Hopes rise in village where life is the pits

JUST a few years ago the wooden floors of the miners' welfare in Newstead echoed with the sound of ballroom dancing. Or if it wasn't dancing, it might be the jokes of a comedian booked for the night.

These days "the welfare", like the Nottinghamshire village, is usually quiet. When Newstead colliery shut nine years ago, it killed off a way of life, if not the village itself. No jobs, no money, no dancing, no laughter.

Yesterday, Newstead and scores of other coal communities devastated by the rundown of the industry, were offered a lifeline when the Government announced it was spending pounds 350m on regeneration. The money will go towards creating jobs and housing and tackling the hardship faced by those communities.

"(This) is a coordinated government response to combat the deprivation now faced by communities who once gave dedicated service to this country's coal industry," said the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, announcing the plan in Peterlee, Co Durham.

In Newstead the money cannot come soon enough. Despite the best efforts of local councils and voluntary agencies, the village is a ghost. There is one combined general store and post office, a fish and chip shop and a primary school, but that is about it. No doctor, no playgroup, not a lot for the youngsters. If the unemployed miners are not in the council- funded drop-in centre, they spend their time in the Station Hotel where they make a pint of Shipston's bitter last the lunch-time session.

"Newstead used to be a proper village. Nobody had to bother, everyone was happy, everyone had an open door. There used to be a great community spirit," recalled James Hoten, drinking in the bar.

"Now there's nothing for people to do, so what is there to talk about? Children are the biggest problem, they are bored stiff. They don't understand how it used to be."

Indeed, it used to be very different. The colliery, which opened in 1874 just a mile from Newstead Abbey - the former home of Lord Byron - was once one of the most productive in the country.

For 15 years from 1957, Newstead produced more than a million tons of coal a year. In 1966 the men mining the Newstead seam produced more than one and a quarter million tons of coal - almost three times the national average.

Since 1987 the colliery has been still, silent and vandalised behind a high wire fence.

"Just like people grieving over the loss of a relative, villages like Newstead are still in bereavement over the loss of their pits," said Chris Kerr, a development worker for the Nottinghamshire Rural Community Council which runs a drop-in centre to help the unemployed.

Sadly employment - particularly jobs that pay a decent wage - is a commodity in short supply. "Nottingham has got more security guards than Fort Knox," said Neil Greatrex, president of the Union of Democratic Mineworkers. "Men who used to earn a decent wage of pounds 500-a-week now have to take jobs paying no more than pounds 2-an-hour. The effect of the closures on these communities has been devastating."

Mr Prescott said the money will be spent over three years as part of a programme to tackle social and employment problems. A further pounds 10m grant by the Department of Trade and Industry for regeneration and development will be split between England, Scotland and Wales.

A total of pounds 750m will be spent on housing, pounds 1.4bn on employment and training and pounds 900m on regeneration - figures welcomed by the Coalfield Communities Campaign, which represents 86 local councils in coalfield areas.

At Newstead, where there has been considerable effort on regeneration, they have plans for a pounds 1m refurbishment of the beloved "welfare". While the building is still used by the line dancing group and for craft fairs, the locals hope investment could help set up a community cafe and return the building to its former glories. With help, the sound of laughter may yet return to Newstead.