A GROUP of women are facing a race against time to restore an old pit banner in time for the Durham Miners' Gala.
The banner for Thrislington Colliery, West Cornforth, has been paraded at the Big Meeting for years, although it was originally produced for Fenhall Drift Mine, near Lanchester.
Miners from Thrislington first used the banner in the 1960s when their own emblem became damaged and Fenhall had closed.
It is being restored by Jenny Robinson, Sandra Ingledew, Pam Brown, Jean Wilson, Elaine Wood, Rita Fyfe and Helen Hesler in a project being run by East Durham and Houghall Community College.
The banner, which is usually paraded with both mine names on a pennant above the main banner and accompanied by Fishburn, has a permanent home in Coxhoe Village Hall.
It will be altered to include the name Coxhoe Drift, part of the Thrislington complex.
Former Thrislington miner Bob Robinson hopes to launch a committee next year to make a new banner based on the one used in the 1800s by Thrislington.
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