Museum marks nationalisation

The celebrations will start on January 1 in honour of Vesting Day, which took place on January 1, 1947, and marked the end of a long fight for a better life, in and out of the pit with the creation of the National Coal Board (NCB).

The Overton museum will mark the day through its social media channels.

It will also launch a new exhibition ‘For the People, By the People’ on April 3.

The display will explore the impact of nationalisation on coal mining and there will be opportunities for communities to share stories and memories of what nationalisation means to them.

To support the exhibition, the museum will be running three events in conjunction with Wakefield Library and West Yorkshire Archives Service. Each event will invite members of the public to join an afternoon of sharing memories and stories of their personal experiences of the mining industry pre and post nationalisation to form part of the narrative for the exhibition.

The events will run from 1pm to 4pm on Tuesday, January 24 at the National Coal Mining Museum for England, on Tuesday, February 28 at South Elmsall Library, and on Tuesday, march 21 at West Yorkshire Archives Service.

1947 saw more than 800 coal mines came under the ownership of the NCB, which oversaw production and development, regulated wages, and introduced widespread safety and welfare reforms.