We were approached last year by the Maltby Miners
Welfare Memorial Community Group to see if we could offer design
consultancy services in connection with a planned permanent memorial
to be sited in a prominent location on the High Street in Maltby.
Maltby Miners Welfare Memorial Community Group was
formed in October 2014 with a simple objective, to erect a
memorial for every person that worked or died at the Colliery. They
have been tirelessly fundraising ever since, and, inspired
by the famous Calendar Girls, they have produced their own ‘glamour’
calendars to raise funds.
On the 28th July 2015 with the help of Lord Scarborough, they erected
a memorial stone dedicated to the 27 men who lost their lives in an
explosion at the pit in 1923; one of mining's
worst disasters. The bodies of most of the victims remain entombed
underground, and the memorial stone was placed on land off
Limekiln Lane at the spot above the mine where the fallen miners
still rest.
Their focus is now on the main memorial proposed for the High
Street. The miners have managed to salvage part of
a winding wheel from the pit together with some other equipment which
will form the basis of the memorial. They have worked with the local
schools to encourage the village's children to be involved with the
project and they have helped to form the final design.
They are now in a position where they need quotes for the building
work for the memorial, as some possible sources of funding require
approximate costs before they will fund the project. The Group is
therefore on the hunt for any Maltby builders, wrought iron workers,
etc, that would be interested in quoting for the work. If you think
you could help, please contact Bill Spilsbury on 01709 817390 or
07735220479.
Michelle
was raised in Maltby and Rhys’s Mother’s family originally came
from Senghenydd (a few miles north of
Caerphilly) with strong links to Coal
Mining.
It reminds us of one of our past blog posts where
Rhys shared his experience at the
dedication service and unveiling of the Welsh National Mining
Memorial, which had been erected to commemorate all those miners who
have lost their lives in the numerous pit disasters within the
principality.
The memorial was erected in the village where
at 8.10am on 14th October
1913, the single worst pit disaster in UK history, and the third
worst in world history occurred. A massive explosion ripped
through the Universal Colliery, claiming the lives of 439 men and
boys as young as 14 years old, in the process rendering about 300
women widows and leaving some 500 children in the village without a
Father. Rhys’ Great-Grandfather, Edward Gilbert was one of the 439
who perished on that October morning, aged just 55 years.
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| Senghenydd Miners Memorial |
