Hit
THIS FORTNIGHT'S BEST EVENTS
3|! Glasgow on Ice A chance to perfect your pirouettes as George Square's open air ice rink returns. George Square, until Sun 24 Dec.
#3 IKEA Winter Festival Celebrate the festive season with children's activities. Swedish food, a pantomime and the Christmas Wishing Tree. The Edinburgh store will also have an ice rink and farmers' and continental markets. IKEA Glasgow 8 IKEA Edinburgh, until Sun 7 7 Dec.
* Magnetic Lights: A Guide to the Aurora Learn how to see the Northern Lights, and construct an instrument to show its effects on the Earth’s magnetic field. Royal Observatory Visitor Centre, Edinburgh, Mon 4 Dec.
* City Lights Twinkle, twinkle little bulb: a dour city comes to life with lights, as the Christmas decorations are switched on. For venues and times see www.edinburghschristmas.com. Edinburgh, until Wed 6 Dec.
* German Christmas Markets Stave off the cold with copious amounts of glt‘ihwein. bratwurst and stollen cake. then browse stalls selling food, drink, crafts and toys. St Enoch Square, Glasgow, until Sat 23 Dec 8 Mound Square, Edinburgh, until Sun 24 Dec.
What sIn
Life ‘ coal fac
The now-defunct Lady Victoria Colliery is home to the Scottish Mining Museum, a tribute to a once-great industry. Robin Lee mines its history.
here's a yellow canary called Bev that lives in a well-appointed cage at the Scottish Mining Museum. He’s been there the years. and is
named in honour of lirnest Bevin. Minister lor Labour
during World War ll. Bevin‘s the one who decided that ltl’i ot‘ all new conscripts had to work down the mines — Bevin Boys — to replace skilled miners who had gone to war. Bey the canary is lucky: il‘ he‘d been around when the Lady Victoria (‘olliery in Newtongrange was operational. bel'ore l‘)Sl. his life expectancy might have been a lot shorter.
There are no deep coal mines left in Scotland.
Longannet. the last to close in 2002. ended the era of
Scotland's 'black diamonds‘. With the death ol‘ the industry came an uncertain l‘uture for the communities wedded to the pits. 'I‘hankl‘ully (and unlike other. less fortunate coal mining sites) Newtongrange retains a community character. with neat rows ol’ red-brick terraces built in the l‘)2()s l'or mineworkers. and an annual brass band competition.
John Kane started work at the Lady Victoria aged l5. and now he’s a voluble ex-miner in late middle age. Leading me down through the ‘coal road~ to the museum's recreation of the coal face. his stories evoke the age when you were born into a job and could expect to retire from that same job. He talks of the old days. when each man (women. children and boys under It) were banned from going underground in 1842) tended to a (i-yard section. and the recent past. when mechanisation boosted productivity.
At the coal lace sits one of the modern coal cutters. a great drum studded with gruesome l‘angs and backed by a root jack that looks like the machine-age update ot‘ a
classical colonnade. Wearing a helmet. ear defenders and a battery" (it’s actually an audio guide that plays into the ear defenders). it's easy to imagine the bustle and buzz ot‘ harvesting the earth‘s resources »- a romantic notion that‘s leavened by the grimy. gap— toothed smiles ot’ miners past in the museum‘s exhibition rooms.
The Story afford. and the story ol‘ its people. A Rare Apart. trace a route from the swamps and dinosaurs ol ancient coal creation. to the final closure in Scotland. Miners were practically slaves from lbtlb. when they were tied to their pits. and were only released from bondage in 179‘). As well as death. disease and serious injury. pit workers had to put up with more mundane dangers like having rats steal their lunches.
Working conditions and well‘are only really improved in the second hall of the 19th century. alter a Royal (‘ommission report. and an ex-miner l'rom Lanarkshire. Keir llardie. became the first MP of the Labour movement —- which grew out ot’ coal ~- in ISO]. Production hit a peak of 43 million tons of coal in l‘)l3. but was knocked by World War I. Alter recovery. the mines were nationalised and a plethora ot‘ new. modern pits and 'super-pits’ were sunk in the optimism ol‘ the 1950s. Yet it was lolly: oil and nuclear power made inroads. heavy industry declined. and the pits tailed to deliver on the investment. The end was in sight.
The Scottish Mining Museum, Newtongrange, Midlothian is open daily, 10am-4pm (until 5pm Mar-Oct). See www.5cottishminingmuseum.com for details. Lothian buses 3A and 29 and First buses X81, 86, 86A, X95 go to Newtongrange.
.«tt: No. L: lie-r Akita THE LIST 27