The Ivor Brown Memorial Day was held at Coalbrookedale Museum on the 27th of October, 2018. This was to celebrate the life and work of the late Dr Ivor John Brown. The event was attended by around eighty people, including some Members of The Friends of the Dragline. Ivor had been instrumental in the saving of our Dragline for Preservation, in order that future generations would learn about the history of Opencast Mining, and be able to visit what had become the last large Walking Dragline  Excavator remaining in Britain. Ten speakers gave a variety of talks covering different aspects of Ivor’s work. Their topics ranged from “God and the Miners” to “Celestine Mining in South Gloucestershire”.

Our Member, Sam Wood, gave a talk entitled “St Aidan’s Opencast and Preservation of the Dragline” in which Ivor’s efforts to save the Dragline were described in great detail. During the lunch break, A video of our Dragline’s last walk, was played on a loop for for the visitors to watch. This had been provided by IA Recordings.