SUNDAYS & FORMER FIRST MINISTER FOR WALES “I strongly supports the making of the film” I know the village extremely well from my childhood having attended Bethlehem Chapel every Sunday from 1945 to 1960. I am delighted that there is a project for a feature film to dramatise the story of the Lan. As former First Minister of Wales, I am happy to endorse this project. Such a film will make a truly fitting statement of the human price of winning coal and the part played by Wales in the history of the industry. I strongly support the making of the film about the Lan disaster. Gwaelod y Garth is a very special village in many ways. It is the only part of Cardiff the capital of Wales which has retained large parts of its Welsh language and culture. I knew many of the Phillips family who were leading lights in the chapel and the village. In Gwaelod y Garth lies the origin of the story at the heart of the film. The Lan Colliery Disaster on December 6th. 1875 marks a significant point in the history of coal mining in Wales. Not only were 16 men and boys killed and the village plunged into distress and poverty, but the part played by the underground explosion by the presence of dry coal dust was recognised. Following the research of William Galloway, who investigated the accident for the coroner, the Lan became the first mine to use his ‘new’ method of damping, a practice which has subsequently become world mining law. William Galloway was knighted for his research, but the disaster has been largely forgotten. Rt. Hon Rhodri Morgan, Former First Minister for Wales.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 08:38:07 +0000
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