A MONUMENT which pays tribute to 344 men and boys who were killed in a mining disaster is to be given a facelift.
The Pretoria Pit monument, which stands in the grounds of St Bartholemew's Parish Church, Westhoughton, commemorates the tragedy of 1910 when miners were killed by a huge gas explosion at Hulton Colliery.
The monument will be cleaned, railings painted and paving stones laid to allow the public to remember the dead at the annual remembrance ceremony in December.
Westhoughton councillor David Wilkinson said: "Last year the ground in the churchyard was very wet and the monument has become dirty.
"People still feel very strongly about what happened. Generations of families have passed the memories on to one another and there are still lots of grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the men who died living here today.
"People think it was a disaster that just affected Westhoughton, but it hit lots of people as 80 men died from Daubhill. The area lost an entire generation of men."
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