The price of coal.

Scene at Senghenydd after the second explosion broke out at the 'University' mine.

I went to Morrisons late this afternoon, picked up what I wanted and on my way out I noticed a display with many old black & white pictures and well presented literature. At first I thought it was something to do with the 90 year Remembrance week, but upon closer inspection I saw that was not the case it was all about the Senghenydd Pit Disasters 1901 & 1913.

The friend I was with was in a hurry so I could not study this as closely as I would have liked, but the display was advertising the upgrade of Senghenydd Heritage Room and showing a road map of how to get there. Now Blaenavon do this very well, but then to my knowledge there were no major disasters at Bleanavon. I was unsure as to how I felt about this. Being brought up in a mining community, Senghenydd was spoken of in hushed tones out of respect for the dead when I was growing up, so to see it advertised openly in a Supermarket as a Lottery Funded tourist attraction was a bit of am enigma for me.

Senghenydd Pit disasters are the worse in Britain's history with huge loss of life. In October 1913 an explosion at the pit resulted in the loss of 439 men. It is said in local parts that the explosion was so intense that it was heard 11 miles away in Cardiff. Tragically this was the second disaster at Senghenydd in twelve years, the first one being in May 1901 with a loss of 78 men. Nothing could have prepared that community for the horror of those disasters.

Upon reflection I suppose the Heritage Room is a good thing, as there must be a generation out there to whom these disasters mean nothing. To be able to visit a Heritage room and artefacts will be a good thing, bring it home to this comfortable generation what life was like at the turn of the 20th Century. We must never forget the memory of the loss and the suffering of the community where these disasters left their mark.