IT'S only a century ago when 14-year-old boys in east Cleveland didn't have to look very far for jobs - they followed their fathers down the mine.

Now mining has gone, but the mine itself remains as a shrine to days of digging for ironstone.

The Tom Leonard Museum, converted from the old Loftus mine, was opened by his family and friends in 1983 and attracts visitors from all over the country, as well as local schoolchildren. It relies on a team of volunteers to keep it going, including Anne-Marie Whittlestone, 14, who provides guided tours of the museum.

"I enjoy it and it is helping me gain experience. It is good to know about local history."

Visitors get the chance to view relics, memoirs and equipment from the museum, but also experience the life of an ironstone miner by sitting in a completely dark room listening to a miner recount his work.

Then visitors explore the underground working place, see how the stone was drilled, charged with explosives, hear the blast and go back among the fallen blocks of stone.

John Winspear is 85 and worked down Loftus Mine for almost 30 years. He still lives in Skinningrove and is a great supporter of the museum.

"I think it is great - it is here to show other people what sort of life the miner had. It was hard, it was tough and for very little money.

"You were fighting time all the time and if anything went wrong you had to put it right quickly or you lost money.

"But there was nothing else, so we had to like it or lump it, and that is why this museum has to be here to show people how hard it was."

l The Tom Leonard Mining Museum is open from 1pm until 5pm every day from April 1 to October 31 and is situated in Skinningrove, off the A174 Whitby to Guisborough road