A New Season

A definite touch of spring in the air today and another reminder that Smail's will be re-opening shortly.

Falcon Printing press

Last week Rachel ran a very effective Collections Care workshop for the volunteers who work on al the historic items that go to make the Printing Works as we know it.  It is not just the paper records that need care the Machine Room threw up a very interesting conundrum over the winter.  The Falcon press has an early attempt to automate paper handling.  Part of which is a bellows which provides a stream of air to separate the sheets of paper as they are picked up by suckers.  The bellows are made of wood and leather and the leather rubs on a part of the press wearing a hole.  It is probably been doing this for many years - a possible design fault from the start - but the result is much less reliable paper pick up.  If we want to continue to demonstrate this press the damage needs to be repaired.  How best can we achieve this, particularly as the Trust prefers conservation to restoration.

There was another landmark today.  Mrs Harrison, Miss Mayes the Clerkess, Mr Murray the Compositor, Mr McGregor the Printer, Tony Hope the Printer's Apprentice, Mr Stephenson from South Africa and Davy the  Yardman met at a local coffee shop to discuss the attendance at the Printing Works next week of a number of potential apprentices.  They will be coming from St Ronans and Walkerburn Schools. Yes it is living History Week again.  There are no prizes for working out who is behind some of these people although I understand that Mr Stephenson always sets Mrs Harrison's heart a flutter.  At least this year Mr Stephenson and Davy the Yardman won't disappear to Melrose Sports one day.

A week later we all meet for this year's Team Talk before the Smail's opens its doors to the public once more.

We open for the  new season on Sunday, 1 April and should close again on Monday 29 October.  The next special event in the calendar is the Easter Egg hunt a week after we re-open.

These Boots aren't Made for Walking

This year's Living History week is happening later this month before the Printing Works opens for the season.  We've got two groups coming form both St Ronan's and Walkerburn Schools; four sessions in total.  We'll let you know how these go.

Davie the yardman needed a better pair of boots and I've just got back from Coldstream with a pair of British Army Ammunition Boots thus fulfilling a frustrated childhood wish to be allowed a pair of tackety boots.  These weigh a ton and are enormous and I'll need a thick foam insole and two pairs of socks to keep them on - walking any distance is quite out of the question.  Perhaps they're a bit shiny as well.

There was a piece in Monday's Times about attitudes to independence in the Scottish Borders with a number of interviews from Coldstream, including one from one of the owners of Walk This Way.  They sell all sorts of millitaria and have a re-creation of a WWII bunker in their basement not the sort of shop I'd have expected in Coldstream High Street.  Very helpful and a fruitful trip to Coldstream.

Training Days

I've just got back from the second of two one-day workshops run by the Trust that I've been on.  Last week Ailsa and I went to Hill of Tarvit for one of the regular Collection Care courses.  There are three of these each year with an annual theme so it's possible to attend regularly and learn something new each year.  This year the theme was light and the damage it can do.  Most of the instruction is done in small groups and I was lucky to start with the session on light.  The opening 10 minutes on light and electro-magnetic radiation was a reprise of high school physics and stuff I was used to from my past life.  However the practical session with light metres was quite illuminating (I had to get that in).  A clear demonstration of the beneficial effect of simply drawing blinds and moving away from the window.  The other sessions were on the recognising the effects of light on wood and paper and effective preventative measures as another theme of the day was that prevention was much more effective than cure.  The fourth session was concerned with mitigating the impact light-fingered (the speaker's words this time) on the Trust's collection.  A worthwhile day with bits that definitely apply to Smail's.


Today Gen, Rachel and I were in Falkland for a workshop on Costumed Interpretation - or a Dressing-up Course as I irreverently put it.  We discussed what was meant by costumed interpretation and the role of costumes and props.  (Props we realised are things that we use all the time at Smail's with or without costumes).  We learnt the difference between First Person (you become the person and stay in role the whole time - difficult to sustain for non-actors) and Third Person (you wear a costume and represent some real or imagined historical person but interact with visitors as a 21st century guide).  Finally we had a go using basic costumes and a few props.   Another good day which will have an impact on we do our Living History days.


Unfortunately we had no chance to visit the properties.  Hill of Tarvit is an Edwardian Country House set in some rather nice grounds near Ceres in Fife.  Here at least the workshop was in the property.  At Falkland we were in the old Town Hall which the Trust owns and the room we were in was nondescript - I hope the Council Chamber is grander.  We saw no more of Falkland Palace than you'd see driving past which was a little disappointing.

The Friends of Robert Smails

I'm sorry that I didn't manage to post this before I went away last week.  A small group -Robin, Eric, Gen,  Debbie,  Ian, Tony, David & Carol - Rachel couldn't be there as she was on a course with the National Trust in Norfolk (more of that later hope) - met at the end of January to talk about establishing a Friends group for Robert Smail's.  The draft objectives of the proposed Group are:

(a)  preserve the status of Smail’s as a working letterpress printers, open to the public.

(b)  conserve and make accessible the property and its collections

(c)   promote and develop Smail’s as a centre of excellence for the craft of letterpress printing and the education thereon.  

Tony Niepold and Debbie Horne agreed to act as convenor and secretary until the Friends can be formally established.  The next task is to establish how much interest there is in a group like this.


If you would be interested in joining the Friends of Robert Smail's please add a comment to this post.

Apprentice Wanted!

It’s an unfortunate fact that we all get older.  No one has trained as a  letterpress compositor or printer for many years.  This presents Robert Smail’s Printing Works with a real dilemma – how are we going to replace the skills that the current staff bring to the Printing Works in the future.  The answer is of course to reinstitute another of part of Smail’s history and bring back apprentices.

In partnership with Historic Scotland the National Trust for Scotland is participating in Skills for the Future – a project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.  This has provided funding for two apprenticeships in Heritage Engineering Skills.  One will be based at Robert Smail’s and the other at Barry Mill in Angus.  These bursaries are for 18 months – a lot shorter than a traditional craft apprenticeship so we’ll have to see how things develop.

Advertisements for these two post will appear in the New Year and the apprenticeships will start in March 2012.  The successful applicant will develop a range of skills to operate, repair and maintain the machinery at Smail’s.  They will also be involved with visitors.

For an application pack email your CV to:

HS.TraditionalSkills@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Switched-on Innerleithen

The best Christmas Lights in the Borders were turned on this evening. Prior to that there shops were open and there were all kinds of activities on offer.  This whole affair - Switched On Innerleithen - was orchestrated by our very own Gen Harrison who spent the afternoon as the Town Crier encouraging active participation in all the events.

As well as very busy afternoon in the shop Smail's "Get Crafty" was available in the Masonic Club in Chapel Street, the first time that the Mason's have been involved in Switched-on Innerleithen.  All afternoon Rachel was surrounded by children decorating Christmas Trees and Snowmen and making their own wrapping paper.

On the other side of the room I was encouraging people print their own bookmark on one of our Adana printing presses.  Not as busy as Rachel but it became quite hectic towards 16:00 and I had fun and so I hope did everyone who had a go.  Every time I do one of these events I always get caught out by just how heavy a case of type is.


An excellent afternoon - well done Gen.

Archive Update

A lot of work has been done in the Paper Store by Rachel who has been helped by Anna Starkey who is spending a year with the Conservation Department of the National Trust for Scotland as an intern (paid).  This is funded by the Bute Memorial Fund and ICON (The Institute of Conservation). She and Rachel have been cataloguing the items in the paper store and in the process finding a great deal of interesting material of which more later. I've been helping with this rather than getting to grips with some of the outstanding archive work.  As you can see from the list on the water wheel door there's still a lot more to be done.