MINING TRAGEDY ANNIVERSARY BRINGS BACK MEMORIES

May 9, Mother's Day, will mark the 29th anniversary of the Westray Mine disaster in Pictou County.

It seems like yesterday, yet so much time has passed and life goes on. Still, one never forgets the loss of 26 fellow workers that night in 1992. Nor those left behind to grieve.

It has been said that time heals all wounds, but unless you suffered those wounds one would never agree. Those that were lost that night ranged in age from 25 to 58. They were good men — husbands, fathers, grandpas and boyfriends. All were loved or cherished.

As I remember them a couple of stories come to mind. The first is a sad one.

On the evening of May 9, 1992, as I prepared to go home after shift, I was changing in the Dry. That's the change room for the miners and staff. At that moment a fellow sitting on the bench, dressed ready to go underground, spoke to me. I looked up and there sat Peter Vickers.

“What the hell are you doing here?,” I asked.

“I'm a miner now, Don,” he replied.

“Peter, that's a long way from the clerk's job you had at the Port Hawkesbury Heavy Water Plant,” I said.

He laughed, and we agreed to go for coffee on our next days off.

Peter died that night. The other story is about the oldest fellow we lost. His name was John Bates and he had a good sense of humour.

One day, in the lunchroom, someone asked him how he met so many women.

“Well,” he said, “I go to the laundromat, and pretend that I have no clue how to use the washers or dryers.

“Being an Englishman, they are willing to help so I chat them up, and get to go for coffee, or a lunch.”

John said it works, try it sometime and we all laughed.

I don't remember all of those who were lost as we worked opposite shifts, but if I see the face or the name it brings me back to that time.

And after 29 years one never forgets the pain of such a tragedy. So as the anniversary comes around it makes one wonder what happened to all the others who survived? What are they doing? How many are still alive?

As the years slide by, one on top of the other, I can say that I don't know the grief the families are feeling, but I can tell you as a fellow worker of the lives lost that you never forget.

So for those of you who wonder why anyone would work in such a hellhole as Westray, this is your answer. My hourly rate of pay in May of 1992 was $15.89 per hour and miners were paid more. It came down to money or safety.

Don M. Dickson Sydney

(Former Westray worker)