Miners buried underground by the Gresford Colliery Disaster in 1934 died with their last pay-packets in their pockets, according to the man fighting to preserve a vital piece of Wrexham’s industrial heritage.

George Powell said most of the 253 men whose bodies were never recovered had their wages with them.

Three of the rescue team also lost their lives in the dark, gas-filled tunnels of the Dennis Shaft.

They had been trained at the Wrexham Miners Rescue Station, in Maesgwyn Road, where George and his team of volunteers have begun the restoration of the iconic Grade Two listed building which he estimates could cost £1 million and take five years.

George, who lives nearby, took on the task in 2014 when he bought the place where generations of rescue miners were trained from 1913 to December 23, 1986, when Bersham, the last of the Wrexham pits, was closed.

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His campaign to save the building is attracting support and among those to have rallied to the cause has been leading food wholesaler Harlech Foodservice Ltd who have donated through their 50th Anniversary Fund.

George said: “We’ve opened a café here and we’re staging classes for different groups, we hold events for local children and we provide tours of the building.

“There is a lot still to do but it is such an important part of Wrexham’s heritage – lots of people don’t even know there was a North Wales coalfield and Wrexham was at its heart.

“At its peak thousands of men worked underground in North East Wales and many of them died there too.”

Most famously the 1934 Gresford Colliery Disaster on September 22 claimed 266 lives and George added: “Wrexham were playing Tranmere at The Racecourse the next day and they were working a double shift so they could go to the game.

“It was Friday when they started and the explosion happened in the Dennis Shaft in the early hours of Saturday morning.

“They couldn’t recover 253 of them and they’re buried down there, many with their pay packets still in their pockets.

“The owners refused to pay the families because they said the money had already been paid.

“And if the wife of one of the dead miners didn’t have any children she’d be turned out of her home which belonged to the mine-owner.”

Harlech Foodservice Key Account Manager Jo Batchelor visited the Station to present a cheque for £250 and she said: “It is an incredible place and it clearly means so much to the local community.

“It is part of Wrexham’s history and should serve as a reminder of the part that the coal industry played in the life of this part of North Wales and we’re delighted to have been able to help them.”