In January 1923 the Callendar Miners’ Welfare Committee received word that it had been awarded a grant of approximately £1,000 from the Fund towards the cost of a hall, billiard room and ladies room at Glen Village behind the co-operative store and post office. The building was in use by the autumn of 1924 when it was used for political meetings.
A bowling green was opened to the south of the hall on 5 June 1931. The site had been a plantation, but the trees had been cut down during one of the coal strikes and it presented an ugly appearance. It fronted the main road and belonged to William Forbes of Callendar who granted the Callendar Miners’ Welfare a free charter. A grant of £1,200 was offered from the Central Welfare Fund, and this was subsequently increased by £300.
2,700 cubic yards of material was transported by wagon from the Callendar Colliery to the site to level it up. This cost was met by the Callendar Coal Company which also donated a flagstaff. The new pavilion was on the east side of the green and could be used in association with the existing hall for functions. It consisted of a large room with panelled walls, a committee room, a tool-house, a kitchen, and lavatory accommodation. It was constructed on a timber frame with brick filling and roofed with asbestos slates, with electric lighting throughout.
2,700 cubic yards of material was transported by wagon from the Callendar Colliery to the site to level it up. This cost was met by the Callendar Coal Company which also donated a flagstaff. The new pavilion was on the east side of the green and could be used in association with the existing hall for functions. It consisted of a large room with panelled walls, a committee room, a tool-house, a kitchen, and lavatory accommodation. It was constructed on a timber frame with brick filling and roofed with asbestos slates, with electric lighting throughout. The green was laid with Lancashire turf, and enclosed by trim gravel paths with a flagpole on an elevated platform at the north-west corner. The contractors were: green formation and drainage – Festus Fisherty, Falkirk; turfing – Maxwell Mure Hart, Glasgow; wrought iron railings and gates – A & G Main, Glasgow; pavements – John Livingston & Co, Falkirk. The architects and engineers were Copland & Blakey of Falkirk.
In 1935 the Callendar Miners’ Welfare Society acquired the land to the north of their hall from the Callendar Coal Company and with the aid of a grant from the Central Welfare Committee they installed playground equipment. In November that year the ground and equipment were handed over to the Eastern No. 2 District Council.
During the Second World War the hall was designated as a rest centre. The wartime situation meant that priority building for the Miners’ Welfare Fund was vested in communal eating facilities which were seen as the best use of the available food resource. So it was that on 27 February 1943 R. J. Prince, organiser for Scotland of the Miners’ Welfare Commission, declared open a new building erected in the Callendar Colliery yard to be used as Workman’s Canteen. The building was equipped with steam cooking apparatus, and although built on austerity lines, was comfortable and could accommodate 150 diners with ease. The canteen had been erected and equipped by the Callendar Coal Co Ltd under the auspices of the Miners’ Welfare Commission.
In the early 1950s a County Library was installed in the Miners Welfare Institute at Glen Village. Inevitably the closure of the Callendar Pit led to the closure of the Welfare Hall and it was demolished in the mid 1970s. The Callendar Welfare Miners’ Society bowling club continued.
Falkirk Local History Society 