KELTY Community Centre has received a generous donation from an artist based in the village.

Kevin Bolton Cockburn, who paints under the name Kevin Bolton, donated his painting ‘Don’t Forget the Miners’ which will be hung in the building as a tribute to those who toiled in the pits, and Kelty itself.

He told the Times: “We moved in 16 years ago, and Kelty has been so good to us.

"When I started painting again, I wanted to do something where the community could see what it was.

“It’s a mining community, that mining community is still here and the beautiful people from the mining families are still here and that’s what makes us feel at home in Kelty.”

The painting will be hung in the centre in the next few weeks.

Community councillor, Claire Kirk, commented: “It means so much, it’s showing our heritage and it’s great that he wants to give back to his community.”

Kevin moved here with his partner, David Cockburn, who has supported him throughout his career and helped him to get where he is today.

Originally working with glass as his medium, he took a different route after he was diagnosed with cancer.

Kevin continued: “I started painting as a child, since the day I was born! I went through school and did my art before I went to London, Amsterdam and New York and I came back.

"I was a top glass artist for many years but I took cancer so I went back to painting and made my name again as a professional.

“We’re opening our gallery in Kelty and I’ve also just landed a top London gallery.”

His new space in the village, Gallery 41, is set to open on Fairfield Road. Artwork will range from £50 up to £4,000.

Kevin said he does not sell prints of his work, meaning that every piece is completely original.

He will also be joined by some other well known artists, Carol Gilmore, Ann Maitland and Elizabeth Shepherd, with more to be announced at a later date.

“It’s just taken a lot of work and a lot of hard effort!” Kevin added.