Closure prospects in the air

9 May 1964 (contd) -The manager gave the assurance that the equipment was first-class from the pithead to the face. Workings were fully mechanised - coal cut by Anderson Shearers, transported by conveyor to a loading point, and from there by diesel or electric locomotives to the shaft. Its output last year was 300,000 tons. 9 May 1964 - Mr James Kennedy, an Ayrshire man, who came into the Fife coalfield in 1948, was appointed manager of Bowhill Colliery on 26th January last. His knowledge of the workings and geology of the Central Fife coalfield is considerable. 9 May 1964 - The hazards of mining are known in a personal way by Mr Alexander Wallace, Bowhill Group Manager. Only a miracle of surgery prevented his being marked for life by an accident which befell him in the Frances Colliery in 1942. A falling steel strip struck him on the face, slicing off his nose. He was rushed to Kirkcaldy Hospital where his nose was stitched back on with such masterly skill that not even the slightest scar remains to indicate that he ever suffered a facial injury. 1 May 1965 - A mass meeting in Bowhill Institute accepted a resolution that the proposed closure of Bowhill Colliery be withdrawn until alternative industries were brought to the district. The meeting was addressed by three West Fife M.P.s, N.U.M officials, ministers of local churches and businessmen. A telling point in favour of keeping the colliery in production was put by the Chairman of Lochgelly Co-operative Society, Mr David Arthur. Recalling that 1958 had been the Society’s peak year, he pointed out that, in the first six months of that year, sales had been £1,136,939. In the past six months, the sales had been £938,771, a drop of £198,000. 22 May 1965 - Bowhill Colliery, which was to have been one of the key collieries in West Fife, is to be closed. The Scottish Division of the National Coal Board gave its decision this week after a series of consultations with the National Union of Mineworkers. An assurance has been given by the Board that most of the men employed at the pit will be offered work without having to face temporary redundancy. The pit, which was to have employed 3000 miners, was first faced with a closure threat when it was placed three years ago as a Class Board Colliery, and since then problems have multiplied. Geological difficulties have made production of coal more difficult over the years, and instead of the million tons which at one time it was expected would be produced, the amount dropped to around 300,000 tons. The pit has had £3,000,000 spent in modernisation, but the National Coal Board has been losing £750,000 a year.