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Summer Holiday Activities - A Creative Gateway to Miners’ History

@ Mining Art Gallery

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Families can follow in the footsteps of miners with a summer of creative, drop in, activities at a County Durham art gallery.
Throughout August, Mining Art Gallery in Bishop Auckland Market Place, is offering hands on fun for all ages, themed around what miners did in their spare time.

The first set of activities, which run until 17 August, are centred around play and include traditional table top games, such as dominoes and shove ha’penny. Families will also have access to all the materials and instructions needed for children to create their very own peg doll to take home with them.

Visitors are invited to draw each other participating in these activities and contribute to a large collage within the Mining Art Gallery’s education space.

From 20 to 31 August, the theme will switch to hobbies. Here, families will find activities centred on popular past times for miners and have the chance to recreate them. This includes resources encouraging young visitors to learn about vegetables, draw their own, and find out more about allotments.

There will also be the opportunity to discover more about pigeon crees, fold an origami carrier pigeon and use creative writing to create a message that could be sent by attaching it to a pigeon.

Carys Harper, Learning Officer for The Auckland Project, says: “Our drop in activities at Mining Art Gallery are a fantastic way to have fun with the family during the summer holidays and for everyone to learn more about the region’s mining heritage.”
As well as being able to enjoy their own creative activities in the Education Space, visitors can also take in the entire Mining Art Gallery with a special family trail exploring the lives of miners and the art they produced.

The trail is available every day during regular opening hours (10am-4pm), while the Education Space will be open daily during August, on a drop in basis, from 11am to 3pm. Both are included in the gallery’s usual admission price of £5 for adults, £4 for concessions and £1 for under 16s. Visitors are advised that the Education Space is occasionally closed for meetings, and families should call ahead to check availability. Parents and guardians must accompany their children at all times.
The Mining Art Gallery, which launched in October 2017, features works by prominent mining artists including Tom McGuinness and Norman Cornish and explores life in the coalmines and surrounding mining communities. It is open daily 10am – 4pm.

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