IT was one of the darkest days in East Lancashire’s history, an event which stunned the country and one in which 19 men ultimately lost their lives.

This weekend marks the 53rd anniversary of the Hapton Valley Colliery Disaster and a special memorial service will be held on Sunday to the miners killed following an underground explosion at the pit.

The open air service will be held at 12noon by the memorial stone in Rossendale Road Cemetery, Burnley, and after the ceremony, the nearby Rosegrove Unity Club will open its doors for families, relatives and former miners to get together to reminisce and remember.

Former miner and Padiham town councillor Bob Clark, one of the trustees of the Hapton Valley Memorial Fund, said: “When we first started to hold a memorial service we envisaged them ending at the 50th anniversary.

“But we have so many inquiries from families and from former miners that there is no way now we would ever consider not holding the event.

“We are now getting the grandchildren and even great grandchildren of the original miners coming along. It is also an opportunity for old comrades to get together and reminisce about their days underground.”

There were around 170 men working underground at the time of the explosion at the pit in March 1962.

Survivors, many of whom received severe burns, reported being blown 10 or 15 yards along the coal face by the force of the blast.

In a report in The Times at the time, one collier was reported as saying: “It was like a battlefield down there.”

Two rescue teams were despatched from the coalfield’s station at Boothstown.

The pit’s resident nursing sister, Mrs Maud Wagget, helped tend the wounded and dying men, yet was ironically later disciplined by the NCB because at that time it was illegal for women to work down a mine.

Sixteen men lost their lives at the time of the explosion with three more succumbing to injuries they received, the youngest victim was just 16.

As well as Sunday’s memorial service, there will also be a film tribute to the mining industry on Wednesday.

The Miners Hymns, will be shown at St Mark’s Church on Rossendale Road, Burnley, as part of a project being run by Burnley Mechanics and Cinema for All.

Bob Clark, who will introduce the film, said: “The pits here were known as family pits and it wasn’t unusual to have several generations of one family working underground together. When I started in the mines there were 16 pits in the Burnley area, the largest of them at Bank Hall employed around 1,000 men.”

Tickets for the screening are available from Burnley Mechanics on 01282 664400 priced £2, which includes a donation to the memorial fund.