'There's a lot of miners out there we could help'

Keith Franks wearing a grey shirt and tie, in front of a grey background.
Image caption,

Lofthouse Colliery Disaster Fund chairman Keith Franks said the money could help a "lot of people"

  • Published

Trustees of a fund set up for families of miners killed in a 1970s disaster have said they are struggling to donate a remaining £1m due to restrictions on who can benefit.

Seven men died when a disused 19th-Century shaft at Lofthouse pit near Wakefield was breached on 21 March 1973, causing three million gallons of water to flood the mine.

Public donations for their relatives totalling £750,000 were gathered in the aftermath, leading to the creation of the Lofthouse Colliery Disaster Fund.

All beneficiaries have since died, and fund chairman Keith Franks said trustees hoped to widen its remit as the money could help "a lot of people out there".

Mr Franks, who also volunteers at an advisory clinic for former miners, said: "We advise miners who have had injuries or are suffering with mining-related diseases.

"I think we could also help those people if they needed help with stairlifts, mobility chairs or bathrooms that needed converting so it would be easier for them."

Image source, PA Media
Image caption,

Miners at Lofthouse Colliery wait for news in March 1973

He said the scope of the fund had been widened previously to include the families of any miner killed in a Yorkshire coalfield.

But as the last pit in Yorkshire - Kellingley Colliery - closed in 2015, the charity was struggling to find people who qualified for help.

"We ought to be looking to make changes to the trust fund otherwise I believe it will just end up going back to the government," he said.

The trustees have been looking at ways to widen the remit, including applying to the Charity Commission.

If they get the approval they need, miners suffering from related illnesses such as COPD or emphysema could apply for funds.

Former miner Tony Rock said he had already spent thousands of pounds from his savings on a stairlift and mobility scooter after being diagnosed with pneumoconiosis.

Image caption,

Former miner Tony Rock said he had spent thousands of pounds on a stairlift and mobility scooter

The 81-year-old from Selby spent 35 years working underground.

Mr Rock first went down the pit in aged 15 in 1958, four days after leaving school.

He said: "It would have been helpful at the time we were looking at getting a stairlift in.

"You're looking at five grand for a stairlift – a mobility scooter's nearly £2,000.

"So any help towards the cost of that would have gone down a bit better."

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