While S had a meeting in Bo’ness this morning I went for a wander around the old town centre and the former docks.  It was hard to imagine how noisy and busy it would have been about 50 years ago as now there is very little evidence of the former coal mining or shipping.  The area is no longer black and grimy but green with wild flowers as the harbour and dock areas have been landscaped.  It seemed so peaceful with only the sound of the wind and seabirds.
The distant landscape is also in the process of changing.   The tall chimney at Longannet Power Station used to burn some coal from Bo’ness but now it has been decommissioned and due to be demolished.   Behind the wooded headland can be seen the chimneys and stacks at Grangemouth with its huge oil and gas refineries and the docks have specialist handling facilities for the oil and gas industries.  Just visible behind the sunlit docks are wind turbines on the Campsie Hills.  To the older inhabitants of Bo’ness the place would be unrecognisable from that of their youth and they would have been surprised when they first started work to realise that wind power would eventually replace coal in the plans for future electricity power supplies