Solidarity, Miners statue in Langley Park, Durham

When you believe that a part of the history of your area should be remembered, then some people set to it.

I am grateful to Dr Ron Lawson for his insights into how this all came to fruition, along with the use of the photos as Solidarity was created.

Five ladies formed a posse to have something to commemorate the mining days in the area of Langley Park. The dramatic Solidarity statue certainly does that.

Langley Park Colliery closed in 1975 after producing coal for 102 years. Each lady had a relative who worked at the pit and one, Christine Pringle, was two years old when her 29-year-old father Eric Weighill met his death in a rock fall at the mine in 1971. He was the last man to die at the pit by an accident. Since 1873, 62 men had lost their lives there.

The ladies raised £22,000 and further funds were contributed by the County Durham Community Foundation, Esh Parish Council, Durham County Council's Area Action Partnership, and the Sir James Knott Trust (famous for the North Shields Memorial flats) which had owned the colliery and he was also a shipping magnate.

One of the village's oldest surviving former pitmen, Maurice Saville unveiled the statue in 2019,

I enquired as to naming it Solidarity, Dr Lawson wrote:

"The ladies from the village community group who commissioned the work named it Solidarity to reflect the community spirit."

The sculpture was designed by Sunderland-based artist Mark Burns Cassell, who used his grandad Jack Malone for some of the features, as he used to work down the Langley Park Mine.

The sculptor is Dr Ron Lawson who is also a fine art painter, tattoo artist, metal artist, and drummer. Look out for the name Stanson which is a tribute to his father. He had worked as a sheet metal worker before turning to art, and now has an MBA and an MA in Contemporary Fine Art. For sculptures, he works in steel and bronze. He was commissioned for this piece by Mark Burns Cassell. Ron explains why.

"At the time I started to rent a studio space from Mark, who had already won the commission. He was aware of my sculpture skills and subcontracted me to do the work."

In answer to the inspiration Dr Lawson wrote:

"Mark wanted the piece to have a contemporary and stylised feel, but still represent a miner. I made the work to suit his commission proposal."

Ron also stated:

"The work is made from steel and painted black to represent the coal. (It's ready for a recoating). The monkey wrench and the pick are actual pit artefacts welded into the piece."

As to the a era of the miner Ron wrote:

"It was taken from the pit pre-closure era."

Notice how the 10 foot miner looks over to where the colliery used to be? The miner's lamp in his chest is emblematic of the dedication and sacrifice made working in the pit.

Whilst in Langley Park (not the one in Perth, Australia) near Durham City you may which to explore the area. It is home to Diggerland which is where the colliery was. The village All Saints Church has a grave for the unknown soldier, the only one outside London in the UK. The River Browney runs to the north of the village with the former Lanchester Valley Railway running alongside it and is now popular with fit cyclists and walkers as there are some 1:10 slopes.