Local community campaigners in Langley Park, County Durham, are celebrating after being awarded a £14,742 grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to help finance the making of a new miners’ banner for the village.
The campaign to produce a new banner was launched last year after members of the local
community came together to form the Langley Park Miners’ Banner Group and drew up plans to
replace the existing banner which had fallen into a state of disrepair, meaning that the Langley
Park village was unrepresented at the annual Durham Miners’ Gala.
Commenting on the funding award, Jack Pringle, chair of the Langley Park Miners’ Banner Group,
said: “We’re delighted to have received this support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Thanks to National Lottery players, Langley Park village will have a new miners’ banner and as a
local community we will be able to proudly line up behind it at next year’s Durham Miners’ Gala.
“Given that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the closing of Langley Park’s colliery, receiving
this funding award now feels especially apt. Our next task will be to work with the local
community on the banner design at a public meeting later this month and then to move forward
with the commissioning and production of the new banner. It’s an exciting time for everyone
involved in the group and we are so pleased that thanks to this award we will be able to visibly
connect our village back to its industrial history and galvanise the local community by organising
a good presence at next year’s Durham Miners’ Gala.”
Reacting to the news of the funding award, Stephen Guy, chairman of the Durham Miners'
Association, said: “Congratulations to the Langley Park Miners' Banner Group on securing the
funding to commission a new miners’ banner for their village. It’s fantastic news, a tribute to all
those involved and to the desire of local people to keep our mining heritage and social history
alive and relevant to today. I look forward to seeing the banner being proudly paraded at the 140th
Big Meeting on 11 July 2026 and I anticipate that the whole community will rally behind what I
know will be a magnificent new banner that the whole village can be justly proud of.”
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