Permanent memorials to those who toiled

Very little now remains of the warren of pits on which west Fife was built.

However, in Kelty there are prominent memorials to those who toiled in terrible conditions.

The late Mick McGahey, former president of the Scottish NUM, unveiled a bronze statue of a miner in the village square outside the former library in the late 90s.

Created by David Annand of Kilmany, it was the result of many years of hard work and fundraising.

Another memorial stands at the Station Road entrance to the village near the site of the Lindsay Colliery to commemorate the 1957 disaster.

Artist Jim Douglas conceived its design – a pit bogey and winding wheel.

At its unveiling on a bitterly cold day 39 years to the date after the tragedy, Mr McGahey said: “Bleak it may be today, but how bleak it was that morning when nine of our colleagues lost their lives in the explosion.”

I covered that event and it had a sharp resonance for me because my grandpa George Wyse worked at the Lindsay.

He was a day shift worker but recalled the sorrow he felt at the loss of his workmates.

Someone else who remembers is Duncan Gilfillan, who was a teenage apprentice when disaster struck.

“It was terrible, I wasn’t long started, I’d be about 17 or 18 at the time,” he said. “I was an apprentice surveyor and I went in to the section after it had been cleared with the mines inspectorate.”

He recalls seeing cigarettes, matches and cigarette packets.

“It was positive – the explosion was caused by a lit match,” said Mr Gilfillan, now chairman of the Fife Mining Preservation Society.

“It should never have happened.” A service has been organised by Kelty Community Council at 7pm tomorrow to mark the anniversary.

It will take place at the miner’s statue, which is now located at Kelty Community Centre, Main Street.