Born and raised in Radstock, Dennis is descended from a long line of Somerset miners. His family can trace their mining lineage back to the early 1800s. His father, Frank, worked at Braysdown Colliery from 1936 60 1954, before moving to Kilmersdon Colliery where he remained until its closure in 1973.
Although he didn’t work in the Somerset pits, Dennis’ interest in the history of the coalfield began early. Develop through his family connections and nurtured at primary school, that interest was fuelled by Dennis Rendell – one of his teachers at the Board School. It has been a life-long interest, so we shouldn’t be surprised that Dennis was a founding member of the Radstock, Midsomer Norton & District Museum Society, formed in 1985.
As well as being a founding member, Dennis was instrumental if raising awareness of the coalfield and its history through local shows, temporary exhibitions and talks.
The Society was behind the develop of the first Museum about the Somerset Coalfield, which opened at Barton Meade, Hadon in 1989. Over the years, Dennis supported the development of the Museum Society, and the opening of the museum’s permanent home in the Old Market hall in Radstock in 1999. It was work that included helping to organise the annual miners’ reunion (add link to webpage about the reunion?), resulting in close friendships with many of the officers (current and former) of the Somerset Miners’ Welfare Trust.
It was this which resulted in Dennis, then a Museum Society Trustee, being invited to join the Somerset Miners’ Welfare Trust in 2015. Although Dennis has subsequently