The Gallery: ‘Black and White’ mourning the loss of twenty nine brave souls

The theme on ‘The Gallery‘ this week is ‘Black and White‘. I had lots of ideas for this, from piano keys to black ink on a white page, but the saddest news has shadowed all my thoughts.

Since Friday the whole of New Zealand has been caught up in the plight of twenty nine miners on the West Coast of the South Island, at Pike River coal mine. After an explosion on Friday anxious families, co-workers, friends and rescue teams have waited to see if the all clear would be given to send in a rescue team. No one knew if the trapped miners were alive, but the risk of another explosion and dangerous toxic gas levels made it too dangerous to send anyone in. It’s been a painfully long few days of agony for everyone involved. Today the most devastating news broke that a large second explosion in the mine has resulted in the death of all twenty nine miners.

I don’t personally know any of the miners, but I feel sick in the guts and my heart goes out to all those involved. Greymouth is a small, close-knit community and this news is tragically sad. The fall out of grief will affect generations.

Here at home we’ve all been enjoying sunshine and family life, but our thoughts have been constantly with the miners and their families. It doesn’t seem the right time to be posting up sunshine photographs of us frolicking at the beach and playing in the garden. Life must go on, but today we are pausing to mourn the loss of twenty nine brave men and send our love to all those grieving.

Today I turned my camera on to self-timer, cradled my baby in my arms and reached out to the new life growing in my garden, whilst saying a prayer for those brave souls who have tragically passed on. So very, very sad.