Memorial stirs strong feelings on miners’ strike
I am writing this letter in response to the article on the mining memorial.
I was a miner at Polkemmet Colliery, starting at the age of 15 after leaving school in 1970 and was made redundant when the colliery closed in 1985.
I feel a bit confused and annoyed about the appearance of the mining sculpture at Market Place.
The proximity seems strange as Polkemmet Colliery was situated approximately two-and-a-half miles away and also why the wait of 30 years for a dedication/tribute to the miners of Whitburn?
I’m sure a lot of miners and their families who are sadly no longer with us would have loved to have seen a tribute and sculpture dedicated to them.
Were there any ex-miners personally invited to the unveiling of the sculpture?
Why also have Tam Dalyell making a speech at the ceremony and why was there an NUM banner on display?
I think the newer community deserve to know some facts.
There was a miners’ strike that lasted approximately one year in 1985/85. Before this the comradeship of the miners and the community spirit was second to none.
This was ruined during the strike. Many people felt hardship with no income and some decided to drift back to work.
Those who did or wanted to go back to work were intimidated.
Then there were the picket lines at the colliery, with sometimes hundreds in attendance and not only miners, who tried to “persuade” those who wanted to work not to.
It is also a fact – it was stated at the time – that the NUM at the colliery wouldn’t let anybody cover to maintain the colliery, which allowed it to be flooded with nobody to attend the pumps.
This was a factor in its closure, although I still believe it was marked for closure anyway.
I hope that some day a fiting tribute and memorial can be erected at the exact site where the colliery stood.
Through the good and bad times I feel privileged to have been a part of that.