A MEMORIAL service to the 176 men and boys who died in a colliery explosion in Torfaen will be held next Thursday, February 6.
Boys as young as 12 are known to have died in the explosion at Llanerch Colliery in Abersychan on that day in 1890.
The site currently has a plinth with the names of those killed engraved in stainless steel in front of the former shaft at the pit.
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Also included are the names of five miners who died in an underground explosion at the nearby Glyn Pits just weeks before - on January 23 1890.
And to mark 130 years since the disaster, the Friends of Llanerch Memorial Fund have organised a service at the memorial.
Those attending are asked to meet at the Llanerch Gates at 8.30am, for a walk up to the Llanerch Pit site, where the service will begin at 9am.
The memorial to the miners killed in the Llanerch Colliery disaster. Picture: The Friends of Llanerch Memorial Fund
St Cadoc’s Church in Trevethin will toll a bell 181 times, once for each victim of the two explosions, at 8.45am.
The church will also attempt a peal of bells at around 3pm to commemorate the 130th anniversary of the disaster.
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