Blairhall mining mosaics given new lease of life

Kincardine man George Stewart, who used to live in the village, is a regular visitor to the memorial in Blairhall and, after seeing two designs suffering from damage, spearheaded a campaign to fix them.

After appealing for donations – and receiving some funding from the West Fife Retired Miners branch and the Scottish Miners Welfare Trust – George enlisted the help of Kincardine-based mosaicist Margaret Simpson who spent hours replacing tiles and revamping the 20-year-old designs.

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George was delighted to see the pieces restored.

"I visit Blairhall regularly and always spend some time in the memorial garden," he said.

"I thought it was a pity that such lovely mosaics had been weather damaged and might eventually be lost.

"I wanted to try to have them restored as they add something special to the garden. Now that they are restored as they were 20 years ago, our heritage is safe for some time yet.”

Margaret added: "I was more than happy to help George get the mosaics restored, it certainly presented a few challenges but to see the memorial garden the way it is now made it so worthwhile.

"It is a lovely area for reflection within the village."

The village memorial includes two commemorative plaques and a total of four circular mosaics which capture various aspects of the mining industry.

These include a canary, which helped protect miners from underground toxic gas; a Davy Lamp used to detect explosive methane; a pick and shovel that were the tools of the miners’ trade and a pit helmet and lamp that were essential down the pit.

The four mosaic images were chosen from a larger number of ideas produced by the children of Blairhall Primary School.