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www.newspostleader.co.uk
News Post Leader, Thursday, January 12, 2012
Warning as speeding crackdown continues
memorial services, concerts and other events lined up to commemorate deaths of colliery By Tegan Chapman A SERIES of commemorative events and projects is being lined up to mark the 150th anniversary of the New Hartley Colliery disaster. On January 16, 1862, a 40-ton engine beam at the colliery snapped, blocking the pit shaft and killing five miners in a lift cage at the time. New Hartley, in common with many pits at that time, only had one shaft, so despite desperate rescue efforts over the following week, all those working underground were trapped and did not live long enough to see help arrive six days later. The final death toll was 204, accounting for more than 80 per cent of the workforce of the mine, also known as the Hester Pit. Some of those killed were boys as young as ten, others men still forced to earn a living underground at the age of 72. Seaton Valley Council vice-chairman Susan Dungworth said: “Fathers and sons, uncles, nephews, brothers and friends died together, and, as the accident occurred during the shift change, nearly all the men of working age in the village were killed. “One woman lost her husband and six of her seven children. “Only 34 miners from the Hartley colliery survived. “The disaster is famous, not just because of the tragically high death toll, but because it led to changes in mining legislation that have had lasting and worldwide benefits. “As a consequence of the accident, it became mandatory for all pits to be sunk with two shafts.” Residents, community groups and schools in New Hartley have spent two years preparing to mark the 150th anniversary of the disaster with a number of events and projects supported by Blyth Valley Arts and Leisure, Headway Arts in Blyth, Ashington’s Woodhorn Museum and Community and Voluntary Action Blyth Valley. Susan added: “Everyone has been determined not only to remember the men and boys who perished, but to acknowledge the fortitude of the widows and the resilience of the village that survived against the odds and to celebrate New Hartley as it is today.”
POLICE in Ashington are keeping up their efforts to get speeding motorists to slow down. Since October, the town’s neighbourhood policing team has checked the speeds of several hundred vehicles and spoken to dozens of drivers caught going too fast. Letters have been sent to more than 50 motorists caught speeding to warn them of the consequences of their actions. Community support officer Martin Hayes said: “We want people to know that the action will be continuing in the new year. “Our main focus in the coming weeks will be ensuring people stick to the 30mph limit in the town and speaking to those who don’t. “We will continue to do all we can to make the roads safer.”
Community support officer Martin Hayes on patrol in Ashington.
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Village remembers dead 150 years on tragedy that killed
New Hartley Community Association chairman Clive Raper and Seaton Valley Council vice-chairman Susan Dungworth in the village’s memorial garden. New Hartley First, Seaton Sluice Middle, Whytrig Middle and Astley High schools, along with New Hartley Community Association and St Mary’s Art Club, have worked with Headway Arts, a charity for the disabled, to produce seven community banners and a new pit banner part-funed by the National Union of Mineworkers.
A limited-edition glass, a replica of those produced to commemorate the victims and to raise money for the disaster fund in 1862, has been made by Sunderland’s National Glass Centre. The glasses, along with a calendar featuring paintings and photographs, which are available at the memorial hall. All the schools have worked on the
project throughout the year, and Seaton Sluice Middle recently staged an exhibition of its work in the memorial hall, included artwork, poetry and a model of a pit tub containing 204 pieces of coal to represent each of the miners killed. This Saturday, this year’s annual commemorative concert by folk group Beeswing will be held in the memorial
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News Post Leader, Thursday, January 12, 2012
www.newspostleader.co.uk
workers aged ten to 72 after accident in pit shaft left them trapped underground
its from 204
hall at 7pm, and another concert, by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, will follow at the Playhouse Whitley Bay the day after at 7.30pm. At 4pm on Sunday, there will be a memorial service in the hall, to be attended by bishops, MPs, civic dignitaries and Jane Percy, the Duchess of Northumberland. On the anniversary itself, Monday next week, there will be a service of remembrance at the pit head in the memorial gardens at 11am. Other events lined up for the rest of the year include a Victorian sports day at the annual New Hartley village fair on Saturday, June 23, and a procession from New Hartley to the church in Earsdon, to commemorate the funeral procession, followed by a village tea in New Hartley in September. Money raised by the commemorative glasses and calendars will be spent on improving the memorial garden created around the old mine shaft. Seaton Valley Council has provided funding for a new memorial path, and Northumberland County Council has paid for restoration works to the shaft. For details of this year’s events, call Susan on (0191) 237 5531 or New Hartley Community Association chairman Clive Raper on (0191) 237 2210. tegan.chapman@northeast-press.co.uk
Distraught relatives gathered at the pit and, below, the broken beam that caused the tragedy.
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Residents asked for their views on housing residents of south east Northumberland are being urged to tell county council chiefs how many more houses they think will be needed in their towns and villages over the coming years. Northumberland County Council is sending a housing survey form to households selected at random to ask for their views on current and future housing requirements. The council’s executive member for housing and planning, Tom Brechany, of Cramlington South East, said: “The council is required by the government to have a clear understanding of what housing is needed in the county and to carry out a housing survey every few years. “I would urge anyone who receives a survey to take a few minutes to complete it as it is important that we gain as much feedback as possible. “The more returned surveys we receive the wider an understanding we will have of the current housing needs of the county’s residents and their future aspirations, and we will be able to plan better for the future.” More than 18,000 survey forms will be sent out county-wide.
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