Fundraising plea for Senghenydd disaster memorial (From Campaign Series)

Fundraising plea for Senghenydd disaster memorial

5:29pm Wednesday 20th February 2013 in News

IT IS just eight months until the 100th anniversary of a mining disaster that devastated Senghenydd - with the whole of Caerphilly urged to get behind plans to install a £250,000 memorial before that date.

Aber Valley Heritage Group have been fundraising for a permanent tribute to the 440 men and boys who died at Universal Colliery after an explosion in October 2013 and the 81 who died in another disaster there in 1901.

The group has already opened a heritage museum at Senghenydd Community Centre and, after acquiring land nearby, wants to create a walled garden of remembrance.

This would include 521 bricks, each inscribed with a name of someone killed in one of the explosions and a memorial figure in the middle.

Mrs Bowen said the significance of the memorial reaches far further than Senghenydd. She was brought up in Pontygwindy Road, Caerphilly, and her dad used to walk to work at Bedwas Colliery.

She said collieries of the area “affected the lives of so many people”, citing the workers at Senghenydd who walked from Cilfynydd and Pontypridd and those originally from Llanelli and Carmarthen who died in the explosions.

Fundraisers have made about £60,000 while last month Caerphilly council donated £50,000.”

A number of possible grants are also in the pipeline, while fundraising is stepping up apace.

Over £1,000 was made after The Indian Gate, Cwrt Rawlin, provided free food for a social evening while actor and comedian Boyd Clack will be the star attraction at an event at St Martin’s Church on February 22.

Aber Valley Male Voice Choir will also perform in another fundraiser at Abertridwr YMCA on March 2.

For details, visit www.abervalleyheritage.

co.uk.