For being 97 years old, Andrew McDicken is still regularly seen out tending his garden on a quiet street in New Cumnock. ‌

At home with his son Alex and daughter Nancy, he is just an ordinary family man with an extraordinary story to tell. ‌

On Sunday, September 7, along with the rest of his home community, Andrew will mark the 75th anniversary of one of the most remarkable rescue efforts of the 20th century. ‌

It will be 75 years to the day after he and 128 other men were trapped underground after the coal mine they were working in collapsed.

For three days in 1950, the eyes of the world were on New Cumnock and the nearby Knockshinnoch Castle Colliery as rescuers worked day and night to free the trapped miners.

‌Andrew, one of two living survivors of the disaster, still recalls

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