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My print was inspired by the tragic events at Gleision Colliery. I hope it honours the men that lost their lives and the heroic rescuers who tried to save them.

The Gleision Colliery Disaster.

A memorial stands near Ystalyfera to the four men that died on ‘That Fateful Day’ on 15th September 2011 when tragedy hit the Gleision mine, flooding the main route. Seven men working with explosives were involved in an operation to link up with flooded old workings to create a second mine exit and to improve ventilation throughout the hundred-year-old pit when disaster struck. Within a few seconds, 650,000 gallons of water gushed into the mine.

On that day the lives of a whole community changed after a mining disaster the like of which had not been seen in South Wales for many years. Tributes were paid to the heroic efforts of the rescuers who fought, sadly in vain, around the clock from 9.30am on the Thursday to 6pm on the Friday in the hope of finding the men alive.

On the memorial is written: ‘Good friends are like stars. You don’t have to see them to know they are there.’