General Chat

Mining Island :-D

I've been to Dunelm Pat :-D

Night Von. <3 :-D

Mining? :-0 :-0 Whatever for? :-0

Night Von :-|

Don't know the name Island

Oooops night Fly <3 <3 <3

One of the worst mining disasters happened down the road from me in 1934, when I was an auxiliary... In the 90’s .I looked after a couple of men who survived the explosion


:-(

Is that Wexford Ann?

Gresford Joy :-(

One of the reason they nationalised the mines was safety issues

Sorry, Ann, that's the name I was looking for. There's a hymn named that.

There's a good course on Future Learn about mining

After twenty years of planning and discussion, the first sod of the downcast or Dennis Shaft was cut on Wednesday 6th November 1901. The ceremony was performed by Mrs Dyke Dennis using a silver and oak spade which is now displayed in the foyer of the William Aston College in Wrexham. The first sod of the up cast or Martin Shaft was cut by Sir Theodore Martin.
The worst disaster on the North Wales coalfield (and the second largest in Wales) occurred at Gresford Colliery on Saturday 22nd September 1934. At about 2 am, an explosion took place in the Dennis Section and, with the exception of one deputy and five men, all of the men working in that section lost their lives. The explosion was followed by a fire which spread into the main air intake at the 29s Turn. For over 24 hours rescue teams fought desperately to bring the fire under control, but to no avail. By the evening of the following day, the carbon monoxide readings in the Dennis Section clearly indicated that nobody could still be alive and, as the rescue operations had already claimed the lives of three members of the rescue brigade, it was decided that the mine would have to be sealed off at the top of the two shafts. Only eleven bodies were recovered of the 262 miners who were lost in the disaster. Further explosions occurred underground in the days that followed and on Tuesday 25 September, a surface worker was killed by flying debris from the pit head. As well as 3 rescuers who were killed, that makes a total of 266 men killed in the disaster.
Eddie Edwards, who was a fitter in the colliery, went down the mine to help rescuers following the explosion. The official inquiry drew no firm conclusions about the disaster but Mr Edwards claimed he knew exactly what sparked the explosion.
He said: “I was last down the Dennis section on the day before the disaster, which was a Friday. I had been asked by the boss to lay a new pipe down. Down there we called the shafts ‘roads’. I was working in the 142 road, which went off the main road towards Llay. They were putting a ‘drift hole’ through from there back to the main road for extra ventilation.” Mr Edwards, who was on a day off when the disaster happened, said congestion caused by men and machinery meant the 142 was getting hotter and hotter. He continued: “They needed to get in more air. The hole was about four feet square, which would then be lined with a canvas pipe to get the air in. The fireman, who did the blasting in the pit, would be making detonations to cut the drift. I believe that when he pressed the button for one of the charges early the next morning it caused a massive explosion because of all the gas that was building up. The explosion caused a fire, which spread to all the roads in the area. It was so loud they felt the rumble from it back on the surface in Gresford. It was a terrible thing. The explosion happened at about 2am on the Saturday and next morning my boss asked me to help with the rescue operation. At about 11am that day I took a horse and cart loaded with sand down the Dennis Section to help put out the fires which were still burning. On the way down I met Tommy Tilson, captain of the rescue team, who stopped me and said ‘Eddie, get out. The explosions are going from one side to another!’. That was enough for me and I did get back up to the surface as fast as I could. I knew all the men who died down there – we were all friends down the pit. I will never forget them.”
The Court of Inquiry which convened in Church House, Wrexham on 25th October and published its report in February 1937, condemned the lack of proper records at the mine, the lack of adequate ventilation, the careless manner in which shot firing was carried out, the excessive hours worked by the men at Gresford, the lack of an air-lock over the up :-( :-(

cast shaft, the inadequate training of the management and the inadequate supervision of safety standards by both management and unions. The mine was re-entered in 1935 and coal production was gradually resumed from January 1936.
After the disaster, Gresford only made a profit in three years (1959, 1960, 1961) and the mine closed in 1974. One wheel from the headgear was removed and now forms part of the Gresford Disaster Memorial. Two others are at Bersham Colliery awaiting a decision on their future use. The site is now occupied by new factory developments. A memorial to the 266 men who lost their lives as a result of the disaster was unveiled by HRH the Prince of Wales in November 1982 and the names of the men are also recorded in Books of Remembrance which can be seen in Wrexham Public Library and Gresford Church.

Now you say boo to an employee and they cry bully :-S

Underground disasters were one of the reasons most mines had to have two shafts; those and ventilation. Canaries were used to detect methane before the Davy lamp was invented.

Oops night Von <3 <3

Twas dire in the beginning.

Ann there is a Remembrance Book to Miners in our cathedral.

They are different Joy - the lamp stopped methane explosions, the canaries carried on long after the Davy lamp as they detected carbon monoxide early by dying well before it was too dangerous for men

When you think of the conditions they had to work in , it makes you want to cry for them :-( :-(