Poignant service commemorates the 116th anniversary of West Stanley Pit Disaster
Poignant tributes were paid in County Durham over the weekend to mark the 116th anniversary of one of the worst mining disasters in British history.
It was at 3.45pm on Tuesday, February 16, 1909, that a muffled explosion rocked Stanley, and less than a minute later a second blast saw flames shoot into the air.
West Stanley Colliery, also known as Burns Pit, had exploded and panic ensued as people flocked towards the pit head, with thousands gathering at the site within a short time.
Rescue and exploration went on for six days and all but two of the bodies of the 168 missing men and boys were recovered.
(Image: Sarah Caldecott) Two skeletons were found when later workings were opened in the Busty seam, in the latter days of 104-year life of the colliery, in 1933.
They were identified as the two missing men.
Tens of thousands attended the funerals, but on the first day, February 21, an estimated 200,000 filled the town to bursting point.
Members of the Stanley community, some of them descendants of the deceased, gathered at the memorial, on the pit site, off Chester Road, 116 years to the day of the disaster, today (Sunday, February 16).
(Image: Sarah Caldecott) In a memorial event organised by Stanley Town Council, scores of townsfolk came together, despite the freezing February conditions, to pay tribute to the 168 men and boys who perished.
Craghead Colliery Band accompanied by the voices of Beamish Choir performed at the open-air ceremony, during which there was a minute's silence and a laying of wreaths.
(Image: Sarah Caldecott) During the event, the bells of nearby St Andrew's Church tolled 168 times to mark each of the fallen.
Stanley Mayor, Carole Hampson, made a short speech harking back to the harrowing events of February 1909.
(Image: Sarah Caldecott) She later thanked all those who attended and said she believes the disaster of 1909 will always be recalled, with anguish, in the town.
'Given the strength of our colliery background and mining community it's important we remember.
'Mining was the backbone of our community and its good that we still honour those who lost their lives all these years later.'
(Image: Sarah Caldecott) Steve Terrance, of the Durham Miners' Association, also addressed the gathering, stating that all the 168 deceased would have been association members.
Read next ... more County Durham news reported in The Northern Echo, by
Service to remember West Stanley Colliery disaster
West Stanley Colliery disaster memorial was unveiled by Kevin Keegan
Stanley Pit Disaster
He said, as with many County Durham communities, 'mining is in our blood and our DNA.'
Weekend commemorations began at the nearby Beamish Museum on Saturday afternoon, with an act of remembrance marking the disaster, staged fittingly in the site chapel in the Colliery Village.
It featured members of the Stanley community, Beamish Choir and Youth Club, who read the names of all 168 of the disaster deceased.
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