The Monument itself was transported from Fife to High Blantyre Cross and lifted into place and secured without any fuss, then immediately covered up. The day for the unveiling was fixed for Sunday the 23rd of October 1977 at 2 p.m, a day after the actual centenary.
On the day of the unveiling, crowds quickly gathered that afternoon. Local Clergy opened the ceremony with inter-denominational prayers of dedication. The thousand or so people who had gathered, a few hundred of them miners, heard Mick McGahey, Scottish President of the N.U.M. and others, including local M.P. Maurice Millar and Strathclyde Regional Convener Geoff Shaw make speeches. Various organisations, including the Scouts, Brownies and Guides were present.
Then the crowd watched the Under-Secretary for Energy Mr Alexander Eadie M.P. unveil the Monument, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the terrible explosion which ripped through pits number two and three of Dixon’s Colliery on the morning of Monday the 22nd of October 1877, killing 215 men and boys. Afterwards, everybody was invited to walk in a parade down to Blantyre Miners Welfare, where there were speeches, exhibitions and a film show.
The Memorial remains a focal point in High Blantyre, the whorl on top incidentally came from a Scottish colliery. In the poetic words of Robert Sim, “A lump of coal is what portrays, a tribute to men of bygone days
Pictured: the large crowd encircle the monument to hear the speeches and to watch the unveiling.
