Dream and the ashes of a former Sutton Manor Colliery miner - there are a number on the woodlands site

But what about the site of the former Clock Face Colliery, just a hop, skip and a jump away? Well the Country Park Woodland is quite spectacular, and has been especially impressive this Spring. The pond is popular with anglers and all credit to St.Helens Council and its Rangers plus the Clock Face Angling Club. However, what is there to remind folk of its seven decades as a pit?

The Clock Face Colliery Lamproom which was part of the baths complex

With the passage of time, few recall the walkway that used to connect the main colliery site to a complex of buildings on the other side of Gorsey Lane. These housed the colliery lamp room, baths, canteen, offices and gardens and they were where every shift began and ended. You might be surprised to learn that the buildings still exist and the tower in the middle of the complex, that hosted water tanks for the showers, is a local landmark.

Part of the complex of buildings that were connected to the colliery via a walkway

The baths complex was opened in 1939 by the Earl of Crawford and the local press said they were a "boon to the housewife". Not only did they have a clean husband returning home after their shift, but no longer had the tedious task of boiling hot water for the tin bath. However, they weren't popular with bus conductors, who could no longer tell who was a dirty miner and able to claim a discounted fare!

Inside the former baths / lamproom complex - photographed in May 2011

However, these buildings are now in a shocking state exacerbated by a fire that took place in January. Two companies, Sherdley Remec and Breamhurst Dytran, had occupied the site for many years, but both have now departed. As you can see from these photographs and from this Photoalbum here, what exists now is a disgrace to the memory of the pitmen who were employed there. It's worth remembering that over thirty lost their lives at Clock Face Colliery and very many more were injured.

It is very easy to say "something should be done" but much harder to actually do it and find the finance to pay for it. But if the will is there, anything is possible. This has been amply demonstrated by the former pitmen at Sutton Manor with Dream, supported by St.Helens Council and its partner agencies. It has been suggested that a mining heritage centre should be established. Is it just wishful thinking or could these buildings be used for this?

Inside the former baths / lamproom complex - photographed in May 2011

In a two page forward to Geoff Simm and Ian Winstanley’s ‘Mining Memories’, Marie Rimmer in her previous stint as Leader of St.Helens Council commented on:

  …the magnificent history of our mining industry, and the people who have laboured over the centuries…one of the strongest historical and social links which bind the people of St. Helens together must be our mining heritage.   

Colourful wild flowers in Brickfields Daisyfield site with Dream in the background

I don’t think walking in the woods can be at all considered strange but should be encouraged for the health benefits alone. We’re blessed in the Sutton, Clock Face and Bold districts in having wonderful woodlands and green space that are so well cared for by Mersey Forest, the Forestry Commission and St.Helens Council. Although presently populated in the main by dog-walkers, they can have enormous health benefits for all. I don’t just mean the well-documented physical benefits of exercise but I can testify how walking in green space improves mental health and overall well-being enormously. I have a stress-related condition and I’ve learnt that walking in woodlands is much more beneficial to me than taking medication. As the Time To Change organisation puts it:

  We all know that exercise is good for our physical health helping to combat problems such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer and high blood pressure, but what about our mental health? Research shows that by exercising in the outdoors and preferably in a green space is more beneficial to us than when we exercise indoors or in urban areas. This is because as humans we have naturally evolved positive feelings towards nature and the outdoors.  

A farm at an entrance to Eggerslack Woods, near Grange-over-Sands has an honesty box for eggs
while back in St.Helens, vandals have recently taken a chunk out of a novel Brickfields bench

Although our woodlands are not as extensive as Eggerslack, in many ways they are nicer as the Cumbrian wood is a bit gloomy as some daylight is blocked out by overhanging trees. The woodland sites that we have in the Sutton district are more open and display some wonderfully colourful wildflowers. Plus there are additional items of interest, such as at Griffin Wood where the remarkable sculpture trail has been installed.

