Introduction

We are currently working on the year's agenda for 2004 and we will publish details soon, we can say that the group will now make the October exhibition into an annual event, Last weekend in October is the provisional date, we also intend to produce another book
This booklet, The Bulletin III, should be published August 2004 and we are now requesting for contributions in the way of photographs, articles, our ancestors and stories.

With the 60th anniversary of D-Day we would like to appeal for any photos of our war dead and survivors. We have A Roll of Honour book (see below) will be actively researched with a view to a small publication.

Kirk o' Shotts
Sadly the Kirk is now in urgent need of refurbishment and serious structural repairs. A fundraising programme is now well underway and hopefully you may be in a position to assist.
Shotts History Group is not involved in the actual collection of donations but we have included a link to their Website in the menu on the left

War memorial now situated in front of the library on land once occupied by Jordan Terrace and High Street.

Our first publications

'Short Trousers and Pixie Hoods' was completed in May 1994. With the aid of a substantial grant from Community Education and sponsorship from local businesses.
The group are indebted to Mrs. Barbara Brown, (a Glasgow University expert in social history) whose services were obtained through Community Education Services.
The book was released in January 1996 and by this time preparation of book number two,
'Hartwood Hospital 1895-1995' was being prepared. This was partly funded by the proceeds from Short Trousers and Pixie Hoods.
Our latest booklet 'Long Trousers and Leg Tan' is also now available for purchase.

“Know ye the land where the dark herbless whinstone In hillocks, not hills, rears it’s desolate head? Where poverty chains down the nose to the grindstone, Till the heart and the soul are as heavy as lead? Where the crops never ripen, the roses cannot blow, And the sunshine of summer scarce melteth the snow? Cannot bless with his beams; which he hates to shine on”		Shotts Iron Works

Covenanter's Grave 1666 Kirk o' Shotts graveyard (this is not an original stone, we believe it has been replaced by ancestors of William Smith)		Some cheerless poet of long ago wailed this dreary dirge over the place where we were born. And indeed ”The Shotts” has been called many hard names in its day. Cold bleak, and damp; ugly and dreary; rough and backward; asthmatic and bing-y. Such are the typical slanders cast at our home town; and naturally we rebel at such libelous labels for “Shotts with all thy faults, we love thee still!” Away in the wilds we may be, and lacking the airs and graces of some pretentious towns; but it is noticeable that incomers soon take to the warm-hearted people of Shotts and to their children also; and more than one visitor has been heard to exclaim:- “For a town of its size, Shotts has more life and activities than most of her neighbors, burghs though they be” (John Loudon, printed circa1949)