A party of 11 members of the Friends were welcomed by Carol and Harry Johnson, the owners of the Woodend Coal Mining Museum. After an excellent ….. lunch we were given a lively tour of the small but very interesting Museum. 
We were shown a plethora of mining equipment and it was easy to understand how hard the working lives of the miners and pit ponies were. This was matched by the social conditions of the time, some of which some of us know first hand and definitely via word of mouth from family and friends – if you were brought up in NE Lancashire. You might be surprised by the number of pits in the area and the distances some workers had to travel underground.
It is well worth a visit – they are closed Mondays, admission £3 and the lunch is very good value, they do afternoon tea also. It’s a good place to while away a few hours on a rainy day,. In spring I believe there are over 10,000 daffodils on display.
For more info visit http://www.visitlancashire.com/things-to-do/woodend-mining-museum-p681900
Gayle Wray