Memorial to mark Oaks Colliery disaster which killed 73

Barry Moore, treasurer of People and Mining, with a model of the Graham Ibbeson-designed Oaks Colliery disaster memorial.

The event on Sunday will pay tribute to those who died the Oaks Colliery disaster of 1847.

A firedamp explosion at the pit near Darfield that year killed 73 men and boys aged between ten and 50.

Despite safety improvements, a bigger blast and subsequent collapse would kill 361 miners and rescuers in 1866.

Members of campaigning group People and Mining have raised £120,000 for a bronze memorial to the later disaster.

The statue, designed by Barnsley sculptor Graham Ibbeson, will be erected in Barnsley town centre later this year.

The names of men and boys killed in the 1847 disaster.

Organisers are inviting Rotherham and Barnsley residents to attend the service at St Mary’s Church in Barnsley town centre, and learn more about the earlier disaster and its victims.

It will include hymns, the laying of a wreath and the reading of names of the deceased.

The ceremony will begin at 1pm.