Pit reunion will be 'sad occasion' - ex-miner

18 December 2025

Steve Jones and Spencer StokesYorkshire

News image — Kellingley Colliery shut in December 2015 after 50 years of production

Getty Images Men blackened by working in a mine shaft embrace each other on the final day of production at Kellingley Colliery. — Kellingley Colliery shut in December 2015 after 50 years of production

A reunion for former miners 10 years after the closure of the UK's last deep coal mine will be a "sad occasion", organisers have said.

Kellingley Colliery, on the border between North and West Yorkshire, shut on 18 December 2015 after 50 years of production, bringing to an end centuries of deep coal mining in Britain.

The reunion of those who worked at the colliery, which at its height employed 2,000 people, is due to be held in Pontefract on Saturday.

Nigel Kemp, who worked at Kellingley for 32 years until its closure, described the pit as "a great place to work", adding: "You will not get that comradeship anywhere else in the world."

An estimated 650 jobs were lost when Kellingley closed due to what its owner UK Coal said were "extremely difficult trading conditions", citing cheaper imported coal as a factor in its demise.

At the time of its closure, the company said Kellingley Colliery had enough reserves to last until the 2030s.

UK Coal received a £10m loan from the Conservative government for its "managed closure" over 18 months, preventing an immediate loss of jobs.

But the then Business Minister Michael Fallon said there was "no value-for-money case for a level of investment that would keep the deep mines open beyond this managed wind-down period".

Nigel Kemp, who is wearing a bright yellow hard hat and a bright orange fleece, pictured in his mining days. — Nigel Kemp, pictured in 2015, worked at Kellingley for 32 years

Mr Kemp, who lived within walking distance of "Big K", as it was known, said his history with the pit went back a long way.

"My father sank the shafts back in the late 50s and 60s and I was there when it finished," he explained.

At the time of Kellingley's closure he had spoken of his fear about finding work elsewhere.

In December 2015, he told the BBC: "I'm going to find it very difficult to get another job when I leave because I've never been for an interview in my life.

"I came here and, basically, when we started if you could fill a form in or read the paper you got set on."

After hanging up his hard hat for the last time, Mr Kemp eventually left the area and took retirement.

Spencer Stokes/BBC Mick Todd, who has short grey hair and grey stubble. He wears a neutral expression and is staring straight down the camera. — Mick Todd worked at Kellingley at its height

Speaking ahead of Saturday's reunion, Mr Kemp said: "When you look around Knottingley now, there's nothing left and a lot of it is down to the Kellingley Colliery closure."

He added: "What's sad about it is how much coal is still down there. That pit could have stayed.

"There's enough coal down that colliery to keep the pit open for another 20 years. We tried our damned hardest to keep that pit open."

Mick Todd, another former miner at Kellingley, who now runs Pontefract Squash & Leisure Club, where the miners' reunion will be held, said Saturday's event would be "a sad occasion".

"To think now there's plenty of coal down there still, but political decisions are what they are."

However, Mr Todd also said of the forthcoming reunion: "Hopefully we will see a lot of faces and they have moved on and are doing bigger and better things."