KENSINGTON COLLIERY

Series

Series Name: Mining Review 6th Year

Issue

Issue No.

Date Released

Mar 1953

Stories in this Issue:

Story

Story No. within this Issue

1 / 4

Summary

BFI synopsis: the new Mining department and collection at the Science Museum, London.
NCB Commentary - At London’s Science Museum, Mr. Lebeter, one of the keepers, is planning something new in permanent exhibitions. Once a mining engineer and holding a manager’s certificate, it’s not surprising that his new project is to put the history of mining on show.
There’s detail work in plenty. In the drawing office Mr. Lebeter discusses with the head draughtsman the design of anything from headstocks to coal cutters.
The model shop is a schoolboy’s paradise. But early warships aren’t the only interest these days. The craftsmen here will make a miniature of more or less anything, and sometimes the model can cost more than the real thing.
And so the exhibition begins to take shape. Showplace, and centrepiece is Kensington Colliery, cunningly laid out and with the real-life equipement in place. The Science museum, with its hundreds of working models, has always been a happy hunting grounf for the youngsters, but this is a show that attracts their elders as well.
All the same, you can’t keep the kids out. With a full sized diesel engine at pit bottom, working models that really work, a scale model tub emptying system as well as everything else, can you blame them for combining pleasure with learning?

Researcher Comments

BFI sources suggest that this story was filmed in December 1952. Commentary recorded 2 February 1953.

Keywords