This evening was the final Wrexhamian Chapter Meeting of the Year.

We did not have much to do, just open, ballot for a joining member, and elect the Principles for next year. I am now Haggai Elect.

The main part of the evening was to receive a talk on the Gresford Mining Disaster. 

For those who have never heard of it, The Gresford disaster occurred on 22 September 1934 at Gresford Colliery, near Wrexham, when an explosion and underground fire killed 261 men. Gresford is one of Britain’s worst coal mining disasters: a controversial inquiry into the disaster did not conclusively identify a cause, though evidence suggested that failures in safety procedures and poor mine management were contributory factors. Further public controversy was caused by the decision to seal the colliery’s damaged sections permanently, meaning that the bodies of only 8 of the miners were ever recovered. Two of the three rescue men who died were brought out leaving the third body in situ until recovery operations began the following year.

It was a very moving talk, even more so since almost every one of us there had some family connection with the disaster.