YOUNG people involved in a project designed to help them discover and contribute to the North’s mining legacy are preparing to perform in an atmospheric live show next week.

Working in collaboration with the National Coal Mining Museum in Wakefield and Beamish museum, dozens of youngsters have spent weeks researching for the project called When Yesterday Was Young.

Organised and produced by Enter CIC in Ferryhill, the project features a collaboration of the works of renowned County Durham mining artist Norman Cornish and one of the region’s most influential writers, Sid Chaplin.

The project also includes the creation of a community heritage museum in a former mining building in the town, which has undergone a complete makeover.

The community museum will feature song, dance, drama, stories inside an immersive underground environment.

Andrea Flynn, director of Enter CIC, said: “Around 80 young people have been involved in the production of the project which has seen them visit museums around the country and speak to loads of miners to hear their stories and ask them questions about what it was like.

“Some of the people they interviewed became quite emotional and it has given the children a fantastic sense of the comradery between the miners.

“The result is quite an emotional piece of theatre that we are in rehearsals for at the moment.”

The project has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and will culminate in three live shows performed daily for five days beginning Tuesday, August 22.

The group will then take the show to the National Mining Museum in Wakefield.

Mrs Flynn added: “We have built a website that has all the information on about the Dean and Chapter Colliery that will stay up for three years.

“We hope that it will encourage people to come forward and tell us their stories about their mining experiences and we can share with each other and help keep out local heritage alive.

“Even though the performance side will have finished the project will go beyond that and it will be good for the local community.”

Tickets for the event are free and are available by calling 01740-656549. For more information visit: entercic.org