A Mine of Information – Community Talks

Best talk I’ve attended in years! I was awestruck at the amount of history right at my doorstep that I had no idea about. It’s really wet my appetite to find out more. We can’t thank [NMMS] enough and are already looking forward to [NMMS] next talk to us! – member of Pollockshields Heritage Trust, 2022

National Mining Museum Scotland offers community talks across the whole of Scotland. These talks are tailored to your local area (or a specific colliery/Pit depending on your topic) and are available in-person or digitally. Each talk includes:

  • An hour long talk from NMMS Education Manager
  • Photographs and maps from our Recognised Collection
  • Real object handling
  • Safety Lamp demonstration

These talks are free of charge but travel costs may apply.

Community Projects

We love to help with community projects and have helped groups such as Kelty Community Council, Y2K Youth Project, Landscape Legacies of Coal and many more! From loaning objects or costumes, attending events, running workshops to photography and film projects we are happy to help.

Recent Projects

November – December 2023 “Curators Toolkit” – part of Industrial Museums Scotland “Powering Our People” Project 

A series of hands-on, interactive, collections care based workshops where young adults aged 16 to 24 from Edinburgh and Midlothian developed transferrable heritage skills. Over 5 weekly sessions, the young adults worked with the museum’s curatorial and education team to gain first-hand experience working with the Museum’s collection. Furthermore, they achieved Archaeology Scotland’s Bronze Heritage Hero Award. Each workshop had a different theme and explored topics such as:

  • Collections care
  • Introduction to conservation
  • Collections databases
  • Effective interpretation

This project culminated with an exhibition of the group’s chosen cared for objects, complete with interpretation. This is located in a display case outside the Museum’s Activity Room.

“Thank you so much for this amazing opportunity! It is a challenging sector to establish yourself in and I believe this experience will help me with that. Also, Nicola and Megan have been so friendly, welcoming and helpful, which has made it even more enjoyable!” – Feedback from a participant, 2023 

The ‘Curators Toolkit’ group.

The completed curated exhibition case!