By Andrew Topping, Local Democracy Reporter
A memorial commemorating Nottinghamshire’s mining heritage could be created in Mansfield’s popular Berry Hill Park.
The Nottinghamshire Mining Museum has asked Mansfield District Council for support in bringing the memorial forwards.
If support is given, the museum plans to create a sculpture close to the existing pit wheel inside the park and to install a plaque next to it.
The museum says this plaque would include reference to the “loss of life at all the pits in Nottinghamshire”.
It would celebrate the “significant role” of mining in the life and history of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, and Berry Hill Park itself.
The historic park was an old facility owned by mining charity CISWO and provided to miners and their families decades ago.
But the charity revealed in 2018 that it could no longer afford the costs of its upkeep before Mansfield District Council stepped in to become corporate trustees a year later.
Now the museum wants to use the park’s heritage to commemorate these close links with mining by creating the new memorial.
It says as much as £125,000 would be needed through fundraising to bring the project forwards, with campaigns planned to raise the money.
The museum is asking the authority, as the corporate trustee, to offer its support and provide a representative to work on the project.
In requests to the council, the museum said: “We suggest a sculpture close to the wheel and a plaque.
“The wording of which would have to be agreed, but to include references to the loss of life at all the pits in Nottinghamshire, together with reference to the significant role of mining in the life and history of the town, the county and the park.
“We suggest a public consultation involving ourselves, visitors to our museum, Friends of Berry Hill Park, local schools, park visitors and an online questionnaire. A leaflet could also be distributed.
“Fundraising has not commenced. We would suggest both a GoFundMe appeal for £100,000, together with funding applications to local charities to raise another £25,000.
“We would suggest 12 months of fundraising and consultation/planning, plus 12 months for the erection of the memorial – [meaning] 24 months in total.”
The authority has suggested it will support the scheme in principle.
However, it says it does not plan to provide additional resources, and any representative from the council as a trustee of the park “will not be able to offer any council resources”.
In a report, Sarah Troman, head of neighbourhood services, said: “Giving support in principle to the proposal enables the Nottinghamshire Mining Museum to carry out a public consultation to establish the level of support for a memorial on Berry Hill Park, and the form it may take.
“This would also enable the [museum] to commence fundraising to progress the project, to coincide with the improvement work planned for the park as part of the Destination Parks project, funded by Towns Fund.”
She added: “By not giving support in principle to the [museum] to erect a mining memorial, this would mean any potential memorial … would need to be erected in an alternative location.
“[This location] may not have such strong connections to mining as Berry Hill Park.”
Members of the authority’s governance and standards committee will decide whether to support the memorial plans on October 19.
