In July 1923 the Lanarkshire Welfare Scheme organiser estimated that Letham Colliery would receive about £600 from the first allocation of the Fund. The joint committee therefore decided to recommend to the miners of Letham and Airth that a hall be erected at Letham Village, with a sliding partition so that one half could be devoted to recreation, and the other half as a reading room. The miners approved of the committee’s recommendations and also agreed to contribute 3d a week towards the maintenance of the hall when erected. This contribution was started immediately.
The Letham hall was modest compared to many and was referred to as a hut. It stood alongside the main road to the north of the miners’ rows. In February 1926 the inaugural meeting of the Stenhousemuir branch of the Scottish Co-operative Women’s Guild was held there. In 1930 a billiard room was added and in 1935 a new floor was laid in the main hall and the entire building was roughcast using a grant. The following year it was the kitchen that received attention.
Throughout the Second World War the hall was exceptionally busy. Fundraising events were held there for good causes and the ARP authorities were given free use of the hall one night a week for ambulance work. The hall was also a designated rest centre. A shop was installed. The Letham Society therefore ended the war in profit.
Demand for billiards was much reduced and in 1949 the ¾ scale table was sold off. A football field was formed to the west of the hall. In 1955 the Coal Industry Welfare Organisation intimated its interest in disposing of the Letham hall due to the declining numbers of miners there. The District Council was not interested in acquiring the building and so, in 1958, it was sold and was then used as a tarpaulin factory until the 1990s. It was then demolished and houses built on the site.
Falkirk Local History Society 