Restoration proposals will honour the heritage of Glenbuck

The restoration of opencast sites across East Ayrshire is progressing, with works at Spireslack and Ponesk generating some local interest, in particular the former Glenbuck Village, which is incorporated within the boundary of these redundant Scottish Coal opencast mines.

Officers from East Ayrshire Council’s Planning Service recently met with representatives from the Scottish Mines Restoration Trust (SMRT), members of Muirkirk and Glenbuck Community Council, Barbara Alexander, niece of Bill Shankly, and David Higgins on behalf of former Glenbuck resident, Mr Sam Purdie, to discuss the restoration and safety operations on these sites.

The meeting also considered how the restoration projects could be used to provide a lasting celebration and memorial to the village and former residents of Glenbuck, Bill Shankly OBE, former Manager of Liverpool FC and the Glenbuck Cherrypickers - including the 54 professional footballer players who came from the village.

David McDowall, Operations Manager Building Standards and Development Management said:

“The meeting was both positive and encouraging with many good ideas being brought forward on how the footprint of the former village of Glenbuck could be identified to provide a historical context for visitors, including specific proposals to honour those men and women who lost their lives in mining disasters in the locality.”

It was also proposed that, as a tribute to Bill Shankly OBE, works should be undertaken to include the relocation within the former village of the existing memorial stone along with the provision of signage detailing the location of key buildings including that of the Shankly family home, and also the football pitch where the Glenbuck Cherrypickers played.

Proposals will also be brought forward to pay a tribute to the Glenbuck footballers - many of whom went on to play professional football in Scotland and England.

The restoration projects at Ponesk and Spireslack are due to be concluded during September 2018. It is anticipated that the projects to formally mark the village and its residents will be concluded before 3 September 2019, the 106^th Anniversary of Bill Shankly’s birth.

Barbara Alexander, the niece of Bill Shankly, stated that she was “delighted with the very successful meeting and was pleased to see progress on the projects and how they could be developed.”

SMRT advised that they “were delighted to be represented and in due course look forward to implementing the various action points agreed. Community consultation remains key in all of their projects and will continue to form an essential component in developing a satisfactory outcome for their various properties.”

Further discussions of the detailed actions to deliver these projects will be discussed at the next Community Liaison Meeting scheduled for August 2018.