Ayle Colliery, Alston, Deutsche Welle, 1992

Reporter Tim Moores goes underground at one of the last privately-owned drift mines still working in the UK.

Ayle Colliery is situated 3km north of Alston on a minor road off the A686, just within the Northumberland county border with Cumbria. Coal from Little Limestone seam, an the 18" thick seam below Ayle Common, was still being mined up until 1999.

The opening shot is of Killhope - a former lead mine over the tops in Durham and now a (very good) museum. The following glimpses are of Clarghyll and Ayle pit tops. The underground footage and surface haulage is Tows Bank where I was working when the film was made in 1992. The Germans were amazed that we could work the coal at all - as he says in the clip "here is the coal 33cms thick and never reaching 50 cms". (info supplied by clogs at welshcoalmines.co.uk)

5 min, Drehscheibe Europa, Deutsche Welle, Germany 1992