THE campaign to erect a memorial to the forgotten victims of the area's worst mining disaster is nearly over.

Trustees charged with spending the cash raised by readers of the Advertiser and The Northern Echo believe they are just months away from unveiling the commemorative stone.

An explosion at West Stanley Burns Pit in February 1909 killed 168 men and boys.

Until the newspapers began their campaign, 54 of them lay forgotten, buried side by side in unmarked trenches in the cemetery behind St Andrew's Church in Stanley.

Now they will be remembered on a memorial in the graveyard.

The drive to erect the stone was led by local amateur historian Bob Drake, who spent a year checking records to identify for the first time who was buried in the mass graves. The names of all 118 miners who died in the tragedy and are buried in the cemetery will be engraved on a ten-foot long stone.

Others are buried in St Joseph's RC Church in Stanley, where there is a separate memorial.

The memorial stone will be made by Scotts Memorials of Consett and will stand about three feet high and will be roughly oblong.

Mr Drake, one of the trustees, said: "We have about £4,000, but we need another £2,500 to complete the memorial and everything that goes with it. We know the people of Stanley have given already, but we need a bit more to make sure this can go ahead at last."

Derwentside District Council, which owns the cemetery, has already agreed to repair the gateway to the cemetery and replace stone steps leading from the path down to the trenches.

Reporter Chris Webber, who has led the campaign for the memorial, is nearing the end of a 450-mile sponsored walk from the site of Britain's oldest mine, at Cissbury Ring, near Brighton, to Stanley.

He will arrive in Durham City on miners' gala day and will walk the final leg into Stanley the next day.

To sponsor his efforts please telephone (01642) 675678.