Exhibition banner on show in council headquarters
Drop in to Midlothian House reception on Buccleuch Street to view Newtongrange Village Voices' banner and read about a fascinating exhibition members were involved in at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
Read all about it
The local history and reminiscence group has included written details of the project, which you can find on the wall beside the banner.
Recreated the text underneath
We have included the text below to go with the accompanying photograph for anyone who cannot manage along to see if for themselves.
Details of the project
Newtongrange Village Voices writes:
In 1982, American photographer Milton Rogovin came to Scotland with his wife, Anne. He took photographs of miners at work and at home with their families. One of the mining communities he visited was Newtongrange, the largest mining village in Scotland. Newtongrange Village Voices had the pleasure of working with artist Nicky Bird and was able to identify people and places photographed in the village. We followed the Rogovins’ footsteps and Nicky photographed the places as they are now.
Retracing Milton's steps
This year, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery held an exhibition, Before and After Coal, Images and Voices from Scotland’s Mining Communities’. This featured Milton Rogovin’s photographs taken in mining villages in Midlothian, Ayr and Fife along with Nicky’s recent photographs.
Family ties
In March, our group met Milton’s daughters, Paula and Ellen Rogovin and some of their family who had flown over from the United States for the opening of the exhibition. We took Paula to places in Newtongrange where her parents had been over forty years ago. It was an emotional journey for us all.
Banner
Some of our members featured in the audio tour of the exhibition and also in Nicky’s photographs. We were delighted to have our Newtongrange Village Voices banner displayed in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and are so proud of Newtongrange Silver Band who played in the gallery’s Great Hall on the opening and closing days of the exhibition. They raised the roof!