TRTD Exhibition | The Road to Drumleman

Alex McKinven, former Argyll Colliery worker. Photo: Jan Nimmo ©

The Road to Drumleman, an exhibition celebrating Kintyre’s coal Mining Heritage was held at Glen Scotia Distillery in April 2017. This year is the 50th anniversary of Argyll Colliery, Kintyre’s last coal mine.

The exhibition was the gathering together of information and images, which started in October 2016 with drop-in sessions at Campbeltown Library. The information here on the archive/blog was digested into a slideshow of almost 400 slides which can be seen here as a PDF – it may take a wee while to load so please be patient.

Robert Martin. Cross stitch embroidery portrait by Karen Forbes (née Hunter). Courtesy of Nanette Campbell ©

The project took former miners and coal mining into locals schools and the result of these creative workshops with artist, Jan Nimmo, at Dalintober and Drumlemble primary schools was shown at the exhibition in the form of colourful mining-themed bunting which was reminiscent of Miners’ Gala Days in Kintyre. Campbeltown Grammar School also worked with Jan to recreate a trade union banner for Argyll Colliery which was also prominently displayed at the exhibition.

Argyll Colliery Trade Union banner recreated by 3rd year art pupils at Campbeltown Grammar School, with artist, Jan Nimmo. Photo: Jan Nimmo ©

The final component to the exhibition was a series of large framed pencil drawings made by Jan Nimmo. Jan’s father, Neil, was a shot-firer at Argyll Colliery and it was he that inspired her to make the documentary The Road to Drumleman and to continue to explore Kintyre’s coal mining past through this current project with SKDT.

Portrait of Neil Nimmo, shot-firer at Argyll Colliery. Drawing by Jan Nimmo ©

Part of the project was to give a framed print of the drawings to either the subjects or their families. You can view photos of the exhibition and some of those who attended here.

Willie McMillan, former Argyll Colliery worker with artist, Jan Nimmo. Photo: Paul Barham ©

We would like to thank everyone who has supported to the project to date and to all of you who came along. A special thanks also to our hosts at Glen Scotia Distillery who worked hard to make the Kiln Room an excellent venue.

Here is an article published about the exhibition and project in the Sunday Herald

There is a forthcoming opportunity to view the trade union banner and the slideshow presentation, including the drawings, at Campbeltown Museum, who will set this up alongside a related display of their own artefacts. This will run from mid-May till the end of August.

The project will end with a community celebration/screening at the beginning of September at Machrihanish so look out for further information here on the blog or the Facebook page for details of that.

In the meantime we are still looking for any information, photos or stories you may have for the archive/blog so please feel free to contact us.

Jim Kelly, and Margaret Kelly (née Morans) – both their fathers, Jim Kelly and Cawford Morans, worked at Argyll Colliery. Photo: Jan Nimmo ©

FinalLogo_May17

Glen Scotia Distillery: The venue for SKDT‘s The Road to Drumleman Exhibition. Jan Nimmo ©

As many of you already know we will be holding SKDT’s The Road to Drumleman exhibition (dates here) at Glen Scotia Distillery, Campbeltown. The project is very grateful to Iain McAlister and his team at the distillery for all their support and hard work – it’s been great to see what they have done to transform the Kiln Room in preparation for the exhibition. We are looking forward to setting up!

And now a word from Iain…

It is a great pleasure and indeed privilege to host the forthcoming SKDT’s The Road to Drumleman Community Exhibition at Glen Scotia Distillery, which is due to mark the 50 years since the closure of the Argyll Colliery at Machrihanish. The lead artist of this project, Jan Nimmo, has put in considerable time and effort to make this exhibition a success and this is in part due to her desire to recognise the history of the mine and all the miners; past and present, who worked at the colliery and the arduous conditions that they had to endure. Historically, Glen Scotia Distillery itself has utilised this local coal mined at the colliery and this power source undoubtedly created many a fine dram around the wee toon!

Best wishes to SKDT and Jan, and to the success of the exhibition.

Iain J McAlister