Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Appeal for help to repair memorial to eight men killed in Fife mining disaster

Mr McArthur next to the cairn he built.
Mr McArthur next to the cairn he built.

An appeal has been launched to refurbish a memorial to eight men killed in one of the region’s worst mining disasters before its 120th anniversary next year.

A plaque bearing the names of those who died in the Donibristle disaster was erected in their honour 24 years ago but much of the wording is no longer legible.

Donald McArthur, who created the cairn on which the plaque stands, is appealing for help to raise enough money to have the memorial regilded.

The 65-year-old Cowdenbeath man’s great-grandfather James McDonald was one of those killed in the Donibristle Colliery’s Mynheer seam in August 1901, when it was flooded by thousands of tonnes of moss and water, trapping many men underground.

It sparked one of the most daring rescue missions ever carried out by the close knit mining community.

Despite the heroic efforts of all involved, the disaster claimed the lives of miners William Forsyth, George Hutchison, David Campbell and Alexander Smith and the rescue party which went underground in a vain bid to find the trapped men, William Hynd, Thomas Rattray, Andrew Paterson and Mr McDonald.

Mr McArthur’s cairn was built on the outskirts of Cowdenbeath, a mile south of the colliery at Mossmorran Moor, and a poignant ceremony was held there in 2001 to mark the incident’s centenary.

He would like to see it refurbished to its original condition in honour of those who died but has had trouble applying for the necessary funds.

“The difficulty I face is that I am not an organisation or registered charity, I am a descendant of one of the men who died and is named on the memorial.

“Our local community council cannot provide funds for someone in my position and I am unable to approach trusts and other organisations for the same reasons.

“The gilding on the memorial has deteriorated to the extent that anybody who wants to research local history will find around 40% of it is unreadable.”

Mr McArthur has been quoted between £500 and £600 to bring the plaque back up to scratch by Co-op Memorial Services in Dunfermline.

Given he has been unable to apply for funding as an individual, he hopes to find an organisation willing to take the project on in time for next year’s anniversary.

“I think there must be a group out there interested in returning the cairn back to good condition.”

Anyone who thinks they can help can contact Mr McArthur by email at ddmcarthur@btinternet.com.