Mine museum recruits apprentices

Big Pit is expecting to record a rise in visitor numbers this year

A mining museum and visitor attraction says it plans to start offering apprenticeships, 25 years after it first opened.

Big Pit at Blaenavon, Torfaen, is looking at recruiting an electrician and fitter in the meantime.

A working pit until 1980, the museum also expects a rise in visitor numbers.

Manager Peter Walker said:"We're not looking at hundreds of opportunities but in the coalfield that's left in South Wales it's a good step forward."

He explained that vacancies currently exist for one electrician and one fitter, and that the mine plans to take on two apprentices a year over the next two years as colliery engineers.

As well as undertaking maintenance work, any new recruits will also have opportunity to meet people from all over the world, take them underground and share their own experiences of working in the coal industry.

The more visitors we have, the more staff we will need Big Pit manager Peter Walker

"Next year we are hoping to develop an apprenticeship scheme that will provide opportunities for young people to train for these roles," said Mr Walker.

"Clearly they will have to have the aptitude for academic work, as there is a fair chunk of this involved in the four-year scheme.

"But in the meantime we need to tap into the pool of qualified and experience men who have moved on to other industries since the coal mines closed.

"Generally, these sort of people have managed to find employment with no problems.

"It's now a case of tempting them back into the fold, but for many of them it's like coming home.

"They generally enjoy the experience here."

Visitor attraction

Mr Walker said that the attraction was expecting to record an increase in visitor numbers over last year.

"We had 160,000 visitors last year and it looks as if we will exceed that this year.

"We're looking at somewhere between 165,000 and 170,000 as the numbers have been creeping up.

"And the more visitors we have, the more staff we will need."

Big Pit, one of seven museums operated by National Museum Wales, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

The coal mining museum has welcomed nearly three million visitors since it opened in 1983.

The site, which was made a World Heritage Site in 2000 in recognition of the role it played in the industrial revolution, uses ex-miners as museum guides.

In 2005, it won the Gulbenkian Prize, which aims to promote public appreciation of museums and galleries by highlighting the best work in the sector.