Bridgend YAC at Big Pit/Pwll Mawr

Hi All,

Just a quick message to say thanks for not getting stuck down the Big Pit, the other weekend! It was a daunting prospect to be taking our group down and around the Big Pit without our Leader Sian, thankfully all went well and everybody had a good time.....I hope!

We started our visit in the pithead baths education centre having a quick look round and a go at filling in our activity sheets, which the Big Pit provided, then it was off down the mine, donning helmet, cap lamp, belt, battery and ‘self rescuer’ – used by miners as we went! The only trouble came when one of our leaders had contraband material confiscated by the mine's staff in case of fire, luckily this was before we'd entered the mine!

The tour of the mine lasted around just about 50 minutes, we learned that the mine was not as deep as many other mines in the area, at just 90 metres deep, it sits on the edge of the coalfield at its highest point where coal is present closer to thee surface and that the mine was called Big Pit or Pwll Mawr because it was the only mine operating two drams at a time, thereby allowing more coal to be removed form the mine in one go.

After our tour of the mine we chose to go into the virtual mine tour in the mining galleries and learn a bit more about the mining process and its development, it was an excellant experience.

Many thanks to all our members who were able to come along and make the big pit trip a great day out!

Cloe, Assistant Leader