THE Northern Echo's campaign to erect a memorial to the forgotten victims of the region's worst mining disaster is nearing its target.

Trustees charged with spending the cash raised by the newspaper's readers believe they are months away from unveiling the commemorative stone.

An explosion at West Stanley Burns Pit, in Stanley, County Durham, in February 1909, killed 168 men and boys.

Until The Northern Echo began its campaign, 54 of them lay forgotten, buried side by side in unmarked trenches in the cemetery behind St Andrew's Church, in Stanley.

Now, they will be remembered on a memorial in the graveyard.

The drive to erect the stone was led by local amateur historian Bob Drake, who spent a year checking records to identify for the first time who was buried in the mass graves.

The names of all 118 miners who died in the tragedy and are buried in the cemetery will be engraved on a slab of stone, 10ft long and 3ft high.

The piece will be made by Scotts Memorials, of Consett, and will be roughly oblong in shape.

Other victims of the disaster are buried in St Joseph's RC Church, Stanley, where there is a separate memorial.

Mr Drake, one of the trustees, said: "We have about £4,000, but we need another £2,500 to complete the memorial and everything that goes with it.

"We know the people of Stanley have given already, but we need a bit more to make sure this can go ahead at last."

Derwentside District Council, which owns the cemetery, has agreed to repair the gateway to the graveyard and replace stone steps leading from the path down to the trenches.

Chris Webber, a reporter on The Northern Echo who has led the campaign for the memorial, is ten days into a 450-mile sponsored walk from the site of Britain's oldest mine, at Cissbury Ring, near Brighton, to Stanley.

Mr Webber said: "This is terrific news - it is just the spur I need to complete the walk.

"The idea was to bring back earth from Cissbury and symbolically sprinkle it on the graves of the men and boys who died in the North-East's worst peacetime tragedy.

"After an hour of walking in circles I concluded that the mine was really a modern-day housing estate. And yet it was there clearly on the OS map. It said Flint Mine.

"I found a vague spot where I think the mines may have been and took some earth.

"Not only that, but, in order to be sure, I clambered up the nearby hill, the site of an ancient community where the miners lived, and took some earth from there.

"Duty done, but not exactly what I'd hoped for. Still, only a 450-mile walk home."

* To make a donation to the pit disaster memorial appeal, contact (01642) 675678.

Read more about the Stanley Pit Memorial campaign here.