The end of the age of coal

Kellingley Colliery, in North Yorkshire, closed on 18 December 2015, bringing to an end centuries of deep coal mining in Britain. Coal was still providing 40% of power for electricity generation in Great Britain until 2012. It was the end of an industry that helped significantly during the industrial revolution and marked deeply the social history in Great Britain over the last century. After the miners' strike in 1984, which brought up the birth of National Union of Miners, one of the strongest labour union in UK, and after 30 years of protests and struggles an essential piece of the British working class has disappeared. I met some of the 450 the workers during their last Christmas gathering in a typical pub, in Pontefract, to find out how they felt about the closing of the mine. I ended up with a considerable collection of portraits and thoughts that shows the spirit of brotherhood amid these people who used to work in the deepest mine in Europe - 800m under the soil. At the same time the body of work documents the last members of the community of the British miners.