ABE and Alex Moffat (pictured) were born into a mining family in Lumphinnans and with their brothers entered the mining industry.

In our centrespread feature in the Times this week we look at how Lumphinnans developed through the mining industry.

The name Moffat was to become legend throughout the Fife, then Scottish, and ultimately the British mining industry.

The Moffat brothers were reported to be in the thick of every struggle to defend and improve the conditions of the miners and their families. Abe Moffat was Scottish Miners' President from 1942 to 1961, the first Fife man to become president of the National Union of Mineworkers. Prior to his appointment Abe was a workman's pit inspector at Lumphinnans Colliery.

He died in March 1975 at the age of 78.

Alex Moffat entered the pits at the age of 14, and throughout his life, he prominently identified himself with the trade union movement.

In 1929, in his mid-twenties, he was vice-president of Fife Miners' Union, and even earlier, at the age of 18, he had been the youngest-ever pit delegate in the county, representing Lumphinnans No. XI Colliery.

Alex had been vice-president of the Scottish N.U.M. for ten years, and in 1960 he unsuccessfully challenged for the national presidency.

However, in September 1961, he was appointed president of the Scottish Area of the N.U.M. in succession to his brother, Abe Moffat, who had held the presidency for 19 years.

Mr Alex Moffat died in September 1967 at the age of 63.