ON the morning of Thursday March 22, 1962, a methane gas explosion ripped through the Rise Two District of Hapton Valley Colliery colliery, killing sixteen men instantly. Another three later lost their lives.

The worst colliery disaster in Burnley's long history of coal mining plunged the town into a state of shock. Although time is always a great healer, there are still remnants of the disaster and relatives of the dead who will never forget.

Former miner turned local historian Jack Nadin has written books on the mines of East Lancashire in the past, but his latest offering is thought to be the first full book dedicated to Hapton Valley Colliery and the disaster.

It is published in time for the 40th anniversary of the tragedy and Jack will donate the proceeds of all sales to Hapton Valley Colliery Disaster Fund.

Every year on the nearest Sunday to the anniversary, a procession makes its way up Rossendale Road to Burnley Cemetery. A service is held at the memorial which the Disaster Fund organises and pays for. Healthy sales of this book would ensure the continuation of the service for years.

Jack worked in the mine from 1964-1970, arriving two years after 'Burnley's Blackest Day'. He remembers what it was like stepping into the boots of the men who had perished.

He said: "I think it did have an effect on morale at the pit. Even two years later there was still quite an atmosphere of gloom."

This is Jack's fourth book on mining. His previous titles, The Coal Mines of East Lancashire, Hapton Valley Colliery -- A History of an East Lancashire Coal Mine, and Coal Mines Around Accrington and Blackburn have all sold well, but it his latest project which he is hoping will be the most successful.

Jack left the mine in 1980, two years before its eventual closure. Like a lot of men who worked there, the wages for those who weren't actually involved at the coal face were not enough.

"I was earning 45 shillings a week, which is about the same as £2.25 a week. Unless you were trained to work at the face, the wages weren't good, so I left."

It is more than 20 years since Jack left the colliery for the last time. He has never forgotten his time there and the camaraderie he shared with his fellow pitmen but believes the memory of the disaster should be kept alive in respectful reverence.

"I think it is very important, even though it is 40 years on. We should not forget that day.

"There are still a lot of relatives around. People who were children then and lost fathers are now grown up.

"If every ex-miner in East Lancashire bough a copy it would ensure the future of the Disaster Fund for many years."

The book is available in Burnley Library in Red Lion Street, Rose Grove Unity and Plumbe Street Miners Clubs and The Angel and General Havelock pubs in Accrington Road.