A NEW history project will share the story of Cowdenbeath’s Gala through the decades with the world for the first time.

Thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund Scotland, old photos and home videos will be brought together as the town takes a walk down memory lane, creating a new online archive.

Local development group ‘My Cowdenbeath’ have launched the project and hope locals will get involved as volunteers or by lending them photos and videos of past events.

Whether you were a former Gala Queen, Princess or Citizen of the Year, or maybe you walked with your sports group or sat on a decorated float – the group would love to hear from you.

Through research conducted by the group and the images, which will be scanned and digitally catalogued, the archive will form part of a new website for Cowdenbeath Civic Week, which will go live later in the year.

The project, which has the support of today’s Civic Week committee, was the idea of local activist and My Cowdenbeath director, Stuart Duffy, who was inspired into action after the success of the Broad Street Centre Memories nostalgia page on Facebook.

“Back in 2017 when we discovered the thousands of photos taken by Kenny Aitken at Broad Street Centre and put them online for people to look back at all the great activities at the centre, we were blown away by the response from local folk – everybody seemed to love going through all those old photos and it helped people connect with friends they maybe hadn’t seen in years," Stuart told the Times.

“When I was researching who our Citizens of the Year and Gala Queens had been in Cowdenbeath, I realised there wasn’t any list easily available and there didn’t seem to be a historical record of the Gala, Civic Week or how the events have evolved from the old Miners Gala and Co-op ‘Store Treat’ years ago.

"So this project is really a nod to our history, putting all these old Gala photos that we have online and inviting the folk in the town to add their photos or videos into a proper archive for generations to come.”

“Whether it was a gird race or the surprise contents of your gala bag, we’ve all got memories of the Gala.

"These celebrations of community life through the decades have meant so much to the people of our town but if we don’t record it somehow, it can easily be lost.

“It’s also about celebrating that community spirit we all talk about too, such as the efforts of people like Mary Maxwell, Jack Allan or Alex Haddow who kept the Gala going for years.

"We can see from other towns and villages that times are changing and we don’t don’t know how long events like gala days will last, so we think its about time we celebrated what they mean to places like Cowdenbeath.”

Fellow My Cowdenbeath directors, Liz Rae and Vicky Kinloch, are pictured with some examples of the photos held in storage by the late Kenny Aitken, the former community worker who captured thousands of pictures in the town in the 80’s and 90’s.

They will be involved in researching the origins of the Gala and pulling together all the material from library archives and local people.

Stuart explained there are lots of ways for people to get involved, and they're happy to receive old photos and videos. 

He said: "We’ll scan them, catalogue them all and then give them back so there’s no risk to losing your pictures!

"We’re also looking for volunteers who’d like to get involved in the group too – if you have some time available in the evening or at weekends over the next three months, we’d love to welcome you onboard – just check out the post on our social media or at https://mycowdenbeath.scot."