A MAN with a passion for keeping not only the Forest small-mine tradition alive but also making sure local stone is available for restoration work is undertaking two exciting new projects.

Nick Bull, who lives at Awre, near Newnham, has applied to county planners to reopen the old Eastern United colliery at Ruspidge, near Cinderford, and also Copes Quarry at Fowle-swell Slade, Blakeney.

At the quarry he plans to cut building stone for repairs, walls and extensions in keeping with their surroundings.

And at Eastern United, Nick is involved in planning roadways so that the former tip can be re-worked. The spoil is rich in both stone and coal.

"At present the only place you can obtain the old red sandstone which was used for buildings in a fairly localised area is from demolition sites," he said.

"It is fast running out and there's a limit to the buildings you can knock down and redress the stone. As a result people are using other materials including reconstituted stone blocks which are definitely unsuitable, especially in conservation areas."

He said Copes Quarry, just off the Blakeney-Parkend road between the village and Wenchford picnic site, had been part filled in where it straddled the former railway line.

His plan was to work above the infill and take what amounted to no more than pick-up truck loads away as and when required.

"Repairs done in other stone stick out like a sore thumb," he said. He was more scathing about reconstituted stones, which were in effect concrete blocks.

At Eastern United, closed in 1959, he is pulling stone from the spoil tips to create access roads which will hopefully enable him to rework the tailings for coal and stone.

"I am very keen to keep the traditional working Forest alive, and the culture that goes with it. Projects like this do no harm. As for the stone, there's a real need for it in an area from Woolaston up to Westbury and a bit beyond," he said.

At the quarry, he said there would be four or five men working "now and then" but the colliery offered chances of a number of jobs depending on how much material could be recovered from it.