A BENARTY man who was instrumental in remembering the role The Black Diamonds played in making the economy of Fife so strong in the 20th century, has died.

Michael Martin, better known to his friends, family and colleagues as Mick, was founder of the now worldwide acclaimed website on the heritage and history of coal mining in the Kingdom of Fife.

Dunfermline man, Chris Sparling, formerly of Glencraig and Ballingry, was a friend and 'webmaster' colleague of Mick for over 19 years.

Chris relates: "Mick was born in 1939 at Capledrae, between Ballingry and Kinglassie, but the Martin family soon moved to Ballingry Road, Lochore, opposite my grandmother's home.

"Mick was one of 'big boys' in that street and I remember him being a friend of my older cousin, Chris Baird.

"When I eventually re-united with Mick in the Spring of 2000, he told me that due to childhood illnesses, his school education had been severely interrupted.

"He left school in 1953 and became a miner. I know he worked for a spell in Glencraig Colliery and then in Brigghills Colliery, also known as Minto Colliery, at the foot of the Eliza Brae, east of Lochgelly.

"He was a machineman in the Ghost Section, or Diamond Seam at the Minto, but left Fife in 1963 and transferred south to Kellingley Colliery, West Yorkshire, where he worked as a chargeman until 1977 when he retired on the grounds of ill-health.

"Once retired, Mick was shown how to operate a computer and when the internet came along, he searched for information on Fife coal mines where he had worked. Finding nothing, he decided, with help from family, to set up his own website which would be dedicated to the Fife pits. "That was in the 1990s and, in 2000, Mick sought assistance to help expand the website. I replied to Mick's published letter in a Central Fife Times issue in the spring and was welcomed on board. I had some time then to research the local Fife newspapers and was soon sending Word files of information to Mick, in Ferrybridge, Knottingley, West Yorkshire, almost on a daily basis. Mick had the skills to convert my text to the necessary HTML code and within a few hours, my researched material was up on the website for checking! He was a master of coding!

"Mick and I met up face-to-face for the first time in 2001 when he visited Cowdenbeath to mark the 100th anniversary of the Donibristle Pit Disaster.

"The website expanded rapidly and Mick dealt with the increasing number of emails to his mailbox. Many website visitors from New Zealand, Australia and Canada, along with those from Scotland and England, kindly supplied us with images and/or stories of themselves or relatives who had worked in the Fife coal mines."

Added Chris: "A return of a wee bit of ill-health a few years ago resulted in Mick calling on the services of his son, Colin, to handle the steady website enquiries and I began to learn how to code in HTML.

"The interest in Fife mining heritage is so great that parts of the Fife Pits website content were published on a regular basis in the commemorative Bygone series of newspapers, then the Central Fife Times. Mick received permission to have the contents of the Miners' Memorial Book displayed - this carries the names of all the men, women and children killed in Fife's pits and mines. We assisted whenever possible in displays of mining materials and exhibitions.

"Several booklets on history of coal mining and of individual collieries have been produced. Mick's ambition, in addition to historical information and stories from miners and their families, was to have an entry on the website for every Fife pit that ever existed. A tall task but when you visit the website at www.fifepits.co.uk you may think that Mick has achieved his ambition!"

Chris concluded: "Mick Martin, who was a marvellous, very quiet family man, has provided for future generations a superb resource of the Kingdom's coal mining heritage.

"The website expanded rapidly and Mick dealt with the increasing number of emails to his mailbox. Many website visitors from New Zealand, Australia and Canada, along with those from Scotland and England, kindly supplied us with images and/or stories of themselves or relatives who had worked in the Fife coal mines. A return of a wee bit of ill-health a few years ago resulted in Mick calling on the services of his son, Colin, to handle the steady website enquiries and I began to learn how to code in HTML.

"The interest in Fife mining heritage is so great that parts of the Fife Pits website content were published on a regular basis in the commemorative Bygone series of newspapers, then the Central Fife Times. Mick received permission to have the contents of the Miners' Memorial Book displayed - this carries the names of all the men, women and children killed in Fife's pits and mines. We assisted whenever possible in displays of mining materials and exhibitions.

"Mick Martin, who was a marvellous, very quiet family man, has provided for future generations a superb resource of the Kingdom's coal mining heritage.

"Mick passed peacefully in a hospital near his home in Ferrybridge. Our thoughts are with Nan and his family."