Posted: Thu 27th Mar 2014

Group Established To Preserve Memory Of Gresford Mining Disaster

Wrexham.com for people living in or visiting the Wrexham area
This article is old - Published: Thursday, Mar 27th, 2014

A group has been set up to preserve the memory of the miners killed in the biggest disaster in north Wales.

The ‘Friends of the Gresford Colliery Disaster Memorial’ intends to ensure that the annual service of remembrance is perpetuated for all time.

This September marks the 80th anniversary of the terrible event and various events will be organised by the group. 266 men were killed as a result of an explosion that ripped through the Dennis section at Gresford Colliery on 22nd September 1934. Only 11 bodies were ever recovered. 255 men still lay beneath Wrexham to this day.

Chair of the group is Canon David Griffiths, formerly vicar of Gresford and an ex-miner at Llay Main Colliery. David has conducted the annual open-air remembrance service at the memorial since it was opened by HRH The Prince of Wales in 1982. Also in the group is Ruby McBurney, daughter of William Crump who was killed in the disaster. Together with her friend Margery Morrison, Ruby ran a successful campaign to raise funds to pay for the plaque at the memorial containing the names of the 266 men who were killed.

Canon Griffiths says: “One of our first tasks is to connect with the families of the disaster victims; we need to be in touch with these people. Relatives are asked to contact our secretary and give their contact details.”

The group includes former north Wales miners union agent Ted Mackay and Alan Jones – chairman of The North Wales Miners Association Trust [NWMAT], himself a former Gresford miner. Completing the representation of miners is Malcolm Williams of Llay, a former mines rescue man who also worked at Gresford colliery. A representative of Gresford Sports and Social Club is being sought and the group is completed by Karen Harris of the Wrexham Museum Service, Vic Tyler-Jones of Llay Miner’s Heritage Centre, and Margaret Jones of NWMAT.

Back in September 2012 Wrexham.com reported on the 78th Anniversary of the Gresford Mining Disaster.

Within the article we featured a video from Rich Knew, who runs the local company Knew Productions. Richard, who has used his skills to recover these old videos and helped us to get them online, does want to stress that they are very old – some older than the author of this article! As such do not take these as examples of current work (Knew Productions have a fancy showreel here to compare!)

This video contains a rare interview with one of the survivors from that day. Although the quality can be poor at times it’s well worth 12 minutes of your time:

The Friends aim to raise funds to keep the memorial in good condition and will engage with communities and schools near and far to ensure that the story of the disaster at Gresford Colliery in 1934 will remain in public memory for all time.



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