It has been used as a political billboard, as a backdrop for festive greetings and today (October 11) it seemed to be being used as a special birthday card.

The famed Midsomer Norton spoil heap is affectionately known as the town's local volcano.

Local Ray Chivers, who allowed us to use this photo from his archives, says he can recall when the nearby pit was still working and when the slope was his - and all the other local kids - playground.

He told Nub News : " I remember the pit working when I was young. The pit was one side of the road roughly where Tesco is now and the pit baths were the opposite side where Wick's store is now. I used to know the guy that used to stoke the boilers for the steam winding gear, but I think it must have been in early 60's when they electrified the winding gear then soon after closed it all down. "

"There would have been a conveyor belt running across the road from the pit to the slag heap as is now with all the spoil. It was mine, and many a kids' playground, after it shut down with a piece of old tin or old conveyor belt dragged to the top then sliding down."

During the last election the volcano made international news when it was used to encouraged voters not to vote for Jacob Rees Mogg - with a huge Get Mogg Out slogan daubed on it. Later it was used with a big heart to thank the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic.

And it has been likened to a special scene from the Hollywood blockbuster from 1977, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

The heap is actually formally designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and contains some interesting fossils, according to geologists, including the world's earliest known damselfly.

But perhaps the most disappointing news for locals is that the batch doesn't belong to Midsomer Norton at all, it lies within the boundary of Paulton.