We opened for two days over the Heritage Open Days period of 10th and 11th September. Steve and Pete had dressed as the Smelly Smelter and Grumpy Miner. Steve was in residence at The Barracks and Pete was at Hodgsons Mine Shop. Pete had an interesting Saturday with visitors taking about the Walton family, Auden’s poetry, Archiving methods, geology and the beauty of the valley. On Sunday he got really grumpy because hardly anyone came to see him. The compensations were that the stove was burning well and the kettle was on the boil all day.

Back down at the mine the visitors were arriving and being taken round by our regular and  new Mine Guides. Peter Wilson, Frank Bouweraerts, Chris Buckingham, and Charley Hunt  joined the team and worked with Nick Green, Helen Wilkinson, Alec Langley and Rosemary Vidler.  Donations and cake sales raised over £561 over the weekend.

Martyn Langley took a geology undergrad student into Smallcleugh Mine and helped with location finding for a research project.

Miner and Smelter

John Crompton arrived to donate a large collection of Geological Survey Maps and various mining tools from Alston Moor Mines. Thankyou to John for donating such an important collection.