Coalfield regeneration: Youth work at the coalface

Before the closures, mining communities were strong. The areas were not affluent, but young people in households with a wage earner led a comfortable life. There were hidden benefits too. Those growing up in coalfield areas in the 1950s and 60s had a youth provision that now seems as historical as the slag heaps and winding gear that once dominated the landscape.

Kevin Kelly, in-house solicitor at the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation, calculates that during the 1950s Britain had more than 200 Miners' Welfare Youth Clubs. Young people had access to their local welfare club, where alcohol licensing restrictions relating to children on the premises did not apply, so young people were able to use facilities such as games rooms. Young colliery apprentices would automatically become members of the local welfare club, opening up a "vast array of facilities". He lists a range of outdoor activities and sports, including golf and quoits, a miners' welfare cinema network, plus swimming pools, bowling halls, skittle alleys, band rooms and games rooms.