Marine Colliery Personal Reflections
PERSONAL REFLECTIONS
In the March edition of the ‘Wenvoe What’s On’, the leading article talked about the crippling explosion at Marine Colliery in Ebbw Vale on 1 March 1927, killing 51 miners. This led one of our readers to reflect on her childhood growing up in the mining community of Cwm, some 3 miles from Ebbw Vale in the years following the Marine Colliery Disaster. She shares this with us here:
‘The Marine Colliery was situated in my home village of Cwm where I was born and lived until the age of 16. In such a small community and in the surrounding area, few families were left untouched by the Marine Colliery Disaster on 1 March 1927. In the valley it was always referred to as ‘The Explosion’ and through family connections with the pit and faithful entries in family Bibles, local children were made fully aware of the events of that dreadful day.
My own father worked at the Marine Colliery when he left school, but he never worked underground. However, my grandmother was left a young widow with two small girls to raise, the elder of whom was my mother. In that single day, Gran lost her husband, her father and brother. Can you imagine surviving such a loss at that time?
The Marine Colliery is long gone, and a monument has been raised in memory of the miners. The valley has largely been restored to its former beauty, but as with other disasters, scars will always remain.’
Marilyn Case.