The year 1844 saw the worst human disaster ever to befall the county of Pembroke when, at 3.30 in the afternoon of February 14, a roof collapse at the Garden Pit mine at Landshipping tragically took the lives of 40 miners. A further 18 men and boys miraculously escaped with their lives.

The working tunnels had advanced far under the Cleddau, but were obviously too close to the river bed, since on that fateful day the incoming spring tide burst through the roof with disastrous consequences.

Now, nearly160 years later, a memorial is to be unveiled to mark what some call the 'first great national coal disaster'.

LMN 2000 (the Millennium Committee of Landshipping, Martletwy and Newton parishes in the heart of rural Pembrokeshire) has been working, since it was set up in 1999, to raise sufficient resources to fund the memorial, which has recently been erected on Landshipping Bridge overlooking the River Cleddau and very close to the scene of the disaster. A simple plinth lists the names of the 40 victims, 15 of whom were under 14 years of age, but only one of whom, at the age of 11, was deemed to be under age.

"This is something long overdue," said chairman of LMN 2000, Robert Lewis, who is also the local county councillor. "The Millennium committee was set up to identify projects which might be achieved around the time of the Millennium. This was the first suggestion and the committee enthusiastically embraced it.

"The members can look with pride upon its efforts so far and the memorial marks another notable achievement," he said.

The committee needed to raise funds and, with the collaboration of the authors Rob Davies and Jane Nelson, published the book 'A River Never Sleeps', which chronicles the history of the parishes from1750 to 1950 with notes on education, the religious institutions, farming and other industries, together with a list of properties and the people who lived in the area.

The book, lavishly illustrated, proved so popular that all of the hardback copies (over 200) were sold at £35 and a reprint of the softback edition was needed to cope with demand. Over 700 of these have been sold, but copies are still available at £7.50 from 01834 891214 (and make an excellent Christmas present !).

A compact disc by local group Bluestone has four tracks, one of which is sung by pupils from the local Primary School at St. Oswald's, Jeffreyston. A folk song written and sung by Bluestone telling the story of the mine disaster also features.

An annual Raft Race across the Cleddau from Landshipping to Picton Ferry and back has also proved to be a popular attraction. Contestants first have to make their raft from materials provided and upon their return are obliged to make and cook a pancake!

Thanks to the successful fund-raising by LMN2000, (website http://www.lmn2000.org">www.lmn2000.org) its latest ambitious target is about to be realised when the Landshipping Mining Disaster Memorial is unveiled on Saturday, December 7, at Landshipping Quay, at 10 am. Members of the public are very welcome to join the local inhabitants at this important event.