Eddie Robertson, aged 95 and one of two remaining survivors of the Knockshinnoch mining disaster of 1950, shares his story with ET.
JT: Tell us about your background.
ER: I was born and raised in New Cumnock in Ayrshire. My mother was an important influence in my spiritual life, and I grew up going to church. The church building used to be in the Connell Park area of New Cumnock, just a stone's throw from the Knockshinnoch coal pit.
I was 14 years old when I first put my trust in the Lord Jesus. That was about 80 years ago, and all the time since then he has been good to me. Yes, I've had my ups and downs, but the Lord has always been with me and seen me through.
JT: Tell us about your work as a miner.
ER: It was back in the mid-1940s when I was about 15 years old that I started working at the mine. I did various jobs, including at the pit head, the pit bottom, and the coal face. I also drove the mine railway locomotive that hauled the carts. It was dangerous work – at one time a miner was killed by a runaway cart. Cave-ins in the mine passageways also happened from time to time. But we got used to it. 'Health and safety' was very different back then, but we knew we had to watch what we were doing.
On 7 September 1950, miners at Knockshinnoch pit were digging an upward-sloping passage towards the surface. At approximately 7:30 p.m., a vast volume of peat and moss, sodden due to recent rainfall and equal in size to a football pitch, collapsed down into the passageway. Sludge flooded parts of the mine. 13 miners perished immediately and 116 other men remained trapped underground.
JT: Take us back to the evening of 7 September 1950 – what do you remember?
