AN exhibition commemorating a pit disaster which claimed 168 men and boys opens today.

The West Stanley Burns Pit Disaster Exhibition, organised by Chris Webber, a reporter with The Northern Echo, opens in the Lamplight Arts Centre, Front Street, Stanley, north Durham, and continues tomorrow from 10am to 6pm.

A main feature is a display detailing, for the first time, exactly where each of the victims' bodies are buried.

They died in 1909, when a build-up of gas ignited at West Stanley Burns Pit, in Stanley. The victims were burned, choked or crushed to death.

The display will coincide with an exhibition about modern-day life in County Durham's former mining communities.

Admission is free, but there will be collection boxes for donations to The Northern Echo's Stanley Pit Disaster Memorial Appeal.

Anyone wishing to support the campaign to create a permanent graveside memorial to all those who died, but lie in unmarked graves, can contact Mr Webber on (01642) 513346.

To contribute directly, send cheques, payable to The Northern Echo's Stanley Pit Disaster Memorial Appeal, to The Northern Echo, Priestgate, Darlington, DL1 1NF.

Today at 1pm, there will be a free concert by a brass ensemble from Consett Brass Band. At 2pm, there will be a talk and slide show on the disaster by local historian Jack Hair and folk music. Admission is £1.

Mr Webber spent more than a year tracking down the graves of the 56 victims whose resting places had been forgotten with the passage of time, working with amateur historian Bob Drake.