This successful conference was held in Katowice, Poland on Thu 10.04.25 and Fri 11.4.25. It was well attended with 138 participants both from Poland and several other European countries. Business sessions included presentations made by Jaap Nieweg (Fedecrail, former President) and Rik Degruyter (Fedecrail Board Member).
The conference was followed by a statement of key issues which could be taken forward by Fedecrail and by our colleagues in the WIMH Working Industrial & Mobile Heritage platform group – the Declaration of Katowice on the Future of Industrial & Mobile Heritage.
At the request of one of our partners in the WIMH platform group, it was agreed that the text of the Declaration needed to be updated to reflect more appropriately both the specialist needs of our sector and wider general climate change and environmental issues. Key messages remain advocating for continued availability of fossil fuels for heritage purposes (including support for research into the feasibility of retaining a ‘heritage colliery’ in Poland as a source of supply) and the vital task of preserving and transferring knowledge and skills to younger generations. A suitable revised version of the Declaration has now been published – for copy see below.
Fedecrail and our WIMH group colleagues remain keen that the – revised – Declaration should be circulated as widely as possible at both national and international levels, so please feel free to forward it to both heritage and other organisations
