Omnibus - Shafts Of Sunlight
'Omnibus' explores a weekend in the life of a Yorkshire mining community set to the music of the Frickley Colliery brass band and illustrated with paintings and prose from former miners. There's a Friday rehearsal in the bandroom, a singalong in the social and an interesting digression on the wearing and usage of the traditional cloth cap. Frickley Colliery closed in 1993, but its brass band played on. Founded in the 1880s, the band toured Germany and Holland during its heyday in the 1950s and also recorded a session for the BBC Radio 2 programme 'Listen to the Band' in 2007.
Artist Tom McGuinness, whose work is featured in the programme, became a Bevin Boy in 1944 and remained a miner until he was made redundant in 1982. He took up painting after attending an evening class at Darlington Art College and his work was included in two major exhibitions in London. Other paintings featured in this programme are by Norman Cornish, whose work celebrates working-class life in Spennymoor, County Durham. He was awarded the MBE in 2008.
