"... it was the morning of Saturday, September 22nd, 1934, when the small mining town of Gresford, Denbyshire, North Wales, woke to a fearful explosion. The death toll of men and boys caught in the blast was to be 265, once the carnage was unfolded. The explosion sent shock waves through every mining community in Britain. It moved Durham miner Robert Saint, of Hebburn, to write the hymn 'Gresford' which has been played at every Durham Miners' Gala since it was written in 1936. The hymn stands as a testament to the horrors of mining conditions under the private coal owners, and as a constant reminder of those who have given their lives in pursuit of coal. "

The tune came be heard played by the

Lanchester Brass Band

at:-

<http://www.lanchesterbrassband.org.uk/homepage.html>

The Miners Hymn.

The world and all that is within did make;

The lofty mountain, and the mine:

Hear now our prayer for Jesu's sake.

Lord of the oceans and the sky above,

Whose wondrous grace has blessed us from our birth,

Look with compassion, and with love

On all who toil beneath the earth.

They spend their lives in dark, with danger fraught,

Remote from nature's beauties, far below,

Winning the coal, oft dearly bought

To drive the wheel, the hearth make glow.

Now we remember miners who have died

Trapped in the darkness of the earth's cold womb;

Brave men to free them, vainly tried,

Still their work-place remained their tomb.

All who were shattered in explosion's blast

Or overcome with fatal gas have slept,

Or crushed neath stone, have breathed their last;

And the bereaved, who for them wept.

O Saviour Christ, who on the cruel tree

For all mankind thy precious blood has shed;

In Life Eternal trusting, we

To thy safe keeping leave our dead.