In the early hours of the morning of 18 April 1882 an explosion at the Tudhoe Colliery, also known as Black Horse Colliery, likely caused by firedamp and a naked flame, took the lives of 37 men and boys aged between 15 and 66 years old.
This year marks the 140th anniversary of that disaster, and a memorial event has been organised at St David’s Church at 11am on Saturday 23 April in remembrance of the disaster.
Local residents are invited to attend the memorial service, which will be followed by refreshments in Tudhoe Victory Club.
There will be a display of miners banners, artwork created by pupils at Tudhoe Colliery Primary School and mining memorabilia from the Durham Mining Museum.
The organisers are particular keen to hear from any relatives of the men and boys killed by emailing Lynn Gibson at durhamminingmuseumsecretary@gmail.com.
Readers can find the full list of names of the men and boys killed here.
The Durham Mining Museum is located in the Spennymoor Town Hall. Entry is free and the museum is open on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10am until 2pm.
School visits can be organised by contacting the museum on the contact details above.
Spennymoor's local community newspaper.
