Fundraising concert to support Fife coal mining attraction campaign

Save the Cage is presenting a concert at the Lochore Miners' Institute on Sunday August 20

By Michael Alexander

August 15 2023, 2:00pm

Iain Chalmers (front left) with Watty Watson, committee member of Save the Cage and ex colliery official (front right) along with Ian Lang, Lochore Meadows Country Park manager, and Nicola Moss, the curator at the National Mining Museum of Scotland. They are pictured at the National Mining Museum of Scotland to identify those pieces of mining equipment they would like displayed around the Mary Colliery head frame at Lochore. Image: Iain Chalmers

A fundraising concert is being held to support an interactive coal mining attraction campaign in Fife.

Save the Cage is presenting the musical event at the Lochore Miners’ Institute from 2pm to 6pm on Sunday August 20.

It will feature the musical talents of Ray Kelly and her Bad Boys’, Kinrick, The Hershaws, Christine Kyle, Hokey Pokey, Fiona Forbes, Black Sails and Sairbanes.

Where can tickets be obtained?

Tickets, priced £5 each, are available from Benarty community shop, Lochore Institute bar, the Polish Club and direct from Save the Cage.

Save the Cage is fundraising to bring heavy mining equipment from the Nation Mining Museum of Scotland at Newtongrange to Fife.

Save the Cage concert poster. Image: Iain Chalmers

Iain (Robert) Chalmers, chairperson of Save the Cage said: “We have the full support of Fife Council and the NMMS for this project.

“The projected costs based on all the necessary quotes will be £45,000.

“We will be approaching several bodies to request financial assistance to raise this amount.

“However a good friend and committee member George Mackie who is well known in the Scottish folk scene has organised a concert to be held on August 20.

“This will be the third one he has organised on our behalf to raise funds.

Plans to create an interactive mining heritage attraction using heavy mining machinery around the Mary Pit Head winding tower at Lochore Meadows Country Park in Fife have taken a huge step forward with backing of National Mining Museum Scotland. L-R Ian Laing, park manager, Andrew Watson (Save the Cage c/tee), David Seath chair of Nat Mining Museum Collections Trust, David Menzies and Ann Mitchell (Save the Cage c/tee), Nicola Moss (Nat Mining Museum Curator) & Iain Chalmers. Image: DC Thomson

“Performing will be the cream of the Fife folk and trad music genre.”

Celebrating legacy of the Fife Coalfield

In its heyday, the Fife Coalfield was one of the most active areas in Scotland.

At its peak, over 50 collieries were in operation at various times between the middle of the 19th century and the industry’s demise with the closure of the last pit in 1988.

Today, there are very few visible signs of the world that existed beneath the kingdom.

However, as previously reported by The Courier, Iain, who has a long time interest in industrial history, is at the forefront of a campaign to create an interactive mining experience that will give visitors to Lochore Meadows Country Park a sense of life at the coalface.

A scene from bygone days as miners leave work at the Seafield Colliery, Kirkcaldy.

Scotland’s National Mining Museum, with support from Fife Council, has given its formal backing to the project as well as agreeing to supply various industrial items from its vast collection.

The attraction will include wagons, a coal cutter, buckets and even a lift cage and is to be set around the imposing Mary Pit Head winding tower at the Meedies.

The project came about when Iain discovered a miner’s lift cage in a rail yard in Leven back in 2019.

A ‘Save the Cage’ group was initially set up to see the cage restored.

However, the group’s ambitions quickly grew, developing into a campaign for the introduction of an interactive mining attraction.