Shale Voices is about the people and the land of West Lothian.
As such it is a history of Personal and Social Development.
As a source book, it is hard to see how it could have more relevance to the studies of young people in the county’s schools today. In large parts of the county, the shale industry shaped the view from the classroom windows, brought great grandparents to work and live in the area, affected the way we speak, formulated large parts of our history – social and industrial, and set a model for economic and political development, support, and sustenance, that still pertains today.
In terms of our social and economic history, of how society develops under industrialisation, of how neighbourhood support builds strength, Shale Voices has an influential story to tell. It can bring local life and colour to the curriculum.
As I was writing these teacher’s notes, a pupil absented himself from class, knowing he was in trouble. When his friends were asked where he was, they looked understandably coy. Then one of them, born nearly a century after the hey day of the shale industry, eventually muttered: ‘He’ll be hidin’ way up the Seafield bings.’ The bings of Seafield, along with the industry that created them, are long gone, but nineteen bings, a lot of folk memory, and an industrial heritage, lives on.
Our children deserve to know their history – Shale Voices can open one of the many doors to that story.
The A71 at Oakbank betrays no evidence of the giant oil works.
But the Country Park Information Board explains the history.
For those that ken, Red Blaes Path is a hint!