Pit work of art
Conisbrough artist Derek Allport, 67, is exhibiting his work commemorating the men of the Cadeby Main disaster, at Old Market Gallery, Rotherham. Picture: Liz Mockler S1309LM
Retired Conisbrough art teacher Derek Allport has drawn on the recent centenary of the Cadeby pit disaster to inspire a giant mural on display.
Mr Allport’s grandfather Issachar Allport moved from Staffordshire to work at Cadeby Colliery in 1913, a year after the disaster which claimed the lives of 91 men.
Said Derek: “He worked 40 years at the pit after that - he was lucky he didn’t start a year earlier or I probably wouldn’t exist.”
Mr Allport, 67, was head of art and design at Rotherham College of Art and Technology before his retirement six years ago.
Part mural, part collage and part painting, his creation is part of an exhibition at the Old Market Gallery, Rotherham, in the exhibition entitled the Alluvium Big Show,
He said: “I found a photograph in an old edition of the South Yorkshire Times published 99-years-ago which showed rescuers at Cadeby Colliery, with the headline: The Cadeby Heroes. They had visited Buckingham Palace to be presented with silver medals for their bravery by King George V.
Former Northcliffe school pupil Mr Allport, who is married with two sons, taught for a total of 39 years.
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Weather for South Yorkshire
Wednesday 19 June 2013
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