The memorial wall paying tribute to the 266 miners who lost their lives in the Gresford Colliery disaster 88 years ago has been unveiled at the Miners Rescue Station.
The wall, which is made up of red bricks, contains the names, job titles and ages of the miners.
On that fateful day, September 22, 1934, many of the miners were ‘doubling up’ their shift to make it to the Wrexham AFC match in the afternoon against Tranmere Rovers.
Sadly, at 2.08am, a violent explosion tore through the Dennis Section of the Gresford Colliery mine.
READ MORE: Memorial wall to Gresford Disaster victims to be unveiled today
Relatives of the 266 gathered on the anniversary, (Thursday, September 22) as Wrexham AFC manager Phil Parkinson and Mayor of Wrexham Cllr Brian Cameron unveiled the wall at the Miner’s Rescue Station, just down the road from the Racecourse.
One of those relatives, Irene Jones who was there along with Rey Jones, lost her uncles in the disaster.
Their names were James Edward Davies and George William Davies. She brought their pictures with her to the unveiling, to put faces to the names on the wall.
James, who was 22 years old, had started working at the mine a week before the explosion. Irene said he didn’t even get to draw his first week’s wages.
“We thought we’d bring [the photos] along and see the wall. It puts a face to the names.
“We went to the [memorial] service this morning and it was good to see the children there learning the history.”
Wrexham AFC will be doing their annual minute’s silence on Saturday before their game against Torquay United.
WATCH: The unveiling of the wall by Phil Parkinson and Mayor of Wrexham Cllr Brian Cameron
READ MORE: Gresford Colliery disaster: Memorial service to mark 88 years since the tragedy
On the unveiling, Cllr Brian Cameron said: “I think it’s a very important day in the history of Wrexham community. The Wrexham disaster goes back to 22 September, 88 years ago today, 1934. There wasn’t a community in Wrexham that wasn’t affected by the disaster and it's very sad.
“Looking at the wall, and some of the ages, the youngest one I’ve seen on there is 16, and the oldest 64 or 65 so there’s a variety of ages and it was a tremendous loss to people at the time.
“It’s important that we keep things like this alive in Wrexham. I went to the memorial service this morning and what stood out to me more than anything was the amount of school children that were there, and that in itself for me is important.
“It’s only by having children at these events that, whatever the event is, whether it’s the Wrexham disaster or a conflict the country’s in, it is important that the children are bought along so they know what’s going on.”
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