A community united in grief

THE timing could not have been more poignant – or tragic. As Gerry Gibson was being confirmed as the victim of the Kellingley Colliery tragedy, the first of the four men to perish in the South Wales mining tragedy was being laid to rest.
By The Newsroom
Published 29th Sep 2011, 07:00 BST

These communities may be separated by 250 miles, but those families steeped in the history – and fabric – of Yorkshire and Welsh mining find themselves united in grief after the grimmest of fortnights, that has witnessed five deaths in total.

No words will console Mr Gibson’s grieving family at this time, though they will, hopefully, draw comfort in time from the moving tributes that were paid yesterday to a proud father regarded as “a very close friend” by all those who worked on his shift at Kellingley.

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His death is already the subject of a rigorous safety investigation which cannot, and should not, be pre-judged.

Regrettably, mining will never be totally risk-free – Mr Gibson is the third man to die at Kellingley in recent years, and this is despite the mining unions working tirelessly with managers to ensure that safety is paramount at all times.

This process must continue to evolve and the fact that UK Coal, Kellingley’s owners, issued a joint statement yesterday with the National Union of Mineworkers suggests that it will. Their solidarity was striking.

Two other points should be made at this juncture. First, the professionalism of the emergency services offered another reminder of the specialist and unpredictable nature of their work. Those deciding future budget allocations need to pay heed to the need for sufficient expertise to be ready for deployment round-the-clock.

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Second, the response of the mining communities, first in South Wales and now Knottingley, shows how adversity can bring the very best out of people. As the NUM general secretary Chris Kitchen said: “The workforce at Kellingley are a family in every sense of the word. They look after each other, they cover each other’s back. And when anything like this happens, it just devastates everybody.”

It is a “family” that Mr Gibson’s wife and children will be counting on in the days, weeks and months ahead. And they know that the mining “family” will be there for them, long after operations have resumed at Kellingley Colliery.

Related topics:Yorkshire