Monday 22 December 2014

services mark 104th anniversary of Pretoria Pit disaster


Three poignant memorial services were held for the 344 men and boys who were killed in Lancashire’s worst ever mining tragedy.

Young and old gathered at the Pretoria Pit disaster monument on the border of Over Hulton and Atherton on Saturday, the eve of the accident’s 104th anniversary.

The disaster, the third worst to have ever occurred in British history, happened at 7.50am on December 21, 1910, and decimated families throughout Westhoughton and Atherton.

The Pretoria Pit disaster occurred when there was an underground explosion at the Hulton Bank Colliery No. 3 Pit, known as the Pretoria Pit, in Over Hulton, Westhoughton, then in the historic county of Lancashire, in North West England. A total of 344 men lost their lives.

At 7:50am, there was an explosion in the Plodder Mine, which was thought to have been caused by an accumulation of gas from a roof collapse the previous day.

That day 349 workers descended the No 3 bank pit shaft to work in the Plodder, Yard and Three Quarters mines. Of those, only four survived to be brought to the surface. One died immediately and one the next day. The two survivors were Joseph Staveley and William Davenport. In addition one man died in the Arley Mine of No. 4 Pit, bringing the total to 344. There was a final fatality that day, William Turton, who died while fighting a fire in No. 3 pit. The men who were working the other mines in the pit worked from No.4 shaft were unharmed.

Bolton West MP Julie Hilling led the ceremony from the memorial at the bottom of Broadway, off Newbrook Road, which is 300 yards from the shaft from which survivors and bodies were raised.

“It is a fitting tribute to those who died, and to those who continue to commemorate those who lost their lives in the tragedy.”

Only three miners survived the devastating explosion, with one dying less than 24 hours after being rescued.

Two new memorials were engraved and placed in a small memorial garden with the original stone in 2012 after ex-miner Tony Hogan, whose great-grandfather was one of the victims of the disaster, spent two years campaigning and fundraising for a lasting tribute.

Mr Hogan said: “It is embedded in our history unfortunately, so it is important that each year people come together and remember the disaster and the people who died.

Cllr Kevan Jones, Mayor of Westhoughton, said: “It is so important people remember the tragedy and pay their respects because it is a part of our history.”

Monday 22 December 2014

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/11681215.Three_services_mark_104th_anniversary_of_Pretoria_Pit_disaster/

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