There are in fact six sites in the Sutton Manor / Clock Face district that are very closely connected and which make for a great combined walk. Last year I received an email from James Murphy with 'Sutton Manor and Clockface Park a little gem!’ in the message's subject line. James wrote that he was soon to complete his 100th walk around Merseyside and had recently visited St.Helens to walk here:

  I have just discovered Sutton Manor and Clockface Park as far as Maypole Wood. I am very, very impressed. These are more connected than I first imagined. Perhaps, more could be made of this. I had imagined walking through roads or through an industrial landscape. I now know that this is not the case and was very pleased to go from one to the other so seamlessly.  

Information board with the history of Sutton Manor Colliery on one side and the Dream story on
the other - it was stolen in October but has now been replaced (picture taken Dec. 20th, 2009)

As reported in this blog post, a number of superb heritage benches were installed on the Manor in the early summer, made by Wilkinson Welding of Sutton Oak Drive. They'd been designed by Sutton Manor Primary schoolchildren, who'd worked with artist Bernadette Hughes and the Shining Lights Heritage Group. A heritage art trail was all set to follow during the summer but was suddenly postponed. Accusations were then made that the Forestry Commission, who manage the woodland, were refusing to allow its installation because they considered the artwork to be too representative of the site's past.

So I asked the FC for a statement on their position and on November 13th they reaffirmed their commitment to the heritage project but added that the question of responsibility for ongoing maintenance had to be addressed and its precise location agreed, prior to it being installed. The Forestry Commission also said that they were concerned about "rushing into installation" in an unplanned way. I was surprised by this comment, as the artwork was made three years ago and is, I understand, beginning to rack up storage costs.

The FC added that Dream had had such a dramatic impact that they were taking a fresh look at how they manage the whole site, so that they can sustain it as a high quality visitor destination. As they're responsible for much good work in Sutton, there is, I think, no reason to believe otherwise and let's hope that the heritage art trail will be installed on site a.s.a.p.

In November, Marian White of the Shining Lights Heritage Group received a nomination in 'The Unseen Hero' category in the 2009 St.Helens Tourism and Leisure Awards. During the same month, Sutton Manor primary school, who are attached to the Shining Lights centre, received an International School Award for their sterling efforts. Congratulations to both.

The glass effect bricks in Brickfields' countryside–style 'kissing' entrance gates are made out of a resin brick format with designs by local children and residents guided by artist Steve Des Landes

Just down the road from the Manor site, the redevelopment and extension of Brickfields woodland was completed in the Spring at a cost of £2.1m, roughly the same as Dream. As least most of the work has been done, as I understand that the landfill operations of Cory Lord St.Helens to the north-west of the site will be integrated into the scheme at some point.

Brickfields has been touted as a new community woodland which is a little misleading, as the main site between Chester Lane, Walkers Lane and Lea Green Road has existed for some years. However, the Forestry Commission have made considerable improvements to it and a new, smaller, woodland has been created on a second site between Chester Lane and Clock Face Road. Whilst walking in the woodland earlier this year, it dawned on me that a loop involving Brickfields, King George V Playing Fields, Sutton Manor Woodland / Dream, Clock Face Colliery Country Park and Sutton Mill Dam had now been created by the new initiative.

Photographs of the ice rink as part of Sutton Village Christmas organised by Sutton Smile!
Pictures sourced from Sutton Smile! website - contact me if you require a photographer credit

Sutton Village Church in Herbert Street appear to be prime movers in this initiative. Hopefully, we'll hear of similar exciting events taking place at other churches in Sutton next year under the Sutton Smile! umbrella. Coffee mornings and rummage sales have their place, of course, but hold little interest for young people. Am I right in thinking that the former independent Methodists are now the only church in Sutton to have a web presence? Since St.Anne & Blessed Dominic's website went offline earlier this year, I think that is an accurate statement and doesn't reflect well on the other Sutton churches who need to move with the times.

