Senghenydd mining memorial on track (From Campaign Series)

Senghenydd mining memorial on track

4:08pm Friday 1st March 2013 in News

WITH around £200,000 in the bank, fundraisers in Senghenydd say they are confident of raising the £100,000 still needed to create a National miners’ memorial.

The Aber Valley Heritage group is still waiting for some grants and sponsorship to materialise and treasurer Malcolm Bull said he is “very positive” the money can be raised in the next few months.

It applied to Caerphilly council for planning permission last week for the tribute to the 440 men and boys who died at Universal Colliery after an explosion in October 1913 and the 81 who died in another disaster there in 1901.

The group has sought approval for work on access, appearance, landscaping and layout for the memorial sculpture on Commercial Street.

It has already paid £26,000 for 521 plagues – each with the name and address of one of the miners killed – that will form a wall around the memorial.

These have been sponsored, with local schoolchildren and parents getting involved in creating them.

The statue will be of a miner depicted swinging a lamp and helping to pull someone out injured after one of the disasters.

Fundraisers also want to create a path of memory, with 152 tiles giving the details of every Welsh pit disaster where men died.

Mr Bull said they have got around half of these sponsored at £500 each. The group has appealed for businesses, community groups, organisations and individuals to get involved and put their name to one.

Last month Caerphilly council donated £50,000 to the cause, with leader Harry Andrews saying it would be an ideal place for a miners’ memorial.

Fund-raising is ongoing, including Aber Valley Male Voice Choir performing at Abertridwr YMCA on March 2.

To find out more or to sponsor a paving tile, call 02920830444 or visit www.abervalleyheritage.co.uk