ATHERTON MP Julie Hilling invites relatives of victims of the Pretoria Pit Disaster to join in a community memorial service.

At 2.30pm on Tuesday, December 21 there will be a dedication ceremony at the memorial stone on Broadway, off Newbrook Road, Atherton. The event will include singing by Clarion, Bolton’s Socialist Choir, as well as wreath laying.

The Pretoria Pit Disaster of 1910 is the worst coal mining accident to have occurred in Lancashire, and the third worst mining disaster in British history. New Park Wood, which is on the site of the old pit, is to be renamed to Pretoria Memorial Park to mark the centenary.

Julie Hilling and Pretoria Heritage Group will be launching a history trail there which has been researched by historian Alan Davies, and a Heritage Trail which will go from the memorial stone on Broadway to the monument in Westhoughton - both to be completed in this centenary year.

Ms Hilling said: “I was approached by residents in Atherton who felt it was really important that we should mark the Pretoria disaster at the commemorative stone. Peel Holdings are moving the field boundary so that people can have access to the stone. I am delighted that we will have a lasting memorial linking Atherton and Westhoughton with a Heritage Trail and renaming the wood as Pretoria Memorial Park.”

Financial support has been given by the NUM, PCS, Unite the Union and Wigan Trades Council – but the Pretoria Heritage Group will need to raise further funds over the next 12 months to complete the trail and board markers.

Tony Hogan, Chair of Pretoria Heritage Group, said: “100 years after the Pretoria Pit Disaster, we think it’s really important that we have a lasting memorial on the site of the colliery and during this year will install signs on the site to show people how it used to look. I do hope relatives will join us for a short commemoration service on the 21st.”

Earlier that day locals will be reminded of the terrible disaster by a huge explosion timed to coincide with the exact moment of the explosion 100 years earlier.

People are being warned not to be alarmed by the blast that will take place at 7.50am on Tuesday, Dec 21.

The big bang centred in Atherton will recreate the sound of the Pretoria Pit explosion that occurred north of the Hag Fold estate exactly 100 years earlier.

"We are issuing a warning because the bang will be very loud and we don't want people to be worried by the explosion and start calling emergency services," said Atherleigh Cllr Sue Loudon, one of the organisers of a procession that sets off from Laburnum Rovers Car Park, Spa Road, Atherton at 7.50am on the 100th anniversary of the disaster.

Tyldesley pyrotechnics wizard Dan Fitton of Phoenix Fireworks will detonate the explosives in a safe position to mark the start of the march for an 8.15am service at Atherton Parish Church which everyone is welcome to attend.

*Lancashire's last mine manager, Tyldesley man Alan Davies who is boss at Hill Top Drift Mine (the only working mine in the Lancashire coalfield) is an authority on mining.

The former Lancashire Mining Museum curator who worked at several mines as was an archivist with Wigan Council before quitting his post to concentrate on writing books on the subject before being drawn again by the call of the underground, has just published a book recalling the disaster entitled The Pretoria Pit Disaster (price £14.99).

He reveals the story of how on the morning of Wednesday, December 21, 1910, 889 men and boys travelled the two 434-yard-deep shafts at Hulton Colliery (aka Pretoria Pit) known as Pretoria Pit situated in Over Hulton, north of Atherton.

Sunk in 1900, the colliery was plagued with emissions of gas, particularly after roof falls. By 7.50 a.m., the day shift was below ground, motivated to put extra effort into their work in the lead-up to Christmas.

An explosion of methane gas occurred followed by a much more powerful coal-dust blast. In the main section of the mine affected, 342 men and boys died, one in the deeper workings. Three survived from the main explosion district, one of whom died in hospital.

A rescue man also died in the attempted recovery operation, making the death toll 344.

Another 545 miners in the rest of the mine survived, albeit with many badly gassed. The Home Office Inquiry concluded that the explosion resulted from a gas ignition after a roof fall damaging a miner’s oil safety lamp.

The disaster was the third largest in British coal-mining history and potentially might have been the second largest in Europe.

This study brings together more images than any previous work, including many not previously published. Transcribed sound recordings from those alive at the time, including a survivor, and press accounts add to the variety of source material .

The Atherton Corps of the Salvation Army were first to attend the site. The army carried out a vital task, comforting those waiting for news, and also those newly bereaved after identification of bodies.