The Ashington Group began in the early 1930s as an evening class of Northumbrian pitmen keen to learn about art. Within weeks they were producing their own work and within a few years their paintings amounted to a complete record of life in a mining community: clocking in, work at the coal face, the pithead baths, Saturday night at the club, the corner shop, dog track, pigeon crees, kitchen, ally and allotment - their paintings ring true, transcending the usual limitations of amateur art.