Pretoria Pit Service

This morning 21st December there was a short poignant service in Ditchfield Gardens led by the Rev Carol Pharoah. The Mayor of Westhoughton, Cllr Gillian Wroe, writes

‘Around 30 people gathered in the darkness of Ditchfield Gardens by the memorial of the kneeling miner to commemorate the loss of 344 men and boys in the Pretoria Pit disaster of the 21st December 1910. A former miner, Mr Dennis Rothwell, placed a miners lamp and a candle in front of the memorial.

At the exact time of the explosion 7.50am, a maroon was fired. After a very moving two minutes silence a second maroon was fired.

I then tied a black scarf around the neck of the kneeling miner and laid a wreath. Our MP Mr Phil Brickell laid a second wreath followed by the representative of the Westhoughton History Society.

This dark day in the history of our town is commemorated each year as a reminder of the terrible loss of life that day and the repercussions of it down the generations of the families and communities affected.

Tomorrow, the 22nd December, there will be a church service at St Bartholomew’s Church starting at 10am followed by a wreath laying ceremony at the memorial in the church yard’.