A SERVICE remembering the 344 victims of the Pretoria Pit disaster will be held on Thursday, December 21.

The event will begin at the memorial in Ditchfield Garden, Westhoughton, at 7.40am, when there will be a short service with maroons fired at 7.50am.

This will be followed by a service of remembrance at St Bartholomew's Church followed by the laying of the wreaths at the Pretoria Pit monument.

The men and boys were killed at the Hulton Colliery on December 21 1910 as a result of an underground explosion.