Spent a very enjoyable day yesterday at Beamish Open Air Museum in County Durham. It’s an incredible social record with a whole range of buildings lovingly restored to reflect life a century or so ago. The trams and town street scene really are evocative of a world that is now lost, and a pint and freshly cooked pork pie in The Sun pub were added treats.
Visiting the colliery and the drift mine, together with the pit village, brought home just how hard life was. Eight hours down the mine everyday must have been a gruelling and unimaginably hard existence. It all puts the current election debate in to perspective. We take so many things for granted and forget just how hard our ancestors had to work to build the society that we enjoy today.