Latest News
January 21st 2012
Thank you very much to Kirkconnel Parish Heritage Society for permission to use some of the mining photographs from their excellent website. The images are on Wullie Baillies pages and are of Fauldhead Colliery in the 1930's. I'm busy working on material about the 1984-85 Miners strike and the effect it had the local communities in Ayrshire.
December 21st 2011
I’ve been having a wee break from the Miners Voices web site but found the time to attend the Scottish Coal Collections Conference - "Gothenburgs, Galas and Goals: Intangible Aspects of Coal Mining Culture" - which was held on November 18th at the National Mining Museum Scotland in Newtongrange. I had a fine day out and the speakers were excellent, particularly my auld neighbour fae the Barony Pit, Rab Wilson, who is as educational as he is entertaining. The fish supper at Biggar was also a treat.
Oral History Survey 2011
We’ve had the results of the recent Scottish Coal Collections Oral History survey that was carried out over last summer. We’ll be analyzing the results over the coming weeks and looking at ways to take the project forward. There is a huge amount of oral history material about the miners held by our libraries, museums and archives. This has the potential to be a historic project and I’ll be updating the website on a regular basis with how it’s developing.
New research about the 1984-85 Miners Strike
Many thanks to Jim Philips from Glasgow University and Andy Perchard from Strathclyde University for giving me their recent research papers on the 1984 -85 miners strike. I'm hoping to have some new material about the strike on the website in the new year.
Lanarkshire Family History Society
Thank you very much for the great turnout at the Globe Centre in Motherwell for my talk on the Miners Voices Project on 13th October. I'd like to make a special mention of Robert Duncan, who gave me a copy of his book "The Mineworkers" Birlinn Publishing. A worthy successor to R Page Arnotts A history of the Scottish Miners.
September 2011
Wullie Baillie was the NCB area manager of the New Cumnock and Sanquhar collieries in the 1960’s. Part 1 of the interview is a remarkable story about growing up in pre-1st world war Dalmellington and the small mining communities that once flourished in the hills above the Doon Valley in Ayrshire. In the Part 2 of the interview Mr Baillie talks about being a 14 year old miner at Beoch mine, working to his step-father drawing hutches from a 32 inch Coalface and getting a lecture from a Mines Inspector. In Part 3 of the interview Mr Baillie talks about the conditions at the Blind Pit Barony and breaking his neck in an accident at Kirkstyle Colliery Kilmarnock More
August 2011
The Knockshinnoch Audio Project is now complete and you can hear and read the interviews here I'd like to thank Wullie Lopez, Jean McMurdo, Andrew McDickens, George Harvey, John Kilday and Jimmy McCreadie for their contribution to the Knockshinnoch Audio Project and the warm welcome and hospitality I received in their homes. I'd also like to thank the Mining Institute of Scotland Trust for their sponsorship and support of the project. I've got a lots of new material to add over the coming months including lots of new photographs and old recordings about miners in Dalmellington and Dailly before the 1st World War. I'll be continually improving the website and I'll be adding a database of mining words and terms. If you have any suggestions about the site please get in touch with me.
February 2011
I've been adding new pages to the Knockshinnoch section of the website. Wullie Lopez was one of the 116 men trapped underground and lost his father in law in the disaster. He recalls the events of that fateful day 60 years ago and speaks of the conditions underground and the relief of the rescue. I'll be updating it weekly with more interviews of men who were underground, the families waiting on the pithead and miners who were involved the mines rescue operation. I could do with some more photographs and press cuttings of the Knockshinnoch disaster, if you have any you think I could use, please contact me. I would like to thank Professor Arthur McIvor and Dr Angela Bartie of the Scottish Oral History Centre at Strathclyde University for the loan of equipment to record and transcribe the interviews. I'd also like to thank Miles Oglethorpe, the Scottish Mining Museum and RCAHMS for permission to use information and data from "Scottish Collieries - An Inventory of the Scottish Coal Industry in the Nationalised era. 2006"
Latest News 11th December 2010
I would like to thank The Mining Institute of Scotland Trust for their recent sponsorship. This enabled me to get a much needed new computer and software to produce the new website. I'd also like to thank Carol Davies, Mark Bailey and the worthy's of the acoustic night at Burrowfields Bar, Ayr for their handsome donation. If you think that Miners Voices is an honest cause worthy of your support and are interested in sponsoring pages on the website or would like to make a donation to the project, please follow this link here.
The Girvan Valley Coalfield
I'm also looking for old photographs/press cuttings etc of the Girvan Valley Coalfield in South Ayrshire and I would like to interview some more of the old timers who worked in the Dailly pits. There a wealth of material about the oldest coalfield in Ayrshire and most of it can be digitalised once I have copyright permissions in place. I've been researching this project for about a 18 months and already have a couple of good interviews and tracked down some very interesting material to use on the website. If you would like to take part in this project or have any material you'd like to share with the wider community, please contact me.
The 1984-85 Miners Strike
I've been quitely working away at this project for a number of years and been in contact with miners in Ayrshire who stayed out for the duration and miners who went back. By publishing their experiences on the internet, I hope that it leads to a better understanding of the strike and the effect that it had on individuals, families and communities. If you would like to support this project please go here
