Today I conquered a fear of going underground at the Mining Museum in Middlestown. I have been very lucky to obtain coal to be used in my sculpture from the workings carried out to extend the tunnels underground. I had a guided tour of the surface with Keith Neale who was really helpful in understanding my ideas for work.
If I am doing a project re coal for our exhibition then it was necessary for me to experience what it is like underground...so... I asked Kathryn a fellow student to come with me for support and so she could see it as well. We booked an early appointment and I tried not to think about what I was about to do. The cage door slammed shut and down it went. Keith and Kathryn were reassuring me all the time and I actually stayed very calm in the cage and admit to enjoying it as it descended to the bottom. It proved to me that I can conquer my fears if I really have to...and I did, so to say I was pleased with myself is an understatement. I emerged from the cage with a smile on my face and as I looked around me my astonishment took over. The first sensation was the atmosphere, so still and calm, fairly warm and very dry. I found it relaxed me.
To see the amount of wood everywhere; not just the props that I had expected but the tunnels were crammed with it; planks, sleepers, wedges of all shapes and sizes but the ceilings were lined with it in the really old workings. It was the textures, the rough edges, the age, thoughts of the miners who put it there without the tools that are used today. It gave me a real understanding of the conditions that they had to work in; cramped, hot, dirt everywhere, but with no quick escape if something went wrong. We walked through the tunnels, sometimes stooping, glad of the helmet on our head and carrying the torch that we shone around so we could capture the best images.
The ultimate image that was all around was the brute force, the pressure needed to keep the earth back; it was all about that. Men inching further in but having to physically respect the earth that wanted to fall in and the difficulty in stopping it doing that. It was a bit precarious in places but worth it. Keith was constantly talking, telling us exactly what we were looking at but we had been allowed to go down in the cage before the school trip so we had to keep moving fairly quickly.
It was one of the best experiences I have had and everyone was so nice to us. We then enjoyed a roast pork dinner complete with apple pie and cream in the restaurant which was absolutely gorgeous. My diet was put on hold but I felt that I ought to reward myself with something for my bravery. I will go down again without a problem...get you Ann all smug!
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