A book cataloguing a North-East museum's close links to the mining industry was launched yesterday.

Mining - The Beamish Collection, features the mining memorabilia brought to the County Durham museum over the years.

The 130-page book is the brainchild of Aidan Doyle, a researcher and lecturer at the University of Northumbria who wanted a reference book for his students.

Published by the university, the book includes sections on some of the museum's biggest exhibits, such as a winder engine house, and a large waddle fan, which was used to blow air into the mine shaft.

It also features details of archives, documents, memorials and banners from the museum's collection.

A spokesman for Beamish said: "We have a wonderful collection of mining objects and documents, but maybe not many people knew about it.

"This book will contain a lot of information about the objects and the people who used them. The book has a lot of humanity in it."

The book, which includes a foreword by researcher Bill Lancaster, is available from the museum bookshop, priced £9.99.