DougCornwall
15 years ago
Sad day for miners, mining and metal technology.

How should we remember things like this?
With sadness? ..but no one alive today actually remembers those men.
With nostalgia? ...For the 'good' old days of 'proper' mining when men were real 'ard and their women 'arder!!
With a financial smile? ....Lots of folks made money from books and stuff about mine disasters.

Maybe there is no 'right' way and just to remember is enough.
[/center][/i]Always have a backup plan.[i][center]
derrickman
15 years ago
this is quite a good point. It's easy to generate a quick flurry of interest in men who, after all, are long gone with no living relatives.

There is nothing to achieve by it, because it is a dead technology with no scope for improvement which will probably never be used again.

there are no political issues. They weren't heroes, just men doing a hard job because they needed a wage. They certainly weren't conscripts sent to be killed for reasons beyond their understanding, for example.

so I would agree, to simply note it and move on is all that is needed or appropriate

''the stopes soared beyond the range of our caplamps' - David Bick...... How times change .... oh, I don't know, I've still got a lamp like that.
Peter Burgess
15 years ago
One way to remember is to try and appreciate the event at a human level. Technology moves on, employment standards change, business methods are superceded, but one thing that does not change is the human element. People are people, with the same basic potential. Learn about how people worked, how people lived, how people reacted to the disaster, how those not involved in the incident did what they did to rescue survivors and recover the dead.

Does it change your perspective on the tragedy? We who are "better off" with our education, social standing, employment security - how would we cope? So to record the anniversary, it might be an idea to learn from what we know of what happened and how people coped, and wonder how it would feel if the same thing happened to us.
Dolcoathguy
15 years ago
Many items of granite furniture that have been installed in restored sites have been dedicated to those who worked and died in the Cornish mining industry.

There are probably some who are alive now that may remember speaking to old miners when they were children.

While we endevour to restore and preserve all mining sites, documents and artefacts hopefully we are preserving some of the memory of those who worked in the industry for future generations to appreciate and understand.
Is it safe to come out of the bunker yet?
Dolcoathguy
15 years ago
Just an update: BBC south west ran a long feature on this last night around 6.40ish showing a memorial service by the shaft and a reporter at the mine site. Old footage in B/W of interviews with miners who remembered the event was also shown, which was very interesting.
If you go to the following site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cornwall/ 
you can watch the old footage as part of the main program probably until tonight. (click on watch spotlight).
Is it safe to come out of the bunker yet?

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