By Bruce Fegen

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Glenrothes.

The former new town celebrates its 60th anniversary today, although few, if any, think of Fife’s well-established administrative centre with a population in excess of 40,000 as new these days.

But that’s exactly what it was when it was born six decades ago to house thousands of miners from Lanarkshire brought in to win coal from the new Rothes Colliery nearby, and its early years were anything but trouble-free.

Glenrothes—the name was chosen ahead of Westwood after a split vote—was unlike other new towns set up before and after the second world war to relieve pressure on cities. It was never intended to become a major town.

Originally, it was planned to consist only of Woodside and Auchmuty and it took a determined campaign that saw deputations go to the House of Commons before the decision was changed and Glenrothes was allowed to grow apace.

Although mining was not its only reason for being, the fledgling community’s very existence was threatened when the Rothes pit, opened by the Queen in 1958, shut down just a few years later due to a combination of flooding and geological faults.

With its lifeblood cut off, Glenrothes quickly had to reinvent itself or die. Fortunately, there was a ready willingness to diversify and there were saviours on the horizon in the shape of the timely granting of development area status and the fast-growing electronics industry.

The town’s far-sighted Development Corporation decided inward investment was where the future lay and turned its attention to the growing demand for all things electronic.

Advance factories were built and former miners retrained and within a few short years American companies such as Hughes Microelectronics, Burroughs and Beckman Instruments were operating in the town.

By the 1970s, Glenrothes had the biggest concentration of US electronic and microelectronic firms of any town in Europe and has long been regarded as the hub of Scotland’s Silicon Glen.

Other operations such as light engineering firms and service organisations set up shop to serve the industry, the huge Kingdom Centre shopping mall was built and Glenrothes has become, or is about to become, home to many of the major retail concerns.

Fife’s largest employer, the local authority, has been centred in the town for many years and, just like Topsy, Glenrothes has continued to grow.

True, as the economic climate has ebbed and flowed over the years, so has the town’s fortunes and no-one would pretend everything in the garden is rosy.

Just like any big town, Glenrothes has its share of problems, such as unemployment, crime and youth disorder. Much of the local authority housing is based in precincts, which were ahead of the curve at the time but quickly became concrete jungles. However, much is being done to improve things and the town boasts some top quality private housing.

Shopaholics from all over Fife are attracted to the Kingdom Centre—with its free parking— and the old argument that the town had no heart was well and truly thrown out with the building of the impressive £8m Rothes Halls some years ago.

Then there are the parks, the public works of art dotted throughout the town and hundreds of miles of footpaths and cycleways to enjoy.

The once modern Fife Institute of Physical and Recreational Education, a jewel in Glenrothes’ crown when it was first opened, may be past its sell by date but it is being replaced with a superb new complex.

Mark Twainsaid ‘the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated’ after his obituary was mistakenly published in a New York paper. The same could almost be said for Glenrothes. It suffered when the Rothes Pit closed but adapted to survive and is now a thriving, bustling community in robust health.

Indeed, the new town is maturing nicely and is more like 60 years young as it celebrates its diamond anniversary.

Pictured: Fife Council headquarters in Glenrothes.