Easington1951 - About the Project

Pupils at Easington Community School were awarded almost £2000 of funding by the Turning Back The Tide Committee to complete a research project into the 1951 Easington Colliery Disaster. The aim of the project was for pupils to research the causes and consequences of the disaster by interviewing those present at the time and researching facts and information about this terrible event in the community’s history. The ultimate aim was the creation of a website and database for access by school children and the wider community, which would preserve information and knowledge about a landmark event.

The objectives of the project were:

To establish a greater understanding of local industrial heritage among pupils who have no, or little direct contact with Coal Mining.
To foster and promote links between different generations.
To instill a sense of pride and understanding among pupils in their community.
To ensure that all pupils are aware of their industrial roots.
To record information about coal mining and memories for posterity.
To foster research skills among pupils.
To develop and promote independent learning.
To develop and promote pupils ability to work as part of a team.
To develop and promote I.C.T. skills.

The whole project was overseen, organised and administrated by Mr. G. Lumsden, a history teacher at Easington Community School. Any comments can be sent via email.

As part of the project pupils and staff from Easington Community School visited Beamish, The north of England open air museum. Pupils studied the 1909 West Stanley mining disaster, which cost the lives of 168 men and boys. Pupil’s then re-enacted the enquiry into the disaster to gain an understanding of how inquests operate. Pupils had the opportunity to go down the drift mine, look at the miners cottages and dress in clothes similar to those worn in 1909.

Students at Beamish

The day proved to be highly beneficial to all concerned as it encouraged pupils to look at the causes of the disaster and work out what measures could be employed to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. When pupils returned to the classroom, this knowledge and experience was used to relate to the consequences of the Easington disaster. This proved especially valuable during the interview with Jack Blair, the policeman who helped to identify the bodies of the victims. (See the memories section for a transcript of the interview)

Students at beamish