Salford's now annual memorial and celebration of miners who lost their lives in the Irwell Valley pits took place yesterday at the Agecroft Colliery monument on Agecroft Road.
Former miners, their families and trade unionists attended the short service, with a minute's silence, prayers by Father Michael Fish, and the names of those men and boys who died in the area's mines recalled by Paul Kelly of the Irwell Valley Mining Project...
"We're here to remember the sacrifices that the miners of Great Britain made, particularly in this area" he said "They went down into the earth to bring out the coal to look after our lives and make us the civilisation that we've got today."
Amongst those who attended was Jackie Rimmer, whose father, John James Saunders, died at the pit in 1963, aged just 44...
"Today means everything" she explained "It's the only way we can pay back what they did for you. The miners are a forgotten 'race', especially by the Tories; they've no respect for miners at all. Winston Churchill said 'Put them down the mines and shut the lid'...
"As a child I didn't understand the politics of it all, but they had no rights" she added "They had no respect but when you see motorists passing here today and beeping their horns in support it says a lot."
The Salford miners memorial was a forerunner to a week of worldwide services as part of International Workers Memorial Day with a wreath laying at Salford Civic Centre on Friday 27th April at 12:15pm.
There's also the annual 'Remember The Dead, Fight For The Living' event at Albert Square, Manchester next Saturday, 28th April between 12 noon and 1pm, organised by Greater Manchester Hazards Centre. For further information see the Facebook event page – click here.
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