A CAMPAIGN group which is fighting to preserve the heritage of Glenbuck are down but not out.

Their bid to prevent the very name Glenbuck disappearing completely was dealt a blow when a funding application failed.

The Scottish Mines Restoration Trust (SMRT) had tried in vain to get a Heritage Lottery Grant, but the battle goes on.

Sam Purdie, who is a native of the former mining village, has produced a document called Glenbuck: A Fading Page which states the case.

He said: “We have had to start again in a bid to stop the complete disappearance of the name Glenbuck.

“We met MP Alan Brown last week and MSP Jeane Freeman in Cumnock on February 26.

“Meantime I have written to The Great Steward of Scotland asking for his advice. No reply so far.

“The good news is that the Cherrypickers Football Academy youth teams are flourishing under the aegis of Robert Gillen in Douglas.”

A small group have been trying, unsuccessfully, to have access to the village restored and some basic action to acknowledge its existence — and the fact that a community once lived there.

But the current landowner, Mines Restoration Limited, are publicly funded to only carry out remedial work on abandoned mining sites.

So it is back to the drawing board, but Sam and his colleagues are determined that such an important part of industrial heritage, not just East Ayrshire’s but Scotland’s.

“There is an irony in the fact that I must now plead the case of the heritage of an Ayrshire village which played a significant role in the Industrial Revolution.

“There were three factors — a ready supply of raw materials; widespread application of innovation and a plentiful supply of flexible labour.

“Glenbuck provided all three for more than 100 years and yet, has not only geographically disappeared, but is in imminent danger of completely being eradicated from the pages of history,” he added.

Those in the group who, like Sam, were born in Glenbuck, have first-hand knowledge of the thriving community that existed before its disappearance.

But as he said: “We are now reaching a degree of maturity which strictly time-limits over future contributions. The time for recording our experience is now or never.”

They want an information centre located in the village as well as basic preservation steps taken at sites of historical significance.

These include the famous Burnside Park football pitch, the mysterious Rocking Stone as well as 1,000 years of coal mining.