Lives in a Landscape - Series 4 - The Queens of Coal

Documentary series telling original stories about real lives in Britain today. Alan Dein meets former Coal Queens at a reunion of these former beauty queens who were elected by miners to represent their mines. In the days of coal, each pit used to elect a Coal Queen to represent the mine. The daughter or granddaughter of a miner would be put forward and if she claimed the crown, she went on to compete in county and even national championships. A recent reunion of Coal Queens brought together former beauty queens from all over the coal mining regions of England, along with their memories and memorabilia. Alan Dein meets them and explores the lives of two in particular to hear how that event, in their youth, changed the course of their lives. Helen Coleman went on to open a beauty salon and married the drummer of Britain's leading Queen tribute band. Maureen Griffiths ran a working men's club and is still remembered by locals for that golden day in 1951. Both have watched the changing face of life after coal. The Miners' Strike of 1984 brought an end to the Coal Queen tradition and changed pit community life forever, but what has happened since and why has a tradition like the Coal Queen beauty pageant endured in the memories of older generations while the teenagers barely know what coal is?