Our History
Our story starts in Local Pit villages of the north-east during the industrial revolution.
Horden, Easington, and Blackhall were all proud Pit Villages. A phrase which here means a village built on the coal mining industry. At the time, coal mining was the major revenue stream for the North-East.
The economic growth brought about through the coal trading businesses was what propped up a lot of these communities. Pathing the way for new modern housing, education, and innovation for the local areas.
Combined with the welfare system at the time, people in these villages were thriving.
The system at the time meant that London was the technology powerhouse of UK. Creating most of the technology for the whole country.
While the North of England was seen as the powerhouse provider of the coal needed to power the machines down in London.
That was until 1985 when all of the coal mines in the UK were closed.
Due to long-lasting peace in Europe following WW2, many countries were able to expand their own industries and not only catch up with Britain but overtake us entirely in things like the clothing manufacturing industries, ship making, and other industries that the UK had once been world-leading.
This prompted Margret Thatcher to turn the UK into a skills and service provider, instead of a mainly manufacturing trading country.
This single decision is what made nearly all of these communities fall to their knees, as the main source of income for these areas was gone.
Because of this, many people abandoned these areas in pursuit of finding employment elsewhere.
As due to the mines closing, there was no longer a need for the secondary jobs surrounding the selling and distribution of coal.
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The same government also revoked the majority of the welfare system at the time, putting a further strain on the community. Leading to a spike in anti-social behavior and overall neglect of the area by the local councils. As there was simply no money left in the area.
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Cut to the modern day, where these mineshafts have been sat dormant for 39 years and counting. The land surrounding them was abandoned, and over time, became filled with dead grass and thorns.
Until 2023, when some people in our local community came together to form the Prappa Jobs Campaign.
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An organization dedicated to giving the land a new use by converting the old Mineshafts into miniature gravity power stations.
With each site able to produce up to 150 jobs each for the local communities and allow the local area to sell the energy produced to the main power grid to put more money into the local areas and drive investment up.