miners memorial, FlickrFriday theme is: #LongTimeAgo
The first memorial is this one from 1891. The plaque in front covered in snow is for the 1956 explosion. out of sight here to the left is the memorial for the 1958 "Bump". the four up right plaques have the names of all the men and boys killed not on the 3 disasters. Springhill lost over 400 in these mines.
On a school trip the class was asked what was the worst disaster, a boy pointed to a name, the only man killed that day, my Dad he said.
My Dad was killed in the 1958 bump, it was not till later in life I can see why I never fished, cant fix a car etc.
Dad went to help in the 1956 explosion as a rescue worker. We have his letter from the unemployment office stopping his benefits as he was working on these days.
Mum used to tell me to imagine living in a town where a hundred men have just died. There was no work and many surviving men hung around and just drank. Dads truck was stolen and found being drove around town by drunks. Men would break into the house looking for booze, one guy was happy with the vanilla.
Now this monument is about all thats left of these memories.
Mum was a war bride from England and a few years after the bump she took us back to England, "no boy of mine is going down a pit". She signed over the house deeds for payments that never came. Our house was for sale at the time of the disaster as they were planning on buying a farm. Life is full of what ifs eh?
miners memorial, FlickrFriday theme is: #LongTimeAgo
The first memorial is this one from 1891. The plaque in front covered in snow is for the 1956 explosion. out of sight here to the left is the memorial for the 1958 "Bump". the four up right plaques have the names of all the men and boys killed not on the 3 disasters. Springhill lost over 400 in these mines.
On a school trip the class was asked what was the worst disaster, a boy pointed to a name, the only man killed that day, my Dad he said.
My Dad was killed in the 1958 bump, it was not till later in life I can see why I never fished, cant fix a car etc.
Dad went to help in the 1956 explosion as a rescue worker. We have his letter from the unemployment office stopping his benefits as he was working on these days.
Mum used to tell me to imagine living in a town where a hundred men have just died. There was no work and many surviving men hung around and just drank. Dads truck was stolen and found being drove around town by drunks. Men would break into the house looking for booze, one guy was happy with the vanilla.
Now this monument is about all thats left of these memories.
Mum was a war bride from England and a few years after the bump she took us back to England, "no boy of mine is going down a pit". She signed over the house deeds for payments that never came. Our house was for sale at the time of the disaster as they were planning on buying a farm. Life is full of what ifs eh?