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Permanent gallery for 'Coal Town' photographer

Mik Critchlow A black and white image of two women sitting in the hairdressers with heating cones on their heads. They are older women, one is reading a copy of Northern Life magazine and both have a rather cross expression on their faces Mik Critchlow
Mik Critchlow spent four decades capturing the lives of people in Ashington

A museum is to open a permanent gallery featuring the work of an acclaimed photographer who documented everyday life in north-east England.

The Coal Town Collection, at Woodhorn in Northumberland, will feature the images of Mik Critchlow who spent decades recording the lives of people in his home town of Ashington.

Also on display will be personal items on loan from his family including the cameras he used and unseen photographs.

His wife Maureen said he saw the collection, made up of images he chose himself, as the "culmination of his life's work".

The 100 photographs first went on display at the museum in November 2021, chronicling the town's colliery and the people who worked there before and after the mine was closed.

Jason Thompson Mik Critchlow is carrying a camera over his shoulder. He has grey stubble and is wearing a black coat and has a grey cap on. He is walking alongside a row of cottages Jason Thompson
Mik Critchlow took over 50,000 photographs

Liz Ritson, Director of Programmes at Woodhorn Museum, said: "Mik's work is one of the most important historical archives we have of the end of deep coalmining in Northumberland.

"His deeply personal photographs do more than capture a moment in time; they tell a story of the people and communities he was part of in the town of Ashington."

Mik Critchlow A black and white image of a group of miners at the end of their shift. They are all wearing overalls and hard hats and are covered in coal dust.Mik Critchlow
Mik Critchlow was born into a mining family and many of his images depicted miners

Born into a mining family, Mr Critchlow, who died in 2023, often referred to coal as being "in our blood".

His grandfather worked at Woodhorn Colliery for 52 years, his father spent 45 years as a miner and his two brothers also spent 25 years working underground.

Mik Critchlow Four people who are part of a brass band are walking down the street. One man is carrying a trombone and a woman is holding a trumpet. Two of the men are laughing, one has his head thrown back and is holding the hand of someone behind him. The man at the front of the four, who is wearing a brass band uniform, has his right fist raised.Mik Critchlow
The 100 images in the Coal Town exhibition were all selected by Mik Critchlow

During his career, which began in 1977 after seeing an exhibition by the Pitmen Painters, he accumulated an archive of over 50,000 pictures.

Mrs Critchlow said he would have felt "honoured" to have a permanent exhibition at Woodhorn.

Mik Critchlow Three men are shovelling coal from the sea into the back of a horse drawn cart. One man is standing in the cart the other two are in the water Mik Critchlow
Mik Critchlow's images have been described as "catching a moment in time"

Speaking about the Coal Town exhibition in 2021, Mr Critchlow said: "People would often ask me, 'Why are you photographing me? I'm not royalty', and I would say, 'you're my royalty, you're just as important'."

"I was photographing them for history really."

The Coal Town Collection will open at Woodhorn Museum in May.

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