On show: The snapshots of Yorkshire mining village life that lay in a basement for two decades

A series of drawings showing life in a South Yorkshire mining village during the 1984-5 strike are going on public display after being found in the basement of a union office.
Pit Images: Paintings and Drawings from the Coalfields, on display at Unity+Works in Wakefield. Yorkshire NUM'sChris Skidmore views the drawings by Maltby artist  Peter Price. 3rd February 2017. Picture : Jonathan GawthorpePit Images: Paintings and Drawings from the Coalfields, on display at Unity+Works in Wakefield. Yorkshire NUM'sChris Skidmore views the drawings by Maltby artist  Peter Price. 3rd February 2017. Picture : Jonathan Gawthorpe
Pit Images: Paintings and Drawings from the Coalfields, on display at Unity+Works in Wakefield. Yorkshire NUM'sChris Skidmore views the drawings by Maltby artist Peter Price. 3rd February 2017. Picture : Jonathan Gawthorpe

The 21 drawings by artist Peter Price, recording daily life in his home village of Maltby, are part of an exhibition which opens on Monday in Wakefield.

They are described as providing a “vivid, humane record of that tumultuous time”, recording scenes of confrontation with the police as well as the struggle for survival as people scavenge for wood, eat meals provided by the Women’s Support Group, or hunt for rabbits.

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The drawings were discovered by accident in the basement of the National Union of Mineworkers in Barnsley.

Pit Images: Paintings and Drawings from the Coalfields, on display at Unity+Works in Wakefield.
One of the drawings by Maltby artist  Peter Price.
3rd February 2017.
Picture : Jonathan GawthorpePit Images: Paintings and Drawings from the Coalfields, on display at Unity+Works in Wakefield.
One of the drawings by Maltby artist  Peter Price.
3rd February 2017.
Picture : Jonathan Gawthorpe
Pit Images: Paintings and Drawings from the Coalfields, on display at Unity+Works in Wakefield. One of the drawings by Maltby artist Peter Price. 3rd February 2017. Picture : Jonathan Gawthorpe

Chris Skidmore, Yorkshire NUM chairman, said a huge collection of items had to be removed from the national offices in Sheffield after the final round of pit closures in 1994.

He said: “Things had to get pushed into wherever we had space at Barnsley. There was no labelling or anything like that. The drawings were in a chest in the basement and I found them when I was looking for copies of The Miner from the 1970s for an exhibition.

“As I was getting them out I saw the drawings. Nobody knew they were there. Nobody had ever asked about them, but that’s how we came to find them.”

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The free exhibition opens on Monday at Unity+Works in Wakefield and runs from 9am to 5pm on weekdays until March 4.

Pit Images: Paintings and Drawings from the Coalfields, on display at Unity+Works in Wakefield. Scarborough artist Peter Watson artist with his painting of Orgreave Colliery. 3rd February 2017. Picture : Jonathan GawthorpePit Images: Paintings and Drawings from the Coalfields, on display at Unity+Works in Wakefield. Scarborough artist Peter Watson artist with his painting of Orgreave Colliery. 3rd February 2017. Picture : Jonathan Gawthorpe
Pit Images: Paintings and Drawings from the Coalfields, on display at Unity+Works in Wakefield. Scarborough artist Peter Watson artist with his painting of Orgreave Colliery. 3rd February 2017. Picture : Jonathan Gawthorpe

It also features a selection of 12 paintings from the National Coal Mining Museum’s collection, including paintings by West Yorkshire artists Dave Wilders and Harry Malkin.

The third strand of the exhibition is 20 paintings by artist Peter Watson, commissioned by the National Coal Board in the 1970s to provide a record of pits in the South Yorkshire region.

Granville Williams, who has coordinated the exhibition with Unity+Arts and the National Coal Mining Museum for England, said: “This art exhibition links into our big event With Banners Held High on Saturday 4 March, and fits in perfectly with this year’s theme The Flame Still Burns: The Creative Power of Coal.”