One of three benches in Sutton Manor woodland that commemorate Sutton Manor Colliery

It has been often been suggested that the Dream statue does not reflect the mining history of the site. Actually it does - not every representation has to be literal, of course. However it's a fair point that there should be more at Sutton Manor to remind folk more overtly of the old colliery site’s illustrious past. The NCB gates and hidden-away remnants of the former mine shafts plus the smart new signage at the base of Dream are fine but somewhat insufficient memorials to the colliery that dominated life in the district throughout the twentieth century. So the appearance of these three superb structures, courtesy of the Sutton Manor Primary kids and the Shining Lights Heritage Group, are a very welcome addition to the site's landscape but only tell part of the story of their commemorative efforts.

It all dates back to 2006 when the primary school successfully applied for a £34,000 Heritage Lottery Grant to produce a project about the former colliery. They immediately involved a small group of ex-miners and borrowed a wide variety of artefacts which were exhibited at the school in June 2007. Two DVDs were produced that featured ex-Manor miners being interviewed by the schoolchildren about their lives in the pit, as well as 'home videos' that two men had made whilst working at the colliery.

Benches designed by Sutton Manor Primary school kids who worked with Bernadette Hughes

Teacher Les Dunning tells me that Sutton Manor Primary have also produced a book on the colliery and various pieces of art work, including the aforementioned seats:

 There is one bench in the school playground and three others on the site which have all been designed by the children. Over the next two months a poetry trail will be placed on the site with posts that display lines of poetry that have been written by the children.  

A fourth bench sits in Sutton Manor Primary School's playground (contributed by Les Dunning)

I'm really looking forward to seeing the poetry trail on the Sutton Manor site, which does sound like another great idea. The book and DVDs, incidentally, are available from Sutton Manor Primary School subject to a donation to school funds. Make it a big 'un!    SRW

Sutton Manor Primary contact details: Tel. 01744 678700   suttonmanor@sthelens.gov.uk

Dream sculpture at Sutton Manor is proving to be a popular visitor attraction (pictured 1/6/09)

What has not been helpful is the manner in which this story has been portrayed. If you've read St.Helens Council's media releases for the past couple of years, like I have, you'd have thought that they were the prime movers, with just the occasional mention of ex-Sutton Manor miners' input.

However, if you've watched the generally excellent Big Art TV series which finished its run on C4 last Sunday, you would have heard a different story. Its focus was on the local community i.e. former miners led by Gary Conley, who battled alongside project curator Laurie Peake of Liverpool Biennial, to make the Dream a reality. I don't recall a mention of council input as it didn't suit the programme makers' purpose.

Reading between the lines, I would venture to suggest that this was a former miners' focus group initiative which received enormous council support, as the logistics of converting the Dream concept into a physical structure must have been enormous. Some of the other towns in Channel 4's Big Art Project didn't receive their local authority's support and consequently their ideas failed to materialise. But I think it was unhelpful for St.Helens Council to have taken so much of the credit, as councils are rarely popular institutions and arts initiatives are inevitably controversial. This combination has probably contributed to much of the anger in Sutton and St.Helens.

A Spanish TV crew making a documentary on Jaume Plensa prepare to interview Gary Conley

Personally, I accept only two forms of criticism of the project as having any possible merit: a) That you don't like the sculpture b) That the government shouldn't be allocating taxpayers funds to arts bodies and other organisations for spending on such projects.

Art is subjective and this is a free country and so it's quite OK to say that you hate it! I doubt that Spanish artist Jaume Plensa will mind all that much. Secondly, it's a fair comment that the government's priorities in allocating funds might be skewed. If you think so, complain. Write to our MPs Shaun Woodward or Dave Watts and complain. Write to Gordon Brown or Alistair Darling, I doubt you'll get very far, but do it! But please don't take it out on the ex-miners' focus group or St.Helens Council. The external funding forDream has come from quite a number of bodies and these have effectively been 'grants' that have been 'won' by the team and which would otherwise have gone elsewhere, probably down south.

Watch the birdie! - it's common to see people posing for family photographs with Dream

Visiting the site on Monday lunchtime this week, I thought it would be nice and quiet with the official opening out of the way but there was loads of activity. As I left I counted 40 people still gathered around the statue. Quite a number of people were having their picture taken against it, like it was the Eiffel Tower! Although some local kids were still on half-term holiday, many seemed to be tourists and I thought I heard an American accent and a TV crew were filming. I'm told that on Monday night it was just as busy. I don't imagine that this interest will be maintained at this rate, but even a fraction of it will still be wonderful.

