jan-13 - Lochwinnoch Online

Some of us attended the 10th yearcelebrations of Mary's Meals inGlasgow (along with about 1000other people!) In those ten yearsthey have grown so much that now750,000 children are given breakfastat school every day . This ensuresthat the children get at least onegood meal daily, as well as aneducation. They work in 16 countriesand food is purchased locally therebyhelping the local economies. A verygood video film Child 31, describingthe work of Mary's Meals, has beenproduced and we will be showing itin Lochwinnoch soon.We will be having our AGM on the6th Feb. in the Library meeting roomat 7.00 pm and if anyone wants tofind out our work and all the projectswe have supported then please comealong.Any more information needed? Justget in touch LIA c/o 29 High St.Lochwinnoch 843 099Muirshiel Mine MemoriesThe barytes mine high at the head ofthe wild Calder glen in the remotehills above Lochwinnoch will foreverbe a personal place of pilgrimage forme.I first got to know the longabandonedquarry when I worked asa countryside ranger at MuirshielCountry Park two miles down thelonely moorland track accessing themine. The awesome gorge, with itsdesolate, lunar-like landscape,exerted a powerful pull when I firstsaw it nearly 30 years ago. It stilldoes and always will.Its melancholic magnetism draws meback, especially on anniversaries ofthe deaths of some of the courageousminers who toiled 600 feet below theground, along with colleaguesworking on the surface wheredilapidated engine sheds, mineralwashing ponds, rusty rail tracks,dust-covered wagon wheels andgrinding machinery can still be seen.Barytes is a pink-coloured stonewhose powder was used for bariummeal X-rays and in the paint,cosmetic, photographic and oildrillingindustries. It was extractedfrom the ground at Muirshiel foraround two centuries and was one ofthe most prolific mines of its type inScotland.Work finished forever in September,1969, when the lights were finallyswitched off and the last lorriesloaded with miners and their barytescargoes trundled five miles backdown the track and Calder GlenRoad to Lochwinnoch Cross whichwas the workers' pick-off and dropoffpoints for many decades.During my visits to the old mine Iwas always aware of thesupernatural shadows of miners,diggers, pickmen, millers, labourersand truck-drivers employed at themine while it was in production.Grey clouds of swirling mistfrequently shrouded the precipitousabyss with its rocky scree, mossmantledboulders, derelict sheds,mouldering stone bothies and weedcoveredrinsing pools.It was easy to visualise minersarriving at the quarry at break ofdawn and disembarking from lorriesto start their daily routine. Iremembered how their helmetlamps shone eerily in the darknessand how mineral-laden trucksclattered along electricity-lit tracksdeep below the ground.Access to the mines was by lifts andladders which dropped hundreds offeet from one galleried-level to thenext. Sometimes I imagined I heardthe phantom ring of picks, shovels,spades and hammers batteringagainst subterranean rocks toextricate the barytes. Sad memoriesof men who died in that remoterealm frequently came to mind. Iremembered people like John Dale,who was killed in an engine roomexplosion, and Eric McQuade whodied from injuries sustainedfollowing an accident with a deadlydetonator.I had the privilege of meetingmembers of John's and Eric'sfamilies who told me their loved19ones' stories.Other casualties included aLochwinnoch villager who survivedthe Arnhem parachute landingsduring the Second World War butlost his life in an accident at themine. Another tragic victim wasfatally entangled in lift-windingequipment.Two more were crushed to deathwhen their lorry overturned on thesnow-covered track betweenMuirshiel and the mines thenplunging into the Calder glen. Theheroism of Doctor Waterson andPolice Constable John Campbelltrying to save them is still recalled byolder Lochwinnoch residents.I never forgot that all these braveminers were someone's father, son,brother, uncle, cousin or nephew.In reverential silence and solitude, Ipaid tribute to them amidst therocks and clefts which were theirworkplaces and, all too frequently,where they perished.I am proud to have been a very smallpart of their gallant story and to haveinformed park visitors of theirsacrifices and hardships. FromMuirshiel quarry on Lochwinnoch'slonely moors, where their spirits stilllinger, the barytes miners' voicesecho down through the ages. Theyalways will.WARNING: Muirshiel Mine is nowunstable and dangerous. It mustonly be viewed from a very safedistance.Derek ParkerDerek Parker worked as acountryside ranger at ClydeMuirshiel Regional Park from 1985till 1999