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Entry TypeCorporate
Corporate NameDerbyshire Miners' Welfare Holiday Centre
Also Known AsDerbyshire Miners' Holiday Camp
Dates1949-1980
HistoryIn 1937 the Derbyshire Miners' Association (DMA) negotiated with the Ministry of Labour for the introduction of a Holiday Savings Scheme, which would enable miners in Derbyshire to take holidays without a loss of earnings. The scheme began in 1938 and one of its aims was the building of a holiday centre in Skegness. The Derbyshire Miners' Welfare Holiday Centre was built with financial grants from the Miners' Welfare Fund and colliery owners. It opened on 20 May 1939 and was the first of its kind in the United Kingdom, described by Sir Frederick Sykes, Chairman of the Miners' Welfare Central Committee, as 'a pioneer venture'. The holiday centre could accommodate almost 1,000 visitors per week in wooden chalets, and was available to approximately 40,000 miners (and their families) then employed in Derbyshire collieries. It provided accommodation, meals and entertainment, and was also used by miners in other regions.

After the success of the Derbyshire Miners' Convalescent Home and Holiday Centre in Skegness, a second holiday centre opened in North Wales in 1949. In 1947 the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Derbyshire Area, which had succeeded the DMA in 1945, negotiated with the National Coal Board (NCB) the lease of land formerly owned by the Bolsover Colliery Company. The Derbyshire Miners' Welfare Holiday Centre was situated on Marsh Road in Rhyl. In 1949 the site was taken over by the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation (CISWO), and developed it using it the holiday centre in Skegness as a model. The NUM Derbyshire Area ran the holiday centre with CISWO on a rota system which changed each year.

The centre was sold in 1980 and the site has since been redeveloped for housing.
BiographyConvalescent home and holiday centre for coal miners and their families. The holiday centres were open each year between late March and early October, with four weeks reserved for retired mineworkers at special rates and nine weeks for the disabled or permanently sick.
RelationshipsAdministered by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Derbyshire Area and Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation (CISWO). Associated with the Derbyshire Miners' Welfare Holiday Centre in Skegness.
Authorised Form of NameDerbyshire Miners' Welfare Holiday Centre; 1949-1980

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