Cannock Chase Mining Historical Society

At the Annual General Meeting on 16^th February a new Committee was elected and they commenced their duties on 24^th February 2010.

Chairman - Alan Dean; a founder member and Committee member since 2002

Vice Chairman - Peter Barker who has been a Committee member 4 years

Treasurer - Margaret Dean, a Committee member for the last 4 years.

Membership Secretary - John Ashley, new to the Committee.

Secretary - Mick Lucas, past Secretary and treasurer now returning to the Committee after a short absence.

Ordinary members - Harry Gibson has been a Committee member for 4 years and now organises the talks.

Rod Spruce and Malcolm Baker are both new members of the Committee.

If you need to contact the Committee you can on e-mail enquiries@ccmhs.co.uk or write to M Lucas at 10 Viewfield Avenue, Hednesford, Cannock Staffs WS12 4JF.

As you can see there has been continuity from the very start of the Society and the committee now has 3 new members who will no doubt have fresh ideas.

Talks for 2010

The talks will all be evening talks at the Museum of Cannock Chase, Valley Road, Hednesford.

Our first talk will take place on 13^th April at 7pm to 9pm. This will be a very interesting talk by Ron Bradbury, Chairman of Burntwood Heritage Society; on John Robertson McLean who was the founder of the Cannock Chase Colliery Company.

Then on 6^th July 2010, 6.30pm to 8.30pm, we have Ian Wykes from Staffordshire County Council coming to tell us about the “The Great War Camps” on Cannock Chase.

Around October we plan to have Alan Dean to give us a presentation about the West Cannock Colliery Company 1869-1982.

All our meetings are open to the public and entrance is free, you do not have to be a miner to join us so come along and hear about the men & women who shape the society we live in today.

Events and Displays in 2010.

The society has always endeavoured to have displays around the district to promote our mining heritage. This year promises to be very busy and we will have displays at the following events.

Saturday 15^th and Sunday 16^th May - the Museum and The Friends celebrate their 21^st anniversary and are organising a Local History Exhibition - 11am to 4pm each day.

Saturday 19^th May - 11am to 5pm, Great Wyrley Historical Society has an open day at the Working Men’s Club on the Walsall Road, Great Wyrley

Also on Saturday 19th May -11pm - 3pm the Brereton & Ravenhill Heritage Committee are holding an event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of Lea Hall Colliery at which hopefully they will unveil a memorial to Lea Hall Colliery. We are donating a historical sign which will be placed on the memorial and will show the local community what Lea Hall Colliery looked like and exactly where it was located. We will also have a display about Brereton Colliery and Lea Hall Colliery compiled by Ken Edward.

17^th July is the time chosen to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the opening of Lea Hall. Brereton & Ravenhill Heritage Committee are holding this event and hopefully unveiling a memorial. We will have a display there but more importantly we intend to erect a permanent sign to show the local community what Lea Hall Colliery looked like and where it was.

Chase Wakes 24^th and 25^th July - always a great day out weather permitting.

No doubt there will be more.

Books

Currently there are 15 books available in our library, so make sure you have a complete set:-

The Cannock Chase Coalfield and its Coalmines; £15.00 + p&p

Brereton Collieries 1791-1960; by Ken Edwards £7.00 + p&p

Hilton Main and Holly Bank Collieries; by Trevor Matthews £7.00 + p&p

Cannock and Rugeley Colliery Company; by Ken Edwards £7.00 + p&p

Coppice Colliery and Cannock & Leacroft Colliery; by Dennis Jackson £7.00 + p&p

William Harrison Company Limited; by Mick Drury £7.00 + p&p

Conduit and Littleton Collieries; by Mick Drury £7.00 + p&p

Coal Mining in the north east section of Walsall Metropolitan Borough; by Brian Rollins £7.00 + p&p

Lea Hall Colliery 1948-1960; by the lat Graham Warburton and completed by Ken Edwards £7.00 + p&p

The Cannock Chase Mines Rescue Organisation, Education & Training in the Cannock Chase Coalfield; by Jack Sunley and Maurice Davies £7.00 + p&p

The Cannock Chase Colliery Company 1859-1955; By Peter Barker £7.00 + p&p

Chronicles of the East Cannock Colliery Companies 1870-1957. by Alan Dean £7.00 + p&p

The Coppice Colliery 1842-1908; by Ken Edwards £7.00 + p&p

Fair Oak Colliery Company by Ken Edwards £7.00 + p&p

The hutment Communities by Mick Drury (a non mining book) £5.00 + p&p

Don’t hold your breath but the Author, Alan Dean and the Editor, Mick Lucas, both promise that the long awaited book about West Cannock Colliery Company will be published this year - watch this space.

There will be future publications including Hawkins Colliery, Small Mines, Licensed Mines and Opencast Mines.

The Committee have taken on board a long standing idea by Alan Dean for a project to identify as many colliery sites on Cannock Chase as we can. We intend to prepare signs/plaques to give information about the mines and where we can include photographs (in colour if possible).

We intend to finance the Lea Hall sign through the society, as we envisage this project to be a very extensive one, we intend to seek financial backing for it. However private sponsorship is always welcome and fortunately we already have one pledge from a member to sponsor a sign, so if anyone out their would like to do the same please contact the chairman or secretary on enquiries@ccmhs.co.uk.

Finally the society are pleased to announce that 'ELLAWEAR DESIGNS` who are situated on the corner of Allport Rd

and the Ringway, (by the Pelican crossing) Queens Square, Cannock, will now print the CCMHS logo on hats, T shirts, polo shirts,