We’ll never forget them
NEW MEMORIAL UNVEILED EXACTLY 100 YEARS AFTER 134 WERE KILLED IN EXPLOSION
MORE than 400 people gathered at a local church to commemorate the 100th anniversary one of the country’s worst wartime civilian disasters.
Yesterday marked 100 years since 134 people died in an explosion at a shell-filling factory where Chetwynd Barracks now stands.
One of those who never came home was Louisa Elliot, a mum-ofthree in her 30s who lived in Ilkeston and worked as a shell filler.
Her granddaughter, Glennys Robinson, also of Ilkeston, was at the special service held at St Mary’s Church in Attenborough to remember and dedicate its new memorial to the disaster.
She said: “There were three little sisters, six, seven and eight. Their mum went to work one day and never came back. For days and days after they used to go and wait for her but then they realised she was one of the ones who was killed. They had a very sad upbringing [after that].
“It is such a tragedy. We shouldn’t forget that they gave their lives for us to live a better life - it is good so many people still remember.”
The explosion was so intense that only 32 bodies could be identified and the remains were put in a mass grave at St Mary the Virgin Church, in Attenborough.
A wooden cross which previously stood on the site had to be removed after it was vandalised in the 1970s.
The new memorial, a crucifix with a metal sword on it, took two weeks to build and was finished last week thanks to £12,500 fundraised by the church and organised by deputy churchwarden Gill Linton-smith.
The 56-year-old Attenborough resident said: “It’s amazing; very emotional. The story has touched everybody. Those people that died have living relatives, they need to know they are not forgotten. Before, we had people asking where it was so we wanted to make sure there was a fitting memorial. Now they have got some respect.”
Church warden Ann Parkes, 78, of Chilwell, added: “It’s an amazing monument. A lot is made of the service personnel who gave their lives but there are civilians who sacrificed themselves in the line of duty.”
The Chilwell site, originally known as the National Shelling Factory No 6, was hugely important. During the First World War, 19 million highexplosive shells were produced there – 50 percent of the nation’s entire shell filling operation.
July 1 was a hot day and in the evening eight tons of high explosive ignited, creating a blast that was heard up to 20 miles away.
The commemorative event began with a military band from Chetwynd Barracks marching to the church. Broxtowe MP Anna Soubry also attended. There was a two-minute silence at 7.10pm, the same time the explosion happened in 1918.