didn't remember it - I was 14 at the time - so looked it up - 83 deaths. Anyone read George Orwell's 'The Road to Wigan Pier'? - harrowing account of just how hard was a miner's normal working day.
Mike

i chose to work down the pit Mike... most of those had no choice... i wonder how many were Bevan Boys?

Any pit disaster is sad..  Horrifying.. Just being underground and not seeing the sky..
Brave men..

I think for many it was the choice of a hard and dangerous job or no job at all and starve. The dangers were reduced but never eliminated and probably abroad not even reduced. I was around in May 1951 less than 2 years old.

Paul was taken down the pit on a school trip.  The way he saw it, his choice was the forces or the pit.  He did 25 years in the forces!