, the residents who found these bags of cash handed it into police.  The bags contained cash in the thousands left by two people who wanted to give back to the Blackhall community to say thankyou for the help provided to them when they were going through tough times.  This is beginning to feel like a wonderful little fairytale village.

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I continued my derive on Google maps and came across numbered streets both in Blackhall Colliery and a further mile down the road in Horden which did raise questions, so I raised this on social media with the Blackhall Facebook groups and Nextdoor app and received such a great response. Some of them had some funny stories to share that were told to them by their parents, grandparents. The streets were owned and named by the mining collieries, built for the miners.  When the pits were closed down, the numbered terraced houses were sold on, some of which were purchased by invisible landlords and rented out to unwanted guests, thieves, drug dealers etc. I feel they are adding a black mark to the routed history of this once was a thriving, mining community.

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These changes do get me thinking, what does our future bring?  So much has changed over with today’s ever growing and changing digital technology.  Everything is so alien to what it was fifty year ago, when mining was such a huge workforce and today most people are now sitting behind a desk which was not heard of fifty year ago.

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I came across a local artist, Headley Mason some time ago, on Facebook who creates regular pieces of temporary stone pebble art on Blackhall Beach.  Local residents often go down to see what his next pieces are.  He spends hours creating these pieces, only for the tide to come and wash them away.

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When you compare the images from the ‘Get Carter’ series, with the dark black sandy beach, so much has changed, these beaches are now nice to walk along, still black in places, but they are getting there.  This is now classed as heritage coast.

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During my research it was interesting to find that Blackhall Colliery has been used on a few occasions for filming, Get Carter, The Last Kingdom and Vera from ITV, which was only last year 2021, and I did nip down there on my scooter to get a glimpse.  The filming of Vera’s little jeep was created using a camera drone, how far we have come digitally is unbelievable.

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I have begun with wider research on the deep-rooted history of Blackhall Colliery, a former mining village.  I began by collecting research from a social media platform ‘ Facebook’ (11) Blackhall Have Your Say | Facebook, where I came across another resource where I also found a great video in reference to East Street, as well as some great photographs. (11) Watch | Facebook.

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I have noticed that many of my photographic choices do include signs, telegraph poles, cables, shadows etc. There is a lot of urban feeling going on in the photographs I have taken, and obvious history which needs further investigation. All the wiring around the fences in connection with the bridges, the metal gates preventing access, what is all this about? Where is it all connected to? The place is empty, there is obviously some history around this, that needs investigating.

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Now I am approaching Blackhall Rocks, which takes you down to the seafront.  All is quiet, except for the rare sound of a car driving past.  Unfortunately, I can’t get all the way down to this part due to bollards, which have been put in place to prevent motor cyclists and go-karts from getting through and ruining the new growing heritage coast.

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The beginning of my Phsychogeographical Journey of Place

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The beginning of my Phsychogeographical Journey of Place

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I am Beginning my phsychogeographical journey in my home town, Blackhall Colliery, an old pit mining village on the north-eastern coast.  I call this place, bungalow city, this is such a mobility friendly place, one of the reasons I moved here nearly four year ago. Due to Corona and health, mobility challenges, I don’t know much about the history of this place, so I am looking forward to exploring with my two new electric mobility explorers, one travelling up to 4mph, so great for drifting on flat ground and the other at 8mph, where I can explore that bit further and on heavier terrain.  My route is beginning on the Coast Road.