My dad was a pitman! I know that one day he came up the shaft to find that there had been an explosion in another part of the pit. He turned round, went back down with the Rescue Party. My dad was a hero! How many others would have got on their bikes and gone home?
I have a feeling the incident was the Edge Green Explosion in 1932, but I'm not sure. I do know dad had a letter, which he kept until his death, when my mother binned it, from the then Prince of Wales (Edward, the
un-crowned King) congratulating him on his bravery and fortitude.
Any lead you can give me to track down further information would be welcome! I'm going to put in my dad's name, Henry Pennington, to my search engine - but I doubt I'll find anything!
Edna Booth
--<19 Feb>--
I've been trawling the net since my e-mail and have discovered this Henry Pennington of Dane Street, Golborne is not my dad, who lived in Liverpool Road, Hindley. The Golborne man was obviously one of the pitmen caught in the explosion. But this did put me in mind of a tale from my childhood - my mother had at one time been erroneously informed of the death of my dad in a pit explosion. I wonder if this was the incident.
But if you put the stuff up on the site someone may come up with some information.
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