Families touched by the tragedy of the Gresford Disaster

Wrexham FC were due to play rivals Tranmere Rovers at The Racecourse.

It was a big game and many Wrexham fans who worked at the coalface had swapped their shifts, working the night before so they could watch their team play.

At one of the area’s larger collieries, Gresford, more than 400 men went below ground that Friday evening. Most would never return to the surface

The first violent explosion occurred in the Dennis section of the mine, at about 2am.

The night overman was Fred Davies, on duty at the bottom of the shaft. On hearing the explosion he phoned the surface and manager William Bonsall immediately went into the mine to find out what had happened.

Read more: ‘He stood at the pit-head for two days, waiting...’

Workers in the mine’s other sections were called to the pit bottom and ordered to the surface.

Only six men escaped the Dennis section that night.

There were further explosions as the fire quickly spread.

Miners from Gresford and Llay and other collieries fought valiantly to reach those trapped inside but their efforts were hampered by the unbearable conditions underground. On the evening of Sunday, September 23, the decision was taken to seal the mine.

This was one of the worst mining disasters in history, in which 262 miners and four rescuers lost their lives. It made 166 local women widows and 241 children fatherless.

Of those men who were killed only 11 bodies were recovered.

Here are memories and stories from the people and families affected by the tragedy...

• GWYN Platt was just six-years-old on that fateful day but the memory has lasted.

The now 96-year-old, who emigrated from Wrexham to Australia in 1964, has been sharing his memories.

A young Gwyn Platt.

Gwyn, who was born in Bradley, said: "My first recollection was mother got up in the morning of the disaster, claiming she heard and felt the explosion.

"But father was an ex-Gresford miner and he insisted she couldn't have heard it.

"Going out at six-years-old into the village, there was a deathly quiet silence.

"I knew it was something out of the ordinary, the total silence in the village was eerie. I knew there was something wrong, sadly wrong.

"There were small groups of local women, talking in whispers, no one had a loud voice.

"They were discussing the return of their husbands, whether they would come back or not.

"In the days that followed, neighbours and all round the village, men were named missing."

Gwyn's father, Edward Platt, had worked down the pits in the 1920s, and his own experiences weren't very good.

He added: "He would tell a story of using a pony to pull coal to the pithead. And the pony got more stubborn all day long.

"Until at last it refused to move. Shortly afterwards, the whole tunnel collapsed."

As an adult, Gwyn worked on the pithead baths at Gresford, and he remembered the miners coming up "black as coal".

The family connection also includes Gwyn's cousin Douglas Langford, who did the slate work that holds the Gresford Memorial wheel.

• THE rescue team at Gresford played an invaluable role throughout.

Claire Maddocks had family there during the aftermath...

Top row, from left: John Henry Bailey, George Owen Bailey, Richard Edward Hughes, William Williams, Noah Bailey. Front row: Samuel Bailey and Joseph Bailey.

My great grandfather Noah Bailey and six of his brothers all worked at Gresford Colliery but four of my great uncles were working the night of the disaster - Samuel (Sam), George, their half brother Richard Hughes and my second great uncle William Williams.

Samuel Bailey in his breathing apparatus during the rescue.

Sam and George were also part of the rescue team and part of the 'No1 Gresford team' which were the first to go back down the shaft after the explosion.

Sam was made captain of the team due to the original captain, Allen Roberts, being declared medically unfit to go below.

• IN the early 1980s, young schoolboy Jamie Watson was able to interview a survivor of the Gresford Disaster.

As part of a school project, Jamie, about nine-years-old, spoke with Cyril Challoner from Pandy/Bradley.

Here is part of their cross-generation conversation:

JW: How old were you when you went down the ones?

CC: 14 years and two months.

JW: Why did you go down the mines?

CC: There was no other work in the area at the time.

JW: What were the conditions like before the disaster?

CC: Very, very hot and very uncomfortable.

JW: What kind of lighting was used?

CC: Gas lights

JW: Was it dangerous?

CC: Very dangerous

JW: Were the wages good?

CC: Yes. My wages when I started were 10p a day for eight hours work.

JW: How did the fire start?

CC: They have never been able to solve the fire but it was assumed it was an electricity fault.

JW: How did you escape from the disaster?

CC: A 2o'clock in the morning on 22nd of September, 1934, we were having our snapping, just sat down.

There was a thunderous crash, followed by a huge cloud of dust and a strong gust of wind.

When everything cleared, a young boy came up to us and said there was a great big fire, that everything was blocked off.

At that moment we saw a couple of lights and one of our chaps said 'we better go up and follow them'.

Jack Samuels suggested anyone that had any clothes to spare, take them off and use them a fan, and crawl as low as you can to the floor.

We go to where there were supposed to have been four doors but the biggest piece of them was about six inches. They'd been blown to smithereens.

When we got to the last of those doors there was a man lying on his face, I knew him very well.

There was nothing we could do for him.

When we got up the pits, we were met by a doctor, and we were given something to drink.

JW: How old were you when you left the mines?

CC: I was 53.

JW: What's your feelings about the memorial being put up 50 years after the event?

CC: It was something to achieve but should have been achieved years before that.

JW: Were there many accidents before the disaster?

CC: Oh yes. It was a regular occurrence, very well known in the area.

To hear the full interview, uploaded to YouTube by Steve McKevitt, visit: tinyurl.com/29r5pkpk

The day disaster struck - drawing by Margaret Tietze

• AN unexpected discovery was made when a woman was going through her dad's belongings.

Marie Kemmler, now of Adelaide, in South Australia, was originally from Wrexham.

Her parents, dad Ken Brown from Lincolnshire and mum Margaret from Lodge, Wrexham, met and married, living in Lodge and then moving to Brymbo.

Ken had been in the air force and later went on to work in Brymbo Steelworks and Llay Colliery.

In 1964 he made the decision to aim for a better life and took his family to Australia.

Marie came across this emotive poem by her dad, written 40 years ago about the Gresford Disaster.

The Gresford Mine Disaster

Peace and tranquility swept those mountains and the vales,

As that tiny little hamlet Gresford slept, down there in old North Wales.

It was the 22nd of September, 1934

When that terrible disaster came knocking at the door.

265 brave souls were lost in that inferno down below,

An explosion had occurred down there in 29s,

And the Dennis pit was all aglow.

Help was being sent to that section of the mine,

Large crowds had gathered on the yard to pray, and hope and pine.

The churches and the chapels were full to overflow,

They came to pray for those that were trapped down there below.

166 widows knelt down in prayer that day,

To pray to God to give them strength, to survive that awful fray.

229 children had lost their dads down there,

The future for the mums and kids was looking bare,

No rescue for those poor trapped men, their remains are still down there.

So how are we to remember them, no tombs, or graves or shrines?

Just one big dusty hole, they knew at 29s.