Help needed to trace miners in historic photo

By Jayne Warren - 09/06/2008

 Organisers of an event marking the closure of two neighbouring collieries want to trace miners who featured in an historic photograph taken 25 years ago. The last coal from Lewis Merthyr and Ty Mawr collieries near Pontypridd was brought to the surface in June 1983 - and six miners gathered around that last dram for a photograph to commemorate the occasion.

 

Now Rhondda Cynon Taf council (RCT) wants to find the six men to recreate the picture at an event marking the pit closures at Rhondda Heritage Park in Trehafod, on the site of Lewis Merthyr Colliery, on 21st June 2008.

 

The last dram of coal still exists and is one of the most popular sights at the tourist attraction. Cllr Robert Bevan, cabinet member for culture and recreation at RCT, who once worked at Lewis Merthyr, said: "It would be a fitting tribute if we can reunite those miners for a second photograph 25 years on. The closure of the colliery was a tragedy in the history of Trehafod and its surrounding communities. And a quarter of a century on, we still remember the importance of this site which has been transformed into a first-class tourism venue in the south Wales valleys."

 

The anniversary event will include brass bands, choirs, theatre companies, an exhibition of old photographs, and a reminiscence corner will be set up for former miners to talk to each other about their lives underground. Some of those memories will be recorded so future generations can gain an understanding about what life was like underground.

 

An RCT spokesperson said: "We would store their memories because it's important to preserve them so they're not lost for ever."

 

Anyone who knows the people in the picture please contact Nicola Newhams at Rhondda Heritage Park: 01443 680 933/682 036.