This inaugural episode of the Recovering Community podcast focuses on Moodiesburn, a former mining town about eight miles north of Glasgow.

Moodiesburn was home to the Auchengeich colliery, where six men died in an explosion in 1931. And then, in 1959, the community was struck by disaster when there was a fire in the mine. Forty-seven men died in one of the UK's worst mining disasters of the 20th century. 

But during the miners' strike of 1984/85, striking miners and local people put up a memorial to commemorate the disaster, and they come together each year to mark the anniversary. 

To find out more about how the community has recovered from tragedy, deindustrialisation and austerity, Professor Anne Kerr and Professor Jim Phillips visit Auchengeich Miners Welfare Club to meet Pat Egan, Willie Doolan, Ian Lowe and Danny Taylor, who together drive much of the community activity to commemorate the mining disasters.

Listen to Recovering Community 1 on the School of Social and Politiclal Sciences website

First published: 14 September 2021

<< All resources


More information

Recovering Community is a podcast series about community - what it means, how it’s formed and how it is rebuilt - published by the University of Glasgow's School of Political and Social Sciences.

Listen and subscribe on: