Ray Ashman, who many will know from his work at the museum and from his time playing at Prattens Club, has left a generous legacy which the local museum say will be used to further heritage displays and ensure his legacy is never forgotten

For many years he was one of the lead surveyors at Norton Hill Pit, and came from a mining family. He also left a donation to Dorothy House Hospice.

This is his life story:

Ray was born on 24th May 1927 in Charlton Road, Norton Hill to parents George, a coal miner at Norton Hill Colliery and Florence, a pupil teacher in Radstock and later a seamstress.

Ray attended Westfield Infants, St Johns in Midsomer Norton, and then Norton Hill School.

On leaving school at 16 with very good results, Ray found it difficult to obtain a secure job, as most jobs were reserved for the men who returned from active service in the WWII, having been conscripted. He spent some time as a farmworker, before obtaining employment with an insurance company in Bristol - cycling to Welton Station each morning to catch the train.

Ray learned to play the piano, clarinet, and alto sax and was playing with several local bands from the age of 16. Many American and some Welsh troops were billeted in the area and one of the American Officers asked if the band that Ray was in would play for the G.I.'s on Salisbury Plain. So, at 17, Ray and his band mates were picked up in an army lorry and taken to play for dances at camps in Wiltshire

He decided that working in insurance was not for him and gained a position at Norton Hill Colliery. War time conscription meant he became a 'Bevin Boy', a retained coalminer, needed to dig out the coal to power the country through the war years. Ray continued in this role until nationalisation in 1947.

He then attended the Coal Board College at Cross Keys, South Wales, to study surveying, before working in the local pits as a surveyor. The coal mine surveyors were based at Woodborough House, Writhlington, Haydon, and at Old Pit, Norton Hill. Ray worked alongside Don Dowding, and their secretary who were the last three to be made redundant, around 13 years after the last pits closed. Their main task was to carry out searches in west and east Bristol Coalfield, the South Gloucester Coalfield, and the Nailsea Coalfield, as well as the Somerset Coalfield.

Ray was involved in some key tasks locally. He spent several years surveying the Strap Pit and Mendip Shaft, and then planning the 1/200 incline from Mendip up to the Garden Coarse seam at New Rock. This not only met the safety requirements but extended the life of New Rock Pit by around 14 years.

This was his generous gift to the Somerset Coalfield Museum

A life in the mines

Ray, and his friend John Church, were the main Surveyors at Norton Hill Pit for some years, and alongside surveying the ongoing workings, they had to correlate the underground plans with the surface maps ensuring that work ceased on workings in the White Post district where coal was being cut within 300ft of the surface. This task was made more difficult because the underground plans were drawn to a different scale from the Ordnance Survey Maps. It was also critical that the last coal faces worked from Norton Hill Pit in the Old Welton district stopped short of the Clandown Fault, to provide a buffer between those faces and the old workings of the Radstock Measures at Wellsway Pit, to prevent flooding from these old workings.

Ray married Dorothy in 1963 and they lived happily at Norton Hill for almost all of his life. Ray was modest, friendly, affable, sociable, well-known and well-liked; both in Norton Hill and in the wider area through his work and interests in his adult life.

He played Football for Norton Hill Rangers for quite a few seasons and the ground at that time was a Miners' Welfare Field and Hall. He was a competitive tennis player, playing for Prattens Club in the local league, and he also played league table tennis for Prattens right up to and beyond retirement.

Throughout much of his working life, he played alto-sax for various dance bands, and formed a band of his own. The band was offered the residency at The Regency in Bath for several seasons, supporting well-known dance bands such as Joe Loss. Ray also played the church organ at Westfield Church alternate weeks and piano for the rehearsals of the local amateur musical society at the scout's hall.

He was a historian too

He became a Trustee of the Somerset Miners Welfare Trust in later years, and was sought out for advice about the Somerset Coalfield by authors, providing information for several publications: for example, he is credited by David Strawbridge for his chapter on New Rock Colliery, and by Robin Athill on the 'Overthrow' in the Nettlebridge Valley, He also gave information to the South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group, including Ram Hill Engine Pit and Frog Lane Pit.

From the late 1980's, Ray was committed to establishing a mining museum for the Somerset Coalfield. He was able to offer technical advice to Dr Charles Chillcott, who was instrumental in establishing Radstock Museum in its first instance at its temporary home in Haydon created inside a barn in the garden of local history enthusiast Peggy Rowe.

Ray, along with Dennis Chedgy and others visited local villages associated with mining, gave talks, and raised money to establish a permanent Museum. When the opportunity to convert the Old Market Hall in Radstock for a permanent museum became a reality, Ray offered his advice, time, and support to ensure the museum was authentic, viable, and a lasting memory of what had had been the industry which had shaped his community for over 200 years.

Ray passed away on 28th April 2020 and with no children to leave his estate to, he made a bequest of an incredibly generous sum to the Radstock, Midsomer Norton and District Museum Society which owns and cares for the collection of over 45,000 objects housed at Somerset Coalfield Life at Radstock Museum. Ray's legacy will help preserve these wonderful artefacts for generations to come. His wish is that that those who come after him may learn and understand the incredible story of the bravery, hardship and camaraderie of the local coal mining generations who gave so much to power us into the modern age and give us the modern comforts we all enjoy today all of which was made possible because of coal.

The Radstock, Midsomer Norton Museum Society would like to sincerely thank Ray for the generous bequest. As yet there are no firm plans as to how the monies will be used, but improvements to displays at the museum are planned and it may be that Ray's bequest will be used in part or in full for this purpose. Firm details will be announced in due course. The museum will be holding a special reception at a future date at the museum in recognition of Ray's life's work and dedication to our local heritage.

By Lucy Tudor, Volunteer Radstock Museum from notes by John Gibson, Ray Ashman's nephew.