A new permanent memorial has been unveiled at the Llanelli and Mynydd Mawr Railway in Cynheidre on Sunday 23 August, to commemorate the 37 miners who lost their lives working at Cynheidre Colliery.
The railway is located on part of the old colliery site, and the new memorial ensures that the names of those 37 men are permanently remembered in Cynheidre.
A heartfelt speech was made by Cllr Alex Evans, who represents the Glyn ward, who himself is the great-nephew of one of the 37 and the grandson of a miner who spent more than 20 years underground at Cynheidre.
This was followed by Linda Stonehouse, who emotionally explained that her father was killed at Cynheidre Colliery. Linda was one of the key the driving forces behind making the memorial happen, a process that has taken a long time to come to fruition, but is now a reality.
The memorial also commemorates the large number of miners whose lives were cut short by illnesses suffered as a result oftheir years of working underground.
From 12pm onwards, members of the public were able to visit the railway for a special open day in Cynheidre with free train rides and the new memorial open for all to see.
For anyone that wishes to visit the memorial, the site is currently open to the public on Thursdays and Fridays between 11am and 3pm and Saturdays between 10am and 3pm when the railway’s community café, Caffi Super Sprinter is open.
We wish to extend a special thanks for Andrew Edwards of S W Monumental Masons for all of his fantastic work in building the memorial. A video of his work can be seen on the S W Monumental Masons Facebook page.
As well as the unveiling, the railway also opened its new heritage woodland project, which helps tell the story of the colliery and the generations of people who worked there. This includes information boards detailing the mining and industrial heritage of the site and audio descriptive recollections featuring the voices offormer Cynheidre employees themselves. Former mine workers were interviewed about their lives and experiences in Cynheidre. These recordings – their own voices, memories and words – are now a permanent part of the site’s experience, enabling visitors to hear directly from former Cynheidre Colliery workers as they wander the woodland and discover Cynheidre’s mining and industrial heritage.
The woodland project was made possible through a grant of £85,000 from the Welsh Government and the Heritage Lottery Fund through the Woodland Investment Grant.
After the unveiling, Mark Thomas, Chairman of the Llanelli and Mynydd Mawr Railway, said:
“Today has been an absolute privilege for the railway to unveil this permanent memorial.
“Seeing so many family members, friends and former colleagues of those lost at the colliery was both emotional and humbling for all of us, and we are delighted that we now have a permanent memorial in place.
“Everyone is invited to come and view this when we are open, along with the fantastic woodland that we now have to tell the story of the colliery.
“We want to publicly thank everyone that has helped us with this project and to everyone that very kindly donated to the fundraiser.”
As well as the regular café opening times the next public train running events will be held on Saturday 29th August and Saturday 26th September between 10am and 3pm.
