Month: August 2016

We were approached last year by the Maltby Miners Welfare Memorial Community Group to see if we couldoffer design consultancy services in connection with a planned permanent memorial to be sited in a prominentlocation on the High Street in Maltby.

Maltby Miners Welfare Memorial Community Group was formed in October 2014 with a simple objective, to erect a memorial for every person that worked or died at the Colliery. They have been tirelessly fundraising ever since, and, inspired by the famous Calendar Girls, they have produced their own ‘glamour’ calendars to raise funds.

On the 28th July 2015 with the help of Lord Scarborough, they erected a memorial stone dedicated to the 27 men who lost their lives in an explosion at the pit in 1923; one of mining’s worst disasters. The bodies of most of the victims remain entombed underground, and the memorial stone was placed on land off Limekiln Lane at the spot above the mine where the fallen miners still rest.

Their focus is now on the main memorial proposed for the High Street. The miners have managed to salvage part of a winding wheel from the pit together with some other equipment which will form the basis of the memorial. They have worked with the local schools to encourage the village’s children to be involved with the project and they have helped to form the final design.

They are now in a position where they need quotes for the building work for the memorial, as some possible sources of funding require approximate costs before they will fund the project. The Group is therefore on the hunt for any Maltby builders, wrought iron workers, etc, that would be interested in quoting for the work. If you think you could help, please contact Bill Spilsbury on 01709 817390 or 07735220479.

Michelle was raised in Maltby and Rhys’s Mother’s family originally came from Senghenydd (a few miles north of Caerphilly) with strong links to Coal Mining.

It reminds us of one of our past blog posts where Rhys shared his experience at the dedication service and unveiling of the Welsh National Mining Memorial, which had been erected to commemorate all those miners who have lost their lives in the numerous pit disasters within the principality.

The memorial was erected in the village where at 8.10am on 14^th October 1913, the single worst pit disaster in UK history, and the third worst in world history occurred.  A massive explosion ripped through the Universal Colliery, claiming the lives of 439 men and boys as young as 14 years old, in the process rendering about 300 women widows and leaving some 500 children in the village without a Father. Rhys’ Great-Grandfather, Edward Gilbert was one of the 439 who perished on that October morning, aged just 55 years.

For these reasons we are very pleased to be able to offer to assist in preparing a design for their chosen site free of charge in accordance with our Corporate Social Responsibility, or, to put it simply, it just seemed the right thing to do.