Bowhill Colliery as nationalisation brings changes

In his penultimate contribution on events at Bowhill Colliery, mining enthusiast, Chris Sparling, reports on the N.C.B. era from 1947 to summer 1956

The National Coal Board flag was unveiled at Bowhill Colliery by Mr John Herd and Adam Drummond, the oldest working miner and the youngest boy, respectively, at the pit.

11 Jan 1947 - While in No. 2 Pit, John Mitchell, Jamphlars, sustained a compound fracture of the thigh. He was conveyed to hospital at Bridge of Earn. 1 Feb 1947 - Struck by a stone which fell from the roof in the East Diamond Section of No. 1 Pit, David McDonald (25), chock drawer, 9 Nineteenth Street, sustained a skull fracture, to which he succumbed almost immediately. John Ormiston, well-known in Fife junior football circles, and right-half of Bowhill Rovers, who was working with him at the time, received leg injuries. 1 Feb 1947 - George Duncan (51), packer, 48 Denfield Drive, Dundonald, was found dead at his working place in No. 1 Pit. 20 Mar 1948 - Bowhill Colliery ambulance team scored a victory at Dunfermline when they won the Miners’ Welfare Trophy from an entry of ten teams. The trophy was handed over at a social meeting held in Dunfermline Co-operative Society tea rooms by Mr Steel, Divisional Inspector of Mines, to Mr Robert Inglis, team captain. The members of Bowhill team were: - Robert Inglis, John Johnstone, David Anderson, William Young, James Meek, and Allan Hutt (reserve). 4 Sep 1949 - Mr Thomas Welsh, a native of the district and a former undermanager, under the late Robert Muir, has died in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Mr Welsh, 3 Burns Crescent, Harthill, was well-known in Lochgelly and Cowdenbeath as well as in Cardenden. 11 Feb 1950 - A large scheme of both surface and underground reconstruction was being carried out to increase the output from 1250 to 1600 tons per day by the end of 1952 or the beginning of 1953. 8 Jul 1950 - The final of the N.C.B. Central Sub-Area shot-firing competition was held at Lochgelly Workshops, when 12 finalists took part. The finalists qualified from an entry of 250 competitors drawn from collieries between Wellwood and Kinglassie. The competition was organised by Mr H. G. McGuire, sub-area safety and training officer, who was complimented on his realistic surface production of a double unit coal face section, having all the underground conditions. The adjudicators were Mr John Millar, planning engineer, and Mr Wm. Gemmell, training centre manager. They selected the winners as follows:- 1 Peter Orr, Lumphinnans No. XI Colliery; 2 Wm. Young, Bowhill Colliery; 3 John Robertson, Glencraig Colliery. Mr Gemmell complimented the men on the high standard attained. It had been a difficult task to select the winners as the highest mark was 97 and the lowest 75. 26 Aug 1950 - The second annual shot-firing competition of the Fife and Clackmannan area of the N.C.B. was conducted at Mossbeath Training Centre, Cowdenbeath, when nine competitors, out of an original entry of 300, contested the final stage. The winners were:- 1 Wm. Young, Bowhill, 161½ pts; 2 P. Orr, Lumphinnans No. XI Colliery, 152½ pts; 3 A. Crawford, Frances Colliery, Dysart, 147½ pts. Mr L. R. Milligan, area production manager, presided at the presentation of prizes which was made by Mr H. R. Houston, H.M. Divisional Inspector of Mines for Scotland. 4 Nov 1950 - How a healthy 26-year-old miner died of acute heart failure while working underground on 31st August was left unexplained after an inquiry before Sheriff Hamilton and a jury at Dunfermline Sheriff Court. The jury returned a formal verdict that John Boyd Gray, 30 Thirteenth Street, died of acute heart failure and pulmonary congestion, adding that there was not sufficient evidence to say what the cause of death was. 29 Dec 1951 - The West Fife area is scheduled for one of the major sinkings which the N.C.B. have planned for Scotland. The project involves the sinking of a new shaft at Bowhill Colliery, and the scheme will take the place of the proposed new sinking at Westfield. The new shaft has a designed output of over 3000 tons per day, and will be winding coal from two locomotive haulage roads driven at different levels toward the deep coal seams lying between the present Bowhill workings and the Ochil Fault to the north. Output from the new shaft will be handled together with the output from the existing fitting. The surface equipment will be completely reorganised for this purpose.