• last year
Thirty years after the tragedy of the Bilsthorpe mining disaster where three men lost their lives, people came to pay their respects in the last official ceremony.

Due to the ranks of the miners thinning out and the ones remaining growing old, they have decided that the 30th anniversary would be the last occasion they gather en mass.

Report by photojournalist Rob Currell for the Newark Advertiser, Iliffe Media.
Transcript
00:00 [Music]
00:26 In the love of the family and the friends who strive to preserve their names, their stories and their memories
00:36 of those who laid down their life for their friends, those who risked their lives to keep others safe and warm.
00:44 And those memories will live on for future generations.
00:48 [Background noise]
01:13 This is an aspirator for filling your lamp through that port with any mine here at the present, you know, gas or anything like that.
01:25 And these two items, one is for the exploder battery and this one is for putting the detonator in the pan.
01:42 That light continues to shine on with the monuments erected in the village.
01:48 And that light as we know is a davy lamp inscribed with the name of those who died in '93,
01:53 as well as the other 74 people who lost their lives in mining accidents both below and above the ground over the 70 years of the pits working.
02:06 Over these years, let's remember that that light of love, camaraderie and friendship has kept burning.
02:15 And we are here today keeping that burning.
02:18 And I think I was particularly struck by that image that we heard about of your dad, David Shelton,
02:25 shining his miners light in the darkness to bring hope to his friends.
02:32 And I think we've also heard and we've just seen there in that presentation, these acts of kindness and camaraderie,
02:39 the efforts of those colleagues who have continued to keep their memory alive.
02:45 Those who first started and who now volunteer at the Bill's Thorpe Heritage Museum
02:51 with its life-size statue of a Nottinghamshire miner erected by public subscription to mark the pit disaster in '93
02:59 and serving now as the gate guardian to the museum.
03:03 [BLANK_AUDIO]
03:13 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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