I was reading between the lines on the job info. It seemed as though Welsh was 'prefered'.
Interestingly, on the actual application form, it asks about your level of fluency in English and Welsh but then asks for your prefered language - English, Welsh or BSL ?

Would that be British/Basic Sign Language??

I have been a director of a registered charity (PDMHS) so maybe I am in with a chance after all........

BSL is indeed British Sign Language, if my occasional contact with archaeologists on site is any guide. How you can have a deaf manager in an industry which uses tannoys and sounds a horn as a warning of blasting, I couldn't rightly say; but there is nothing so absurd or unworkable that the "equal opportunity" people can't make it worse.

Oddly enough, British and American Sign Language differ ( the American version being based on the French sort, which is perhaps unsurprisingly, different ); so a deaf American can't understand a deaf Brit unless they are spelling out using the "finger alphabet"

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I can't help laughing at the thought of French sign language.
It could only be topped by Italian sign language.
So all that arm waving actually means something after all?

The French can convey a whole lexicon simply by shrugging their shoulders and tipping their head to one side.

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Comments upthread inspired me to browse through the whole of the voluminous text of the advert.

The language preferences and so forth looks like standard verbage that Welsh Assemby Government sponsored public bodies seem obliged to insert in all adverts. I wouldn't take it over literally.

The 'extras' like charity law knowledge look like wish-list items to emphasise to potential candidates that it isn't a producing mine and that the manager would have some rather different aspects to manage compared to a producing mine.

Regarding pay I presume they're hoping to appeal to ticketed managers now aged perhaps around 50 who were made redundant in the nineties and who have not secured (or have subsequently lost) attractive posts and who see entry to a final salery scheme with the opportunity to contribute maybe 15 years as attractive.

Not a big catchment now - and will inexorably shrink in the near future. Sustaining museums that require certificated managers and other suitably qualified staff (they are also advertising for miner guides to run the tours and require men with suitable training and experience) can only become more problematic. Big Pit was established around 1980 I think when no one forsaw the present situation. Perhaps buying-in part-time management from an operating mine might meet legal requirements when the present tiny supply of qualified managers dries up completely?

The crucial problem with trying to attract Mine Managers made redundant in the 90s is that they simply aren't there. Arithmetic suggests that there is a pool of candidates, albeit not a large one, but that isn't the case.

The NCB largely abandoned its training schemes following the miners' strikes, in the anticipation of wholesale layoffs and attractive packages were offered to provide maximum incentives for senior management to leave and not return, to speed up the closure process.

Most of those still young enough to want to work, have long since left the country or entered other areas of work.

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Well, lets hope they find someone by the closing date of the 31st of January. I'm planning a visit there in February!

I've been there, about 10 years ago, and it was well worth visiting. There are various short-term expediencies by which they can keep the ball in the air, but they definitely need a Manager sooner rather than later.

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I visited last week, appears they are looking again. Having left industry many years ago maybe I will apply and return home if they accept my 2nd class which used to allow managing mine up to 45 men 🙂 Slight pay cut though 🙂

Ceri Thompson is the museum curator/manager,
The Colliery manager is ex Marine Colliery i believe,his name slips me this evening,but i`m sure my butty will fill it in on return from holidays.

The current manager of Big Pit: National Coal Mining Museum for Wales is Peter Walker, ex-Penallta Colliery (see bbclinksmachine.appspot.com/wales/coalhouse/sites/.../peterwalker.shtml? ); retiring in the near future.

The curator of coal mining collections is Ceri Thompson, ex-Cwm Colliery - probably one of the few mining or industrial / technical museum curators in the UK to have worked in the industry he curates. When I met him he explained that he was a face worker for 15 years, left the industry a couple of years after the 1985 strike, got a history degree and went into museums.

Don't think Peter Walker worked at Marine but did I believe work at Six Bells and Penallta (I might be wrong about Marine - just can't remember him there)

The post was advertised again yesterday for the third time in the last four years:

"Mine Manager, Big Pit National Coal Museum £41,737.92 – £61,512.42 pro rata (depending on experience)". Looks like the upper limit of the pay range is significantly higher this time.

http://www.mining-journal.com/people-and-appointments/professional-placements-mine-manager-big-pit-national-coal-museum  for the job description.

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/jobs/?id=812  "1st class certificate of competency in Mining Engineering. (Managers papers)" is stated to be essential.

I still don't think I will apply.....

I love this bit.

"Unfortunately, due to the number of applications we expect in respect of this post it will not be possible to write to each unsuccessful applicant."

I still don't think I will apply.....

I love this bit.

"Unfortunately, due to the number of applications we expect in respect of this post it will not be possible to write to each unsuccessful applicant."

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I don't think I will "relocate" for this one!.

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Well,its a cushy job for life for someone with the required qualifications.

Well,its a cushy job for life for someone with the required qualifications.

Will LCMLA Do? lol

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