Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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March 21 1973: the Lofthouse colliery disaster
Fifty years ago seven coal miners in Yorkshire died when they broke through to a long-abandoned shaft, releasing millions of gallons of water. Morning Star northern reporter PETER LAZENBY remembers the tragedy
Miners wait for news at the Lofthouse Colliery pithead, 1973
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THERE will be a small gathering today at a memorial which stands next to a busy trunk road outside Wakefield in West Yorkshire, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Lofthouse colliery disaster in which seven miners died.
The memorial is three miles from the site of Lofthouse colliery where the miners were part of a workforce of almost 1,000. It stands over the approximate point underground where the men died, and where six of them remain today because their bodies were never recovered.
The reason they were not recovered is the nature of the disaster. The men were among 30 miners working on or near a coal face three miles from the pit bottom — from the bottom of the vertical shaft down which they descended to work. From there they walked or were carried to the pit face lying on their bellies on a conveyor belt — a man-rider.
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