PREPARATIONS to finally mark the mass graves of the men and boys who died in the region's worst pit disaster have started.

Work on a memorial stone is due to start in the coming weeks, with Scott's Memorials, in Consett, County Durham, carrying out the work.

The stone, which will cost £5,600, will bear the names of 118 men and boys who died in the 1909 Stanley Burns Pit explosion.

Of those, 54 were buried in two mass trenches and another 15 in individual graves with no headstone.

Of the rest, many headstones have been destroyed in the past 96 years, so the Stanley Pit Memorial Committee decided to name everyone buried in the old burial ground, behind St Andrew's Church.

A church service and commemoration is being planned for Saturday, March 5, from 11.30am.

The following list has been compiled, but records of the time are notoriously contradictory. Any queries over the list should be directed to reporter Chris Webber, who can be contacted on (01642) 675678.

Victims buried in mass graves: First Trench - Joseph Burn, Richard Burn, John James Clark, Mathew Coulson, Thomas Coulson, William Crozier, Thomas Crozier, William Crozier, Robert Foster or Forster, James Foster or Forster, John G Fewster or Foster, George B Halliday, John Richard Johnson, Robert William Johnson, Robert Johnson, John Johnson, George Lawson, Thomas Lawson, George Lawson, Ralph Laverick, John MacKay, James Murphy, William Murphy, William Ransom, Charles A Readman, James Uncles, George Storey, Thomas Shackleton, Thomas Whitehead, Thomas Worby, Ralph Wood.

Second Trench - Matthew Agar, Joseph Agar, George Booth, Thomas Booth, Richard Broadmore, Archibald Coils, John Counsell, Allan Counsell, James Donkin, James W Dean, Edward Davison, John William Johnson or Martin, Joseph Johnson or Martin, Edward Lodge, James Payne, John Pilkington Snr, John Pilkington Jnr, William Palmer, John Robson, John William Smith, William Samuels, Joseph Gardner Willis, William Wallis.

Victims With Headstone In Old Burial Ground - Thomas Anderson, Robert Brown, Thomas Bottoms, James Bell, John Benfold, William Batty, Thomas Carr, John Carter, Joseph Carter, John Clarke, William Henry Clarke, Albert Dunn, Henry Dunn, George Fewster, John Finnighan, George Gill Snr, Henry Gill Jnr, John Glendinning Snr, John Glendinning Jnr, William Green, John James Gardner, Slater Gourley, Thomas Heron, James Jamie-son, Robert Leadbitter, John Lackenby, Henry Miller, Allen Miller, Edward Manistre, Henry Manistre, John Henry Manistre, William Morris, William Nicholson, Richard Proud, John Pearton, JA Peart, Thomas Robson, Robert Stoves, Arthur Thomas Shepherd, John Isaac Statt, Earnest Blair Smith, John Joseph Smithson, William Scott, John Parkin Walker, Henry Wright, Stephen Wood, Isaac Walton, Joseph Welsh, John William Whitfield.

Victims In Private Graves With No Headstones - Mark Cowan, James Charlton, William Charlton, Thomas Nelson Charlton, Matthew Robson Coxon, George Carr, Joseph Dover, John Henry Ivy, William Jefferson, James Lambert, William Rowell, John Simm, Thomas Thompson, Alexander Wilkinson, George Watson.

Read more about the Stanely Pit Memorial campaign here.