Silent pithead spelled disaster

0 - 0 • Published 23 Oct 2008 12:30

IT was the unnerving silence descending over New Cumnock which let John Shankland know all was not well.

Making his way to the coal depot, where he was in charge, he realised there were no men exchanging banter, none of the usual hustle and bustle as they prepared themselves for another shift.

For at the colliery site the full shock of the disaster was taking its toll and as dawn broke the men on the surface knew miners were still trapped.

John recalled: 'It was quiet, very, very quiet. The pit was silent, no men were there.'

Unfortunately in times of trouble life has to go on and for John - who had known some of the men all his life - that meant another day"s work selling coal to the merchants.

But by nightfall he was at the crater which had once been the fields at the bank pit, trying to stem the flow of mud which was threatening lives. 'Everything was put in,' he said 'Bales of hay and straw, anything to try and jam it.'

New Cumnock was a sombre place for those three long, long days.

'Miners worked all week for their Friday and Saturday nights when they would go out and enjoy themselves and have a pint.

'That was done away with for a while. They still had their drink but everything was quiet,' John, now 89, continues.

The men down the pits did a dangerous job, under pressure, working long tiring hours, relying on the wit of others to make sure they returned to their wives and children come the end of the shift. And John knows they always appreciated that.

'Disaster is part of a miner"s life. They know the dangers and it is always on their mind. There is shock at the time but they have to move on. However the memory always lingers and that is what binds them so strongly together. They never know when something like this will happen again.'

He continues: 'The men had no choice but to go and work in the collieries, unless you had a bit more upstairs!

'I have heard it said that men didn"t want to burrow like moles but there was nothing else.'

There is an old saying that out of everything bad comes something good. Maybe in this case, just maybe, it is true as John testifies: 'People who had fallen out and weren"t talking before Knockshinnoch were talking after it. Everyone just rallied round and did what they could.'

Living and working in collieries for most of his adult life John knows that despite the hardship that came with it, the heartache of losing friends, brothers, sons and husbands, it was the industry which fed New Cumnock.

Miners lived and died to put bread on the table.

Maybe that is what will be remembered fifty years on when many visitors will stop for a peaceful minute at the Cairn built in the memory of those who perished.

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This article appeared in Cumnock Chronicle 23 Oct 08

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