Have you ever wondered what it might have been like deep underground in the coalmines of Somerset? A new Virtual Reality (VR) attraction at Somerset Coalfield Life at Radstock Museum will take you on a ride down into the mines of Radstock and on a journey back in time through the mine tunnels in a brand new, unique and exciting experience.

Take your seat for the fully three-dimensional trip: pop on the lightweight headset (which fits comfortably over glasses) and you will find yourself in the cage (the lift), which took the miners down underground, where your descent begins!

You are now in the role of a miner, clunking and bumping down the mineshaft in the cage – dropping at a rate of 60 feet per second – taking you deep underground. Once down at the pit bottom, you find yourself travelling in a coal truck along rails on the underground roadway. Turn your head to look all around you, and see the pit pony stables and miners eating their lunches. Pass by miners cutting away at the coalface with picks and make way for a pit pony as it comes towards you, pulling its load of coal.

This unique ride has been made to be as authentic as possible, with some artistic licence to make it exciting and workable. For example, in the Somerset Coalfield the actual coal seams were often only two-feet high, and miners would wriggle along the cramped seams to cut the coal. It would be impossible for the ride to replicate this, as there would be no room for the viewer to see this happening, so the tunnels are bigger on the ride.

The VR ride is the ambitious work of two students, Georgina Hill and Barry Lewis from Bath College, in a collaboration with Radstock Museum. Georgina and Barry have developed and implemented the ride for the final project of their course, gaining them both a Foundation Degree in Applied Computing. The final project required the students to draw on all the computing skills they had acquired during the course, as well as to demonstrate skills in areas such as project management and collaborating with a third party and client.

The collaboration came about when Museum Chairman, Dr Nick Hall, and Amy Patterson, Careers and Employability Adviser at Bath College, were linked up by Julie Poll, a business connector. Amy said: “We began with the shared vision of inviting students to imagine ways in which the museum could become more interactive. We are delighted that the resulting collaboration between Radstock Museum and Bath College has been so successful, and together we’ve developed something unique to the region.

“The team at the museum has given our students a fantastic opportunity to apply their creativity and skills to this project and we thank them for their support throughout.

“Bath College considers the links we have with local businesses and communities to be incredibly important, as it helps those outside of the college to see how talented our students are, and in turn allows students to develop real work skills. We are very proud of what Barry and Georgina have achieved with the museum and we look forward to seeing what else this partnership can do in the future.”

Barry and Georgina discovered that they work so well as a team that they are already planning a new and improved second generation of the ride, where the participant will be able to interact further by picking up implements and using them, plus more! They are both continuing to the full Bachelor Degree currently.

The museum would very much like to continue the collaboration which has been so professionally conducted by the students and the College and has also been enormous fun! Particularly memorable is the time Georgina and Barry spent with Bryn Hawkins, a former Colliery Worker, who was adviser on the ride as to what you might expect to see and experience.

Bryn enthusiastically put on the headset and was carried back to his mining days, thoroughly enjoying it, without needing to take a bath afterwards! It will be lovely for the museum volunteers to see visitors of all ages taking turns with the headsets and going off on such a fascinating and informative, yet fun, ride.

Somerset Coalfield Life at Radstock Museum would like to warmly congratulate Georgina Hill and Barry Lewis, who graduated from Bath College with Foundation Degrees in Applied Computing. The Museum wishes them the very best for the

future.

The new ride is available, free to all visitors from 10th February, weekends only.