The saga of the Loscoe Wheel
July 2006
Thirty years after the closure of the last mine in the area, the two commemorative wheels were put in place, one in Church Street, Heanor
and the other in High Street, Loscoe.
The mining of coal led to the growth of Heanor and the surrounding villages, and the wheels serve as a tribute to several mines in the area,
and the hundreds of men who worked them over the the years. The winding wheel at Loscoe is a memorial to the Old Loscoe, Bailey Brook and Ormonde pits.
November 2006
"One hospital bed" was spray-painted onto the base of the wheel in Loscoe. Presumably the person responsible considered the money spent on the
wheel as a waste, specifically that it would have been better directed towards keeping hospitals well equipped.
The town council pointed out that the money for the memorial wheel came from the town council, not the NHS. Councillor Paul Jones said,
"There's no correlation between memorials like this and the NHS – they're run from completely different funds." This statement appears to be
saying that it's fine to spend money on the wheel as it was paid for out of a separate fund.
Perhaps though, the graffiti artist doesn't really care about which budget the money comes out of. Whether its collected as Income Tax, VAT,
National Insurance, Insurance Premium Tax or Council Tax, it's all taxpayers money. If it's spent on things that are not wanted by some, they
will see it as money wasted. Whether you agree with the memorial wheels or not, they have a point.
The town councillor for Heanor, Bob Moon said "The wheel is not just a decoration, it's a memorial to the miners, many of whom are suffering
ill health as a result of the work they did." In view of their ill health, perhaps they too, would have preferred to buy (or retain) that extra hospital bed
instead?
It would be interesting to know what proportion of the local populace were in favour of a memorial.
January 2007
The wheel in Loscoe is taken down because of safety fears following the appearance of cracks in the concrete base. Councillor Bob Moon said,
"The concrete plinth is very badly cracked and we were concerned about the stability of the wheel." Apparently he also added: "Now it's been
made safe we've given ourselves a week or so to make a decision on what to do next."
Several weeks later, the council said that they had received reports on the wheel and were working towards getting it back in place as soon as possible.
February 2008
The Ripley and Heanor news reported that "The Loscoe mining monument looks set to remain flat on the ground for the foreseeable future with little
progress being made on repair works."
The same report stated that £1,000 had to be spent to take the wheel down when the cracks in its base appeared and that Heanor Town Council cannot
afford to pay for the repairs.
So, for now and who knows how much longer, the wheel lies forlornly with grass growing between its spokes and with debates supposedly ongoing concerning
what went wrong, whose fault it is and who is going to have to pay yet more money to put it right.
Read the Ripley and Heanor report referred to above.
May 2008
Amber Valley Borough Council has kindly set aside nearly £15,000 after agreeing to fund the repairs to get the Loscoe Wheel reinstated.
That's very nice of them, except that it's not really their money to give away is it? Whichever budget or fund it comes out of, it is,
as we have said before, still tax payers money.
If, as some suggest, the original plinth is faulty, why is the cost of putting it right not being met by the companies that did the work in the first place?
The Ripley and Heanor News recently published a letter from an A W Warner who, as a former miner, is all for
the commemorative wheel. But not at the tax payers' expense. Quite rightly, he calls for a full investigation and "some answers" before committing any money to it.
September 2008
Work is at last underway to destroy and remove the concrete plinth that once supported the Loscoe Wheel.
October 2008
At last, the Loscoe Wheel is back in place.
There's some tidying up to do (below left) but the plinth has now been painted.
One curious question remains, though...
The erection of the wheel, the 'Grafitti' incident, the cracks in the plinth,
the wheel being taken down, the on-going problem of how to get the wheel put back up and who will pay for it... All these things
have been reported in the press. Photographers have been on hand to record the crane lifting of the wheel into place, or capture an image
of the 'One Hospital Bed' grafitto.
So why didn't the Ripley & Heanor News cover the "re-erection of the wheel" story?
We asked them and they told us they didn't know about it!
Strange indeed.
Didn't the local council want as much publicity as possible regarding this local memorial?
Apparently not, otherwise they would have informed everyone, particularly the local press, in advance so that they could be there to witness it.
Was it just that they didn't want too many
angry taxpayers turning up?
September 2010
Finally, the Loscoe Wheel looks good against the grassy bank of the Charles Hill Playing Fields, next to the Red River Nature Reserve
and most would agree that it's nice to see it there. The anger and protests appear to be at having to pay for it twice when it was not properly put up the first time.
On the 25th September 2010, a Dedication Memorial service was held at the Loscoe Wheel. A blessing was given and the Hucknall & Linby Brass Band
played to the assembled crowd.
You can read more and see pictures on the Jaropa Target news page.
April 2011
Strangely enough, during times of cutbacks and financial deficits, money has been found to buy some bricks, mortar, and labour to decorate
the plinth on which the Loscoe Wheel stands.
That the appearance has been improved there is no doubt, but whether local tax-payers would have chosen to spend their money on this item of
work, instead of, say, repairing pot holes in the roads to give one example, is a question on which we can only speculate.
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