By the way, whenever I hear of a mine disaster, I am reminded of the words of “The Miners’ Poet,” Thomas Armstrong, after the Trimdon Grange disaster of 1882:

God protect the lonely widow,
Help to raise each drooping head;
Be a father to the orphans,
Never let them cry for bread.
Death will pay us all a visit,
They have only gone before;
We may meet the Trimdon victims
Where explosions are no more.

Alan Price, a member of the 60s chart-topping band The Animals, sometimes sings that poem at concerts, and it always brings tears to my eyes.