BIG Pit Museum National Coal Museum celebrated its 40th birthday at the weekend with an array of festivities to mark the occasion.
Visitors who attended the birthday event were able to revisit the past, enjoy the present and look forward to the next 40 years.
Big Pit was one of the last working coal mines in Wales until it closed on February 2, 1980, resulting in the loss of more than 250 jobs and became a charitable trust in 1983.
Mark Thomas a miner guide. Picture: Big Pit
Kathryn Jenkins from Amgueddfa Cyrmu said: “We are delighted to have celebrated our 40th anniversary with visitors and the local community who helped us celebrate.
“Big Pit has seen many developments over the last 40 years – from its conception as a charitable trust in 1983, to joining the family of Amgueddfa Cymru-Museum Wales, achieving lottery funding, winning the Gulbenkian Museum of the Year Award and more recently the development and growth of our succession planning and apprentices scheme, which will secure the future of Big Pit and help us to continue to share the stories of Wales’s Industrial Heritage and it’s people and the important role Blaenavon played and continues to play.”
Rock band Full Dark, No Stars performed at the birthday event. Picture: Big Pit
The event which took place between 10am-4pm on Saturday April 22 did not forget the littles one as children were able to take part in various craft activities.
Shelley Jones who attended the birthday event said: “It’s been such a special day celebrating Big Pit’s birthday and also to remember its steep history here in Wales.
“I remember coming here as a little girl, my dad was a miner.
It would not be a birthday without cake. Picture: Big Pit
“These valleys are only here because of the industry as people would move to places like Blaenavon.
“Even though it is sad that the mines in the area have now gone events like this help us remember and celebrate what was here.”
Soon after the pit closed, Torfaen Borough Council bought the site for £1 and it was given to a charitable trust called the Big Pit (Blaenavon) Trust to manage the conversion to a heritage museum.
Birthday goods were on sale. Picture: Big Pit
The initial development cost £1.5 million with funding from the Welsh Tourist Board, the European Regional Development Fund, the borough council and Gwent County Council. The mine reopened for visitors in 1983.
Since opening in April 1983, Big Pit has welcomed over 4 million visitors. Attractions include a 300 feet underground tour to find out what life was like for the thousands of men who worked at the coal face.
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