Point of Ayr mining memories set to be saved thanks to a National Lottery surprise

A former Point of Ayr miner was given a huge surprise when a National Lottery player went undercover to reveal that a funding bid had been successful.

As part of The National Lottery’s ‘Thank You Wales’ campaign, John Wiltshire was presented with a cheque for £40,500 from HLF to help preserve the legacy of the last deep coal mine in North Wales, Point of Ayr.

So far, National Lottery players have raised £1.6billion to fund projects right across Wales and the campaign enables players to find out more about projects that benefit when they play the lottery and where exactly their ticket money goes.

Since the Point of Ayr mine was closed and flattened in 1996, there is now virtually no evidence that it ever existed – so Vicky Peterson from Cardiff posed as a volunteer to find out more about the project which aims to preserve the memories of local miners and the history of the mine itself.

Point of Ayr: Then and Now will bring the heritage of the colliery to life through a Miners Trail and circular walk using the globally recognised Wales Coast Path between Ffynnongroyw and Talacre.

The project will create a valuable educational resource for local people and visitors to the area, as it focuses on the mine’s importance locally as well as nationally, thanks to the pivotal role mining played in the wider Welsh economy.

Booming in the 1800s and early 1900s, coal mining played a key role in Britain’s Industrial Revolution. But throughout the twentieth century coal fell out of favour as technology improved, leading to the closure of all but a few pits and leaving the towns that once depended on coal for their livelihood to find a new purpose.