Julie Dexter

Julie Dexter is our secretary. Unlike the other trustees, she is not a ‘native’ of the coalfield. Like Sam Whitehouse, the first union leader of the Somerset miners, Julie is originally from Staffordshire.

Julie first got to know the Somerset Coalfield when she was doing post-graduate research on the area. In 1992 she was introduced to Dennis Chedgy, then a trustee at Radstock Midsomer Norton and District Museum Society, who quickly recruited her as editor of the Museum Society’s history journal, Five Arches. It’s a role she filled for over 30 years, before finally stepping down at Easter 2024.

As well as editing Five Arches, Julie has been involved in leading a number of projects for the Museum, including:

• an European project on mining
• work with the National Archives to catalogue local poor law records
• work with local schools and former miners to make the 40th anniversary of the closure of the last of our local pits

Along the way, she has also found time to support the annual miners reunion: first helping to serve teas, before working with the SMWT trustees on behalf of the Museum Society to organise the event, and prepare the lunches. It was 2023, and the 50th anniversary lunch as the Old Down Inn before she finally got to sit down and enjoy lunch with us!

It was through her voluntary work at the Museum that Julie got to know many of the former miners and the trustees of the SMWT (past and present). In her day job, she is a business admin manager, so she was a natural choice to join us as secretary when her predecessor, Tony Salvidge, stepped down from the role in 2020.