Heartbreaking task

“Thursday’s memorial from Leeza Clark was a moving tribute to the nine miners who lost their lives while working at the deepest of the coal seams in the Lindsay Colliery,” writes Frank Galloway.

“In July 1957, aged 17, I started work as an apprentice mining surveyor based in Cowdenbeath. Living with relations in Kelty, I was posted to the Kelty area covering the Aitken Colliery, Blairenbathie Mine, and the Lindsay Colliery after a six month introduction to all the collieries in the Cowdenbeath area and a month of familiarisation of office practice in Cowdenbeath head office.

“On the Monday following the explosion, a team of mining surveyors including myself went underground to do a complete detailed survey of the coal face. It was heartbreaking to detail the exact position where the miners were at the time of the explosion and the location of every match and cigarette around that area.

“In the Cowdenbeath head office a floor area had been cleared to allow a full size plan of the coal face to be drawn, plotting in detail where each miner had lain and the proximity of every match and cigarette on the floor of the coal face. This plan was produced at the official public inquiry and the outcome was never in doubt.

“My five-year apprenticeship continued at the Lindsay Colliery until I left the National Coal Board in 1962. I have many happy memories of the comradeship in this mining community including meeting Faye, my wife to be, at a social club in the village.”