On Friday 6 October, Jenny wrote:
Today I visited two of NGC’s studio glassmakers, Christine and Kathryn, downstairs in the hot glass studio. They were hard at work making the first of one hundred hand-blown glass goblets for a new commemorative project commissioned by Blythe Valley Arts & Leisure and the New Hartley Community Association.
These glasses will be carefully engraved and presented as replicas of a Victorian Disaster Glass made in 1862. This series will memorialise the 150th anniversary of the Hartley Pit Disaster. On 16 January, 1862, a fallen beam trapped and killed 204 miners at the Hartley Colliery Pit (also known as Hester Pit). Disaster glasses were engraved with the names of victims of fatal mining accidents, along with the date and details of the tragedy and were typically commissioned by the families of perished miners. The original Hartley Colliery Disaster Glass is currently on display in our Sunderland Room, exhibited alongside a small collection of disaster glasses from around the region.
The finished glasses will be sold in conjunction with a commemorative concert and service in January 2012, with all proceeds to benefit the upkeep of the Hartley Disaster memorial garden.
- Arts Council England
- Sunderland City Council
- University of Sunderland
- Positive About Disabled People
- Lottery Funded
- Northern Rock Foundation
- VAQUAS
