4 October 2011

Whitespots Country Park??

Here is a photo that recently turned up in a skip! As you can see its a view of the mines and the year is around 1984. In the middle foreground you can see a blue van. Just at the back of it is Davy McBride about to fire up his Beamish Suzuki sidecar outfit that he rode around that time. This was of course when the mines was far from how it is today. John Melvilles scrap yard was just to the left and most of this area was piled high with cars . Dumping still went on in the area and the smell of burning often hung in the air. Before the Somme Centre was built we parked in the mines for trials and the 'mine lane' was a lot rougher then! Since it was declared an 'Area of Scientific Interest', much has been done to tidy it up and make it more suitable as a country park. Of course thats for the better, but I think that many of us that grew up in and love 'the mines' still have a soft spot for the way it used to be! If you have any old pictures or film footage of the mines, please get in touch. We would love to share it on the site.