THE campaign to mark the graves of those who died in the region's worst mining disaster has taken a major step forward.

An explosion in 1909 at the West Stanley Colliery, in Stanley, County Durham, known as Burns Pit, claimed the lives of 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 graveyard of St Andrew's Church, Stanley.

A memorial stone will be erected, to be unveiled in February next year, on the 96th anniversary of the tragedy.

Our campaign has raised more than £2,500 in donations from kindhearted readers and residents. The fund was boosted this week with a £1,000 grant from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

The Stanley Burns Pit Disaster Memorial Committee, has been established to administer the fund.

A committee spokesman said: "We are in a position now to finally mark the graves of these men and boys killed in this terrible tragedy.

"There are other memorials in the town already and we do not want to take anything away from them. But there has never been anything at the gravesides of these 54 and they deserve to be remembered."

The group includes the vicar of St Andrew's, The Reverend Austin Johnston, parochial church council member Jean Carelton, county councillor Edna Hunter and the chairman of Stanley History Association, Jack Hair.

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 behind St Andrew's Church.

The committee will make a decision about the design of the memorial stone later this year.

Craftsman Billy Johnstone, from Murton, near Seaham, has produced limited edition plates to commemorate the disaster.

They are available for £20 each at his stall in Durham City Indoor Market and at the card shop at Stanley Indoor Market. If all 100 are sold, it will swell the campaign coffers by a further £500.

Anyone with any information about the disaster, or who wishes to donate money, is asked to call reporter Chris Webber on (01642) 675678.