In March 1922 the Kinneil Miners’ Welfare Society made a claim for about £2,400 from the Central Welfare Committee based upon the output of the local collieries. The money was for the erection of a workmen’s institute in the Kinneil district, the buildings to comprise a reading-room, billiard-room, with a small hall in the centre to seat 400 people for meetings. In the rear was a caretaker’s house, with baths for the workers. It was also proposed to form a bowling green alongside at a future date. Construction work began in late February 1923 with the excavation of the foundations by Mr Start of Glasgow. The work was supervised by John Taylor, architect, Bo’ness.
The hall opened the following year and a cinema projector was installed in November 1923 so that entertainments could be given every Tuesday night for the children in the district. The lightweight concrete dome seen above the entrance on the illustrations was part of the original design and provided a fireproof chamber for the projection room. The total cost was about £3,500, of which £500 was raised locally.
The bowling green and pavilion were constructed in splendid isolation 200yds to the south-west of the hall, a little to the south of the colliery, along with a putting green. A green keeper and park ranger was appointed and they were opened for the 1928 season on 12 May.
The economic depression of the early 1930s bit hard on the mining industry and the Kinneil Miners’ Welfare Committee found it difficult to carry on in the distressed state of the coal industry. They therefore proposed in December 1933 that the District Council should take charge of the Welfare Park at Castleloan. However, certain legal difficulties stood in the way. In any case, the District Council was not interested in the park as it already possessed Kinneil Park and Calder Public Park which were nearby.
The opening up of the super pit at Kinneil alleviated some of the problems. In 1957 a clubhouse, and in 1967 a new bowling pavilion and green, were erected at Kinneil by the Miners’ Welfare Committee. The hall, however, was sold off and demolished around 1996 for the construction of six houses. In 2016 the northern bowling green was sold off and seven houses were subsequently built on it. The original green is still in use.
Falkirk Local History Society 