MY grandmother was born at Mount Pleasant, married my grandfather in 1901, and moved into a house in Newton Street, Dean Bank. My grandfather left the pit as his family grew, and took up farm work. Some 30 years earlier my great grandfather, on my mother’s side, landed in Durham from Buckfastleigh, where he had been a tin miner.

It is the history of these people that the late Norman Cornish, and others, recorded.

Times change and mines closed.

I agreethat the region should try and retrain and display as much of Norman Cornish’s work as possible. However, I feel that our more recent history also needs recording.

I would like to suggest that The Northern Echo helps set up a Norman Cornish Memorial Fund to offer scholarships ensuring the historical record continues.

Jenny Walton, Coxhoe.