One night last week I was sitting with a group of people who had all worked at the original Hunters of Brora Woollen Mill, listening to tales and memories from their time at the Mill. I wanted to try and find knowledgeable volunteers who would be willing to come to the scrapyard to help me understand about the machines being rescued from there – what they were for and what they meant to those who had worked on them.
People spoke one after the other in an anticlockwise direction. Some said a little, some needed prompting and others would have been natural on a stage. At one point the oldest member of the group (93) arrived. Housebound, she had wanted to come and had been brought in a wheelchair by her daughter and granddaughter.
“I see you brought your own chair Jean?” was the first thing said to her by a gentleman opposite.
The banter in Scotland starts in the cradle and never ends.
Many stories were shared. Old wounds were still evident in some, as well as resentment towards those “toffs” who, in the later years, refused to listen to them, resulting in the mill being run into the ground more than once and culminating in its closure and accompanying loss of jobs. As memories were jogged, however, eyes smiled and we all laughed - and the over-riding feeling I got was that everyone except one loved working there. There was friendship, support, pride, loyalty and happy times. And the only reason the one person hadn’t enjoyed her time there was because she found the machine she had to operate particularly nerve-racking.
And so a group of us met at the machines in the scrapyard, with tea and biscuits laid out on a cloth-covered table in the sunshine. When you start learning about the woollen industry, you realise very quickly that you need to learn a whole lot more. There are so many processes involved in turning wool into the end products, each of which can be broken down into further processes. The mill had many different areas and people who worked in one area may never have gone to another during their entire career. Those who had specifically operated our rescued machines had seemingly passed away or were unable to attend, yet those present, due to their professionalism and in-depth knowledge of the processes, were able to identify and explain what each machine did, in great detail and with much appreciation.
“I can talk about this all day” was one genuinely happy comment from an engineer. And he may well do, as he has today suggested he would be interested to give time to the new Museum and Heritage Centre, educating others on what he loved about the woollen industry. So if you do come to Brora to learn about its past, please allow some time because your mind and eyes will be taken on quite some journey.
My gratitude to those who have given their time, shared photos and lent books. Wishing you all more enjoyment as you continue sharing in your new Brora Heritage Centre ‘Woollen Industry Mill Group’.
