Dispossessed

The former industrial heartlands of the North-East of England are now among the most deprived in Britain. Communities still struggle to come to terms with the end of industry and with Brexit on the horizon these areas are almost certain to be hit again.

For over a hundred years the valleys and hills of the North-East of England reverberated to the sounds of industry, of coal and steel, of power and machination. The skylines were dominated by the engine houses and giant wheels of coal mines and the streets by hundreds of terraced pit-cottages filled with the families of those that toiled deep below ground. Now the mine is long since closed and the once flourishing Colliery towns like Easington and Boldon are devastated; the mist rolls in from the sea over boarded up houses, there is mass unemployment and a feeling of hopelessness.

While globalisation changed the world in many ways for the better, one industrial heartland like the struggling North-East feel like its victim. In June 2016 the people made their voices heard when the communities there voted in protest for Britain to leave the European Union, laying their grievances at the door of Europe, blaming immigration and a consequent lack of opportunities for their pervading sense of futility and loss. Now fore Brexit is hard, as it no doubt will be, they will be hardest hit.

Modern day deprivation in areas like this, in otherwise rich countries like the UK, is a subtle and insidious thing. It manifests itself in a lack of education and ideas, a desperate paucity of opportunities, of horizons and dreams. There are no real jobs or investment, just low-skilled factory positions – often soul-destroying work for people who see their contemporaries in other parts of the country as better off than they.

Perhaps the only constant in these fragile communities is love and family; the one thing they have known that has been a positive in their lives. As communities died and peope were forced to move away looking for work elsewhere, those that were left supported each other. There is a high number of young parents and many are single parents. But with few jobs and low incomes, it is not easy to bring up families and the cycle of deprivation is repeated. This work aims to highlight the everyday challenges and beauty of these long forgotten places that were once the UK's industrial heartlands and now lie almost completely forgotten, struggling alone.

© Mary Turner - Image from the Dispossessed photography project
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Families take part in a charity fundraiser in a The Victory in Easington, to support local boy Bradley Lowery's cancer treatment. The lack of interest at national and local government level, has embedded a deep sense of community and volunteering in areas like Easington Colliery.

© Mary Turner - Image from the Dispossessed photography project
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Amanda takes a drag on a cigarette while her children and their friends play in the streets of Easington Colliery, on the edge of green land where once a towering coal mine supported the entire community.

© Mary Turner - Image from the Dispossessed photography project
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Lindsey dances with her daughter Bethany to their favourite song by Westlife. Bethany has learning difficulties and their shared love of the song brings the pair together.

© Mary Turner - Clothes are laid out on tables at a clothing bank for those in need to come and collect at a Miner's Welfare Club in Durham.
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Clothes are laid out on tables at a clothing bank for those in need to come and collect at a Miner's Welfare Club in Durham.

© Mary Turner - People in need come to collect free food and get a hot meal at a food bank in Hartlepool.
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People in need come to collect free food and get a hot meal at a food bank in Hartlepool.

© Mary Turner - Image from the Dispossessed photography project
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Reece, who suffers from drug issued, in the flat where he stays in Easington. He has spent most of his adult life in and out of the prison system, battling his habit.

© Mary Turner - Chairs are stacked at a food bank in Easington Colliery, where local people come for a hot meal for the cost of 50p.
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Chairs are stacked at a food bank in Easington Colliery, where local people come for a hot meal for the cost of 50p.

© Mary Turner - Image from the Dispossessed photography project
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A little boy sits in front of the pit houses which were once full of families supported by the coal mine. The houses were mostly bought by the miners with a payoff when they were made redundant from the closures, but the houses are now almost completely valueless as there is so little work and most are boarded up.

© Mary Turner - Image from the Dispossessed photography project
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The path along the coastline where the Easington Colliery pit once stood. Closed down since 1993, the area is now a nature reserve and the land has gradually been reclaimed by nature from the heavy industry that once dominated the area.

© Mary Turner - Image from the Dispossessed photography project
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Andrew and Imogen have breakfast together in the Wetherspoons in Peterlee, the nearest big town to the Easington Colliery where they live. Wetherspoons’ cheap beer and food is a magnet, and provides a social hub for the community.

© Mary Turner - Image from the Dispossessed photography project
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Andrew lies on the floor with Bethany, who has learning difficulties, after an 18 hour shift at a delivery service where he worked over Christmas.

© Mary Turner - Image from the Dispossessed photography project
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Bethany reaches up to touch her mum’s stomach, as Lindsey is pregnant with the family’s third child.Family is hugely important to people in the area - as jobs disappeared and many struggled, family and a sense of community is one of the building blocks of life for those who are struggling.

© Mary Turner - Image from the Dispossessed photography project
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Lindsey and her daughters pass furniture, which they have appropriated from their neighbour, over the fence, as he is now leaving the area.

© Mary Turner - Image from the Dispossessed photography project
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Families attend a free Halloween event at Easington Colliery Welfare Centre where the children are served free cakes and sweets. The event was free and unticketed for around 300 children so that those many who would not have been able to afford to attend or whose families are low on food and income, were also able to treat their young families without having to openly ask for help.

© Mary Turner - Image from the Dispossessed photography project
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Kevin and his son Brandon are pictured at their home in Hartlepool. The family receive support from their local food bank as they struggle to find work.

© Mary Turner - Image from the Dispossessed photography project
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Andy Nunn, a cage fighter, puts on his son's shoes as they leave his grandmother Myra's house on her birthday. Andy is sole carer for his older son Thai (pictured right) and cage fights for a living. He describes it and his sons as his reason for living.

© Mary Turner - Image from the Dispossessed photography project
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Lindsey shows her daughter Sophie her wedding dress that she wants to pass on as a family heirloom. The dress was £100 pounds from a department store in the nearby city Sunderland.

© Mary Turner - Image from the Dispossessed photography project
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People queue at the bar at the Easington Welfare Hallm at a fundraising event for local child Bradley Lowery who died of cancer in 2017.

© Mary Turner - Teenagers sit on the rides as the fair comes to town in Hartlepool
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Teenagers sit on the rides as the fair comes to town in Hartlepool

© Mary Turner - Image from the Dispossessed photography project
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Lights illuminate just a few houses in Easington Colliery, that were once miner's cottages and filled with families of those worked in the mine. Now most stand dark.

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