On Noon of Saturday the 26th of April 2025, Salford TUC will be supporting an event being organised by the Irwell Valley Mining Project (IVMP) at the Miners Memorial positioned at the former gates of Agecroft Pit on Agecroft Rd Pendlebury M27 8BX
The event is held every year just before International Workers Memorial day to remember and commemorate the miners killed and injured in the pits in the IVMP area and miners worldwide.
The Memorial features plaques which commemorate various people and miners associated with the IVMP.
Our very own local historian, Tony Flynn, documented his tale for Salford Online.
However this year a new name will be added… in the spirit of inclusiveness to somebody who came to Britain as an actor and finished his life as a miner in Agecroft Pit.
Prince Peter Kushana Lobengula of Matabele who came to Britain as an actor in the Frank Fillis’s ‘Savage South Africa’ show at Earl’s Court in 1899.
Lobengula would go on to become an Agecroft miner who ended his days in poverty in Salford and died on the 24 November 1913 , his family grave stone is in Agecroft Cemetery, Our own “King of Salford”
With this in mind we are asking members of the Black Councillors group on Salford Council plus a representative from the local Black community to join with us to commemorate Peters and the other miners lives who worked at Agecroft and surrounding pits.
Salford Media will be covering the event.
