Earlier this season the tragic events of the Gresford Colliery Disaster, a sombre chapter in the history of coal mining occurred in the small mining village in the Wrexham County Borough of Wales in the early hours of Saturday 22 September 1934.

The colliery explosion, followed by extensive fires happened around 2am, at a time when many of the miners who had started their night shift at 10pm were taking their mid-shift break.

The mine operated in two main sections, the 'Dennis Main Deep' and the 'Slant'. The explosion caused by a build-up of gas occurred in the former, one of the deepest pits in the North Wales coalfields, one and three-quarter miles deep at its furthest point. The explosion was of such exceptional force and magnitude, the vibration was felt all over the district from the colliery. More than 300 men reached safety, the rest were cut off by a searing wall of flame.

Rescuers’ battled for forty hours against flame and increasingly frequent explosions and heavy accumulations of poisonous gas, reluctantly the decision to abandon rescue work was reached and the shaft was sealed leaving the miners entombed.

The dead comprised 266 men and boys, some 800 children lost their fathers and more than 200 women lost their husbands and sweethearts. A larger number of men than is usual on a Friday night were down the mine at the time of the disaster in order to attend the Third Division match between Wrexham and Tranmere Rovers; they chose to work all night. Just before the Wrexham kick-off on the Saturday afternoon, the players and officials from both sides observed a two minutes' silence as a tribute to the victims.

As well as making a donation at the time to the victims’ families, on the 1 May 1935, a Hammers’ team comprising Reserve and ‘A’ team players opposed the local London General Omnibus Company at Bromley Garage at the Boleyn Ground to further boost the funds. The West Ham side triumphed 8-0 with Benny Fenton, brother of former manager Ted, scoring 5 of the goals.