Out of three police dispersal zones currently in place in the whole of St.Helens that give the police more powers to combat anti-social behaviour, two are in the Sutton Manor district. The area has its problems but the funding for Dream isn't transferable for other uses in Sutton Manor and any attempt to beautify it really should, in my view, be heartily applauded.

The entrance to Sutton Manor Woodland with Dream in the background towering over the trees

Do I have any criticisms? Well, I'm slightly disappointed that the lines on the Dream face, where the 90 separate panels meet, haven't been painted or blurred over in some way. I was under the impression that this was going to be done over the last few weeks. I love the signage on the actual Dream site which inform visitors of the histories of both the site and the project. I do hope the council will get round to installing other signs around the Manor directing visitors. Some facilities would be great too - an ice cream seller on the site would have done a bomb this week! Plans are apparently in the works for a minibus to run up to the Dream site at weekends, so that those with mobility impairments can also enjoy the experience of seeing Dream.

So there's more to do and only time will tell whether local businesses such as the Smithy Manor pub or Village News will benefit. But if in a worst case scenario they don't increase their takings and no more visitors go to see it (highly unlikely!), nothing at all will have been lost. So please do stop complaining and start to appreciate other people's efforts to improve your environment!    SRW

UPDATE 24/6/09 A Dream Photo-Album has been added - click here to view. A Flash Slideshow version is here. Slideshows are now available on all pages where there is a standard photo album. I have configured them to automatically play with a 5 second gap in between each slide. If you hover your mouse on the top half of each image, a caption is revealed. Remove your mouse and the caption will disappear. Hover over the bottom of any image and transport controls will appear enabling you to pause the slideshow.

UPDATE 29/6/09 I should point out that St.Helens Council have now installed some smart signage directing visitors to the Dream site. Some more would be nice, although I expect these signs cost more than people think. Below are the signs at the end of Jubits Lane at its junction with Warrington Road.

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PS Coffey Time by Sutton and St.Helens historian and local arts champion Chris Coffey, is the replacement column in the St.Helens Star for Whalley's World, after the retirement of long-serving journalist Alan Whalley. Click Here to view.

The former mineworkers in the St.Helens Big Art Project Focus Group pictured outside the old Sutton Manor Colliery gates in 2007.

The criticism has been wide-ranging. Many don’t like the design as it doesn’t directly relate to mining and others simply claim that the money could be much better spent elsewhere, even on the new Saints stadium (!). Although St.Helens Council (and Liverpool Biennial) have been providing considerable support, none of the money is sourced from council tax coffers. It’s been hard-won from a wide range of sources including the Arts Council, Forestry Commission, North West Coalfield Communities Regeneration Programme etc.

The focus group are not downhearted by the criticism. In fact Mel said that they were expecting it! The group had visited Gateshead where Antony Gormley’s Angel of the North was unveiled in 1998 and were regularly told by locals how they’d initially hated the structure but have grown to love it. All art, of course, is subjective and public art is invariably controversial.

I’m pleased to hear that the team have thought through concerns over vandalism and it won’t be that easy for the mindless ones in Sutton Manor to damage ‘Dream’. The plan is to cast it from concrete with a white, almost luminous, finish and a special anti-vandal coating. The structure, which will depict an elongated face of a nine-year old girl, will be sunk deep underground so there'll be no danger of it collapsing during strong winds. Lights will be positioned around the circular plinth to give the face a somewhat ghostly appearance at night. A spotlight situated in the top of the head will at certain times of the year shine a powerful beam skywards.

Jaume Plensa's installation, Crown Fountain, in Millennium Park Chicago

   

People are invited to take a stroll and find out more about the site’s past from former miners who worked there. There will also be more information about Channel 4’s Big Art Project in St.Helens and developments so far.

Some of the rabbit fencing is being removed by a digger, the rest by hand