FOLLOWING the series of articles that Esther Clark wrote for the Chronicle, she is hosting a public exhibition on her great grandfather Sanny Sloan.

With the support of Cumnock and Doon Valley Labour Party official, Carol Mochan, the event will be staged on the 75th anniversary of a pivotal miners strike, see page 18.

After a young pit worker refused to do the work of two people unless he was paid accordingly in 1943, he was sacked, leading to industrial action. As it was against the law for miners to withdraw their labour, ringleaders were fined in court ­– among them Sanny, known as the Miners MP.

Now, 75 years later, Esther is showing the world results of months of painstaking research with her columns in the Chronicle scratching the surface of an incredible man’s life.

She said: “I have written what I can remember of my great grandfather Alexander ‘Sanny’ Sloan who died on November 16, 1945 when I was aged three. My personal recollections are that he was always reading. He had two sets of glasses for reading and seeing and one eye was white and did not work.

“He was there when I got up on Saturday morning having arrived late on Friday night. He had lumps of sugar, which he had saved from his train journey from London, in his waistcoat pocket waiting for me.

“He was good fun and played games, using his wisps of hair as a moustache and cracking his knuckles to order.

“My granny, his daughter, did his secretarial work and she looked after me as well. I sat and listened while the visitor talked of personal problem or political issues.”

New Cumnock has been chosen to host the exhibition in the Town Hall on October 3 and 4. It will be open from 3pm - 7pm each day and Esther will be speaking about the remarkable man.