Hapton Valley Pit disaster

[Rowlf]

It is 55 years ago today since the Hapton Valley pit disaster. R.I.P. to all those who lost their lives that terrible day.

[Exile on Spencer St]

Rip

[Gremlin]

R.I.P. all the miners who lost their live on that fateful day.

I remember it well. I was doing maintenance at Ducketts pipe works Burnley when all the sirens were going off.

[Rowlf]

I was working in the switch room at Burnley telephone exchange and remember all the 999 calls coming in. Then one of the other operators was taken out of the room and we later learnt her father had been killed. He was Tom Isherwood. I knew a man who lived in Hapton who was injured. My father in law was the first ambulance on the scene and he went down to the coal face to treat the injured. I find that a brave thing to do as he would not know if there would be another explosion. He worked along side Nurse Waggot I believe.

[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by Rowlf

It is 55 years ago today since the Hapton Valley pit disaster. R.I.P. to all those who lost their lives that terrible day.

I remember that day, I was on at the Fire Station, we didn'dtuyrn out to that incident it was in Burnley area then, but there was a building attached to the police station that could only be accessed from the Fire Stn yard, I was helping the ambulance men when they brought the bodies in, we were stacking them on the shelves on stretchers around the room, the last two had to be left on the floor covered in blankets, the following day I was helping the funeral undertakers when they came to collect the bodies, none of the other firemen would come near, but the bosses were only too happy to leave me to it, can't remember now how many, but there were a lot, and some of th undertakers slipped me 1/2 crown for helping.

[Bob Dobson]

I was a yo0ung PC living in St Annes when I heard the news. It saddened me greatly, as in 1957-8 I was the manager's clerk at Hapton Valley and knew many of the victims. Soon after I left, there had been a major flood in the pit.

[cashman]

Was a terrible day, R.I.P.

[Rowlf]

It was certainly a day that will never be forgotten. I am a Haptoner and it was felt keenly in the village. One of those days that people remember exactly where they were when they heard the news. I am on the Hapton Heritage group and we are hoping to have some sort of a plaque erected in the village as there has never been one. There is a memorial in Burnley cemetery.

[Bob Dobson]

Who was HV manager at the time ? Eric Whatmore ? Alan Ingham ? - these were my bosses, though I remember others with great fondness - Norman Stowell the lamp chap, Mario Lepri, an Italian collier who lived in Ossie.

[Rowlf]

No idea Bob but I know Harold Warne who lived in Manchester Road Hapton was the manager at some time.