BANNERS for the Deaf Hill and Wheatley Hill collieries were blessed at the traditional Miners’ Festival Service at Durham Cathedral on Saturday.

The banners were marched in alongside the Durham Miners’ Association (DMA) banner, accompanied by the DMA pit band, the North Lakes band and the GT Group Peterlee Town band, the huge church echoing with the thunder of their drums.

The banners were dedicated by Acting Bishop of Durham and Bishop of Jarrow the Right Reverend Sarah Clark, who asked that they inspire us to “lives of discipleship and service.”