Colliery disaster remembered on 90th anniversary

A memorial service is being held to mark the 90th anniversary of a pit disaster which claimed the lives of 266 men and boys.

Many had been working a double or extra shift at Gresford Colliery so they could have a day off to watch a Wrexham game.

Tributes were paid at the Stok Racecourse ground before Wrexham's 2-1 win over Crawley Town on Saturday.

Sunday's memorial is at the Miner's Wheel Memorial in nearby Pandy.

In the early hours of 22 September 1934 there was a huge explosion about 1.3 miles (2.1km) from the bottom of the Dennis shaft.

Six miners managed to escape but by the evening of the next day three rescue workers had also been killed.

The disaster left hundreds of children fatherless and more than 200 widows.

An inquiry that began in 1934 highlighted a lack of safety measures and bad working practices in the colliery.

The owners were never prosecuted and no single cause for the disaster was ever found, although Sir Stafford Cripps, the miners' legal representative, did later use evidence given to the inquiry as one of the arguments for the nationalisation of coal mines in 1947.

Gresford reopened in January 1936, with miners working from a different angle and direction. The pit was finally closed as uneconomical in November 1973.