What is thought to be the last shipment of coal from the North East of England has left the River Tyne. Extracted in County Durham, the 12,000-tonne load, bound for Belgium, raises questions for those who once worked deep down the pits, and for the next generation looking to a cleaner future.
The fact that coal was still being exported from the Tyne came as something of a surprise to former colliery mechanic Billy Middleton.
Now aged 79, he started work when he was 15 at County Durham's Wheatley Hill Colliery, before moving on to Thornley and then nearby Easington.
"I'm more shocked than anything, I didn't even know," the former blacksmith said.
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