Silhouette statue of a miner to be added to Derbyshire pit memorial if council planners give it the go-ahead

Killamarsh Heritage Society has applied to North East Derbyshire District Council for permission to erect the silhouette on a grass verge at Westthorpe Fields Road beside a monument to Westthorpe Colliery.

A decision on the application to put up the statue is pending.

The colliery stood on Green Lane, Killamarsh from 1923 to 1984. Thirty years after its closure the heritage society decided to put a memorial in place so that current and future generations would remember the village’s mining history. That memorial was unveiled by Arnold Vardy, the last manager and Joss Pearson, the NUM secretary at the pit for many years, at a ceremony attended by ex-miners and Killamarsh schoolchildren whose grandads, great-grandads and great-great grandads worked at the pit.

Westthorpe Hills, where the colliery formerly stood, is now a countryside site with woodland, grassland, pond and surfaced paths. At least 38 species of breeding birds have made their home there.