Tears flowed as care home residents watched harrowing footage of the Gresford mining disaster that killed 266 men.
The emotional screening at Pendine Park in Wrexham showed grainy black and white scenes showing the aftermath of the 1934 colliery explosion – one of Britain’s worst mining tragedies.
Families were seen waiting anxiously at the pithead for up to 72 hours as hopes of rescue faded.
The film, taken from a 2009 BBC2 documentary, The Terrible Price, was shown as part of a community project called Community Conversations, exploring what people across all sections of society think about life in and around Wrexham through the ages.
It was screened for residents of Pendine’s Penybryn care home, many with personal ties to the town’s coal mining heritage, who were visibly moved by the eyewitness accounts and archive footage.
Leading the screening was Natasha Borton, a Wrexham poet, singer and theatre performer who is also a community engagement project officer with the Wales Broadcast Archive.
The only official broadcast archive in the UK, encompasses more than 400,000 works of film footage gathered from the world of cinema, television and community recordings across the nation.
The tragic story of the Gresford disaster is close to the hearts of the whole team at Pendine who cared for last remaining survivor of the disaster, Albert Rowlands, who celebrated his 100th birthday while at Pendine before he passed away in 2020.
Pendine also sponsored the premiere of the community opera, Gresford – Up From Underground, at the North Wales International Music Festival at St Asaph Cathedral as part of the organisation’s 40th anniversary celebrations.
Mario Kreft MBE, the proprietor of Pendine, said: “Music and the arts are the golden thread running through everything we do, so this felt like a perfect way to honour that connection.”
The NEW Sinfonia production is about to go on a Wales-wide tour of former mining communities, starting at the Stiwt in nearby Rhosllannerchrugog, before going on to Blackwood in Gwent, Ystradgynlais in Powys and Caernarfon in Gwynedd.
In the meantime it’s been shortlisted for a prestigious award from the Royal Philharmonic Society, dubbed the Oscars of classical music.
In addition to the Gresford disaster footage, Natasha also showed clips from a half-hour documentary called Your Century – Wrexham produced by HTV and first broadcast in 1997.
It chronicled life in Wrexham from the early 1900s when it was predominantly a mining community with horse drawn trams being the main form of public transport.
It charted the devastating losses suffered in the First and Second World Wars, the determination to re-grow after each conflict, the development of local industry including Brymbo steelworks, Dutton’s delivery company, the many markets and eight local breweries.
Natasha is also part of a team formulating creative ideas to be included in Wrexham’s bid to become UK City of Culture 2029 so she was particularly interested to hear about Pendine Park’s work in the cultural field.
She said: “I have been extremely keen to lead a workshop with residents at Pendine Park, especially given its arts achievements. I know how important music and the arts are to the Pendine Park wellbeing ethos. Its residents have done some incredible work contributing to local festivals. So, I felt it was really important to get input from them about what they would like to see in Wrexham’s cultural offer.”
Natasha said screening the film about Wrexham’s history was a great way to kickstart the conversation.
She said: “I firmly believe the Wales Broadcast Archive is an invaluable resource for the population in general and for stimulating future creativity.
“With funding support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Welsh Government, the Archive has brought together a wealth of film including from the BBC, ITV and S4C.
“It offers access to more than a century of television and radio broadcasts, all held at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth and via satellite hubs around Wales including one at Wrexham.
“The documentary we saw today showed the full extent of Wrexham’s industrial past, how it grew from a small mining town into the up and coming vibrant city it is now.
“The aim of this project is to explore what people across all sections of society think about life in and around Wrexham through the ages.”
Penybryn resident Barry Jones said watching the film reminded him of a time he visited the mine as part of a school trip when he was a boy.
He said: “It was such an eye-opener for me, I have never forgotten it, seeing the desperate conditions those miners had to work in. We went down in the lifts, all the way into the depths of the mine. For weeks afterwards I remember every time I blew my nose it was full of soot.”
Fellow resident, Carole Ball, told Natasha: “Watching this film was extraordinary and triggered so many memories for us.”
Pendine Park consultant artist in residence, Sarah Edwards, said: “Natasha had a natural empathy with the residents in the group, who were mostly aged between 30-70 and living with acquired brain injury and other complex neurological conditions.
“But despite the challenges they face Natasha created a relaxed environment in which they easily conversed about their experiences of life in Wrexham, sharing many heartfelt memories.
“Residents enjoyed watching the film and enthusiastically took part in a poetry session which Natasha led after the screening.
“The feedback we received from both residents and staff was so positive that talks are underway to arrange further workshops with Natasha across the Pendine Park family of care homes.”
The Rhosllannerchrugog performances will take place at The Stiwt on Saturday, February 21, at 7.30pm and on Sunday, February 22, at 4pm.
The Blackwood performance will take place at Blackwood Miners’ Institute at 7.30pm on Thursday, February 26.
The opera will be performed at Galeri Caernarfon on Friday, February 27, at 7.30pm.
The work will take to the stage at The Welfare, Ystradgynlais, at 7.30pm on Friday, March 6.
For more details about the Wales Broadcast Archive and accessing its film catalogue visit https://www.library.wales/wales-broadcast-archive
For details about Wrecsam 2029 Community Conversations project visit https://www.wrecsam2029.wales/en_gb/community-conversations/
For details of Natasha Borton, her poems, songs and theatre work, visit: https://natashaborton.com/
For more information and to buy tickets for the performances go to https://www.newsinfonia.org.uk/events
Stiwt Shows – https://stiwt.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873679630
Blackwood – https://www.blackwoodminersinstitute.com/en/whats-on/gresford-up-from-underground/
Caernarfon – https://www.galericaernarfon.com/eng/whats-on-selected.php?show-id=873679480
Ystradgynlais – https://thewelfare.co.uk/Shows/new-sinfonia-gresford-up-from-underground/
