Celebrating the past, present and future of Pool

An intriguing and inspiring audio exhibition recalling the memories and experiences of people growing up in the area is open to the public until Sunday March 29 at The Bassett Institute in Pool.

‘Mine is Yours’ is inspired by people and place and investigates stories and memories of life in Pool, both past, present and future.

Contemporary artist Laura Smith has spent the last five months researching the history, heritage and stories associated with the area and the people who lived and worked there.

The audio exhibition centres around four themes: The Community, Wives and Families, older generation miners and younger generation miners. The interviews Laura has gathered have been re-recorded by pupils at Pool Business and Enterprise College and it is these accounts that will be played out of the four corners of the room.

Laura Smith, the artist leading the ‘Mine is Yours’ exhibition, said: “It’s been a great experience collecting the fascinating stories and memories, many of them from ex-miners from the area.

“The exhibition should be of interest to both the old and the young and the aim of working with the pupils from Pool School was to combine the heritage with the future. The pupils were fascinated with the real life experiences that were gathered and really enjoyed getting involved and extracting the most exciting parts of the interviews to tell the story.”

The stories that are gathered will help form part of the Heartlands Social History archive which will be accessible to all of the commissioned artists working on the project. The stories will enable the artists to gain inspiration and base their ideas on real accounts and experiences of the area.