RESIDENTS in Altham had two reasons to fall silent in remembrance this year as they marked the 120th anniversary of East Lancashire's worst-ever mining disaster.

On Wednesday November 8 1883, 69 men and boys were killed after a massive underground gas explosion at Moorfield Colliery. The youngest were only 10 year old.

On Remembrance Sunday about 70 people attended a service at St James' Parish Church to commemorate not only the area's war dead but those who died in the explosion.