A MEMORIAL service will mark the 50th anniversary of a caving tragedy in the Yorkshire Dales in which six men died, including three from the Bradford district

Potholers who helped in the Mossdale Caverns rescue bid on Conistone Moor, near Grassington, 50 years ago and others are to attend a memorial service at St Mary’s church Conistone, at 6.30pm on the Sunday, June 25.

Six men died in the labyrinth of passages on June 24, 1967, when it was engulfed by flood water. It was to become the worst caving disaster in the history of potholing.

The hundreds of people involved in the rescue bid battled through several nights, digging frantically at times to stem the rising water only to find all six men had perished.

Their bodies were not removed and eventually they were entombed together in a place which was named Sanctuary. The men were William Frakes, 19, of Eldwick, Colin Vickers, 23, of Kenley Mount, Moore Avenue, Bradford, David Adamson, 26, of York Road, Harworth, Jeffrey Boireau, 24, of Fearnlea Crescent, Swinton, John Ogden 21, of Cuerden Street, Colne and Michael Ryan, 17, of Dean Close, Rhodesway, Bradford.

The memorial service has been organised by Mick Melvin, a member of the Happy Wanders Caving Club, who was involved in the rescue operation. Mr Melvin said: “Every year on the anniversary a number of old friends of the deceased cavers have walked up to the cave entrance to remember them and lay flowers. This year we are holding a memorial service at St. Mary’s church in Conistone village. We’re offering people who were around at the time of the tragedy and were affected by it to join us at the cave before the service and from where we can transport them by Land Rover.”

The service will be attended by Rachel Taylor, the daughter of Colin Vickers, who was two-years-old when her father died. She is to read one of her own poems in his memory.

The evening before the church service, a private dinner is to be held at the Tennants Arms in Kilnsey, which is close to the cave.

Mr Melvin has produced a definitive account of the incident “The Mossdale Tragedy 1967” as an e-publication, which is downloadable from the Happy Wanderers Cave and Pothole Club website www.happywanderers.org.uk. It includes many accounts and outlines how, by late afternoon, weather conditions outside the cave had deteriorated quickly to thunderstorms. It says the six cavers, who had gone to the far end of the cave and by now on their way out, were overtaken by a deluge of water which had flooded the cave as a result of the torrential rain falling on the fells above.