VILLAGE FAMED FOR LONGEVITY 06,000 To Be Collected
From a Durham Miner Some disnuly amongst certain retired miners in Co. Durham has been caused by the announcement that most of Me houses of Horwell Moor may be pulled down under a slum clearance order.
The inhabitants of Harwell Moor are, for the most part, aged mining families and their houses arc supplied by the Aged Miners' Homes Movement, which was inaugurated 40 years ago and now provides in Northumberland and Durham some 2,000 homes.
The houses at Horwell Moor were the first to be acquired by the movement and are now said to fall short of up-to-date requirements.
It has been suggested that the tenants should be rehoused by the Council in a new coastal garden village about eight miles from Horwell Moor but their present locality has a tradition regarding longevity which they feel cannot be replaced by the proposed new environment.
£36,000 to be Raised
The Homes Association, however, proposes to spend 06,000 in building new homes at Horwell Moor to meet the requirernents of the Ministry of Health.
The money will be raised in various ways. When similar situations have had to be met in the past help has been forthcoming from many sources personifying the famous Northern generosity.
This 06,000 will be raised chiefly by small deductions from workers' payments.
Coalowners have also contributed generously to the Aged Miners' Houses, however; so have local tradespeople; so has football. There arc over a score of aged miners' clubs in Durham, each raising its annual quota for the local homes.
It is a matter of regret to North miners that they have not been able to build all the aged miners' homes that are needed.
Plenty of Applicants
When I asked who was to have one, which fell vacant in my own village recently, an official said there was a waitinglist a yard long. It is the same in most villages.
While Mr. Ramsay MacDonald was M.P. for Seaham he presented each Aged Miners' Home in his constituency with a framed copy of a famous picture entitled Harbour of Rest.