TALKING POLITICS Stanrigg disaster victims will never be forgotten

This month marked the 100th anniversary of the Stanrigg pit disaster which resulted in the deaths of 19 miners, on July 9, 1918.

Of those men killed, only eight bodies were recovered – the other 11 bodies remain encased in the bowels of the earth beneath Stanrigg.

Some families lost brothers, others lost fathers and sons. The youngest to die were two boys aged 14, one of whom was working his first shift after leaving school; the oldest to die was just 60 years old, not an old man by today’s standards.

Although this disaster was 100 years ago it is important that we never forget the heavy price paid by miners to ensure our country got the supplies of coal needed to keep the wheels of industry turning and, in 1918, to support the war effort during the First World War.

The memorial service last week was one of the most moving events I have attended in my 19 years as an MSP.

Being the son and grandson of a miner myself I fully understand the special hell the families of the dead miners at Stanrigg would have gone through when they lost their loved ones in such tragic circumstances.

I remember as a young boy when my own father was trapped down the pit.

My mother, brother and I didn’t know for hours how badly hurt he was, and indeed if he had survived what had been a major rockfall within the pit.

We were lucky. Although my father had been injured, it wasn’t as serious as we had at first feared. But I would never want any family to go through what we did.

How horrible it must have been for the families of the miners caught up in the Stanrigg disaster, and many others like it down the years. They would never get over losing their loved ones.

I regarded it as a great honour when the organisers of the Stanrigg centenary memorial service invited me to deliver the dedication to the lost miners and to participate in this important event.

Special thanks must go to Peter Downie and Willie Allison, not just for organising this event but for all the great works they do in ensuring that the victims of the Stanrigg disaster will never be forgotten.

The memorial service last week was one of the most moving events I have attended in my 19 years as an MSP

Poignant ceremony Around 100 people turned outto honour the centenery of the Stanrigg tragedy at a special service that took place earlier this months