Northumberland Miners’ Picnic returns to Woodhorn Museum

The event took place at Woodhorn Museum in Ashington Credit: Museums Northumberland

One of the region’s longest-running events, the Northumberland Miners’ Picnic, has returned to Woodhorn Museum in Northumberland.

The annual celebration of North East mining history and heritage brings together music, performance, arts and culture in a day of remembrance and celebration of the region’s mining communities and mining industry.

The event on Saturday, June 8, included a performance by Mr Wilson’s Second Liners; a New Orleans-inspired marching band and a DJ set from Maxïmo Park lead singer, Paul Smith.

Paul Smith said: “It's an honour to be involved with such an important community event as the Miners' Picnic again. The last time I played it was just me, my guitar, and a film crew during the pandemic; so it'll be nice to have an actual audience this time!

“I love sharing music with people, and that's how I see a DJ set, ultimately - trying to create an enjoyable communal experience with some of my favourite songs blaring out of the speakers.”

As is tradition, the day begins with the miners’ memorial service and wreath laying, commemorating those who died in the coal mining industry. Four local brass bands - Ashington Colliery Brass Band, Bedlington Brass Community Band, Ellington Colliery Band, and Newbiggin Jayess Brass Band - will perform together during the service.

Rowan Brown, chief executive of Museums Northumberland, said: “As well as continuing to celebrate many of the long-held traditions of the Northumberland Miners’ Picnic, I’m delighted that this year audiences have the chance to enjoy some new experiences.

“The Miners’ Picnic has always brought communities together, and I hope people from all over the county and the wider region are able to join us for what is a hugely enjoyable day of music, performance, and arts and culture.

“In the year that marked 40 years since the UK miners’ strike, the Northumberland Miners’ Picnic is a proud reminder of the industry’s thousand-year lineage in our county, and the generations of families that worked in mines across Northumberland and the North East.”

First held at Blyth Links in 1864, the Northumberland Miners’ Picnic has taken place in the county every year since 1864, except during the First and Second World Wars, the general strikes of 1921, 1926 and 1984, the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in 2001, and during the global coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

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