A HAND-WRITTEN poem about the Pretoria Pit disaster of 100 years ago has been discovered.

And now the search is on to find who penned the anonymous poem.

The 100th anniversary of the tragedy will be marked in December.

Researchers have been unable to identify the author, although some suggest the poem was written by a young girl reflecting on the blast, which happened when she was a baby.

Roy Walmsley, aged 80, of Regent Road, Lostock, came across a print of the poem after reading an article about Pretoria in The Bolton News.

He believes the four-page poem was written shortly after the 1910 blast which killed 344, and a copy was given to his parents who were married a year later.

Mr Walmsley said: “It must have been written at the time and perhaps circulated, and that’s how they picked it up.

“Of course, they have been dead quite a while now and I imagine I picked it up going through their belongings.

“I remembered I had it when I saw a newspaper article about Pretoria.”

Another Lostock resident, Mary Berry, of Heaton Road, claims to have the original poem, but has no idea who wrote it. She found it in a box of her mother’s belongings when she died five years ago.

Ted Wisedale, a member of Westhoughton Local History Group, said the poem could have been written by Mary’s mother some years after the event as she would have been only six months old at the time.

He said there were “tears in the house” when he read the poem during a recent talk at Horwich Rotary Club.

The poem touches upon the feelings of the children and wives of those who died in the blast and how their families were affected at Christmas time.

Westhoughton councillor Harry Bowling, chairman of the Pretoria Pit Disaster committee, said he hoped to put a name to the poem before the service on December 21 so copies can be made and distributed to guests.

Friends just listen to my story

Which I'm about to tell

Of those brave and faithful heroes

Who met their death so well.

It was not in a foreign country

Nor far over the sea,

It was near the town of Bolton, Atherton and Leigh.

In health and strength they left their homes

On that fatal morn,

They little thought upon the road

That they would ne'er return.

Down the mine they all descend With a smile upon each face,

They little thought that death was near

In that dark and dismal place.

On they worked about an hour Hewing coal the while,

Then a fearful crash was heard And then a sad, sad, cry.

A crash like thunder

Was heard from far and near,

It made the people wonder And tremble in alarm.

Around the town the news did spread

To people far and near

That a terrible thing had happened To those they loved so dear.

Fathers'n'mothers rushed to the mine

When they heard the news,

Of those brave and faithful colliers

Who were there entombed.

Hour after hour they waited

On that fatal day,

Only to learn God had called them

To their home away.

Then a bishop past that way

And offered up a prayer,

That God would help the rescuers And all who perished there.

Darkness crept around the pit

Stars shone out on high

“Jesus Lover of my Soul” sang they

With eyes raised to the sky.

Mothers turned homewards

With heads bowed low with grief,

To their lonely cottage There to sob and weep.

Soon within a cottage

A child is heard to say,

"Where is my daddy mother

Will he not come home to day?"

She gently carries it away

To its little bed,

And softly whispers to it Child, your father's dead.

Its father had been telling her

Of Santa Claus so dear,

Who fills her dainty stocking With Christmas toys to cheer.

Such as about a dolly Which they all love so well,

Which I had been denied it And christmas joy as well.

Now all you little children

Who have a father's care,

Just kneel down at bedtime

And offer up a prayer.

And ask the God above you

To hear you in your prayer,

To help those little children Who have no father's care.

And all you begreived mothers

The loss you so much grieve,

Just think they've gone to heaven

To guide you on your way.

One more line before I end That on the judgement day,

Your loved ones they will meet you

With a smile upon your way.

So don't despise a collier

Tho' black and grim he be,

There's a home in Heaven for him

As their is for you and me.