Days out : Reverting to type; Barbara and Jim Wyllie took their son Jamie, 15, and pal Andrew Armstrong, 15, to Robert Smail's Printing Works in Innerleithen.Byline: NAN SPOWAT Why did you decide to visit the printing works, Barbara? We were looking for something that might interest teenagers. A friend suggested they might enjoy it. Is it easy to find? Really easy. Innerleithen is quite a small village near Peebles in the Borders and the printing works is in the middle of the high street with plenty of parking nearby. What did you do first? It is run by the National Trust for Scotland and they have a gift shop just as you go in, so we had a wee look at that and then went through to Robert Smail's printing shop. What is it like? It's fascinating - it's like stepping into the past. It is all as if Robert Smail had just stepped out the door. Nothing has been discarded because he had to keep a copy of everything that was printed so everything since 1860 has been kept. It was handed over to the National Trust in 1986 by Robert Smail's grandson Cowan Smail but nothing much has changed since Robert's time. What did you see? Everything that was printed, including every copy of a newspaper that he printed between 1890 and 1916. The printing shop also functioned as a steam ship booking office and there is a record of people who emigrated to Canada and Australia. Robert Smail was an amateur photographer Amateur Photographer is the title of a British photography magazine, published weekly by IPC Media, a Time Warner subsidiary. The magazine provides articles on equipment reviews, photographic technique, and profiles of professional photographers. , too, so some of his old pictures are on the walls. Then what did you do? We crossed a little courtyard with a stream and went into the paper room which houses a replica of the old water wheel that used to power the printing press. The tour then goes up to the composing room com·pos·ing room n. A room where typesetting is done. where all the setting was done. The kids were able to typeset their names and print them on to bookmarks. The setting is fun because you have to do it backwards and upside Upside The potential dollar amount by which the market or a stock could rise. Notes: This is basically an educated guess on how high a stock could go in the near future. See also: Bull, Downside down. Do you have to go on a tour? Yes, but the staff are enthusiastic, well informed and make it interesting. There were a dozen people on our tour aged between 10 and 80 and they were engrossed en·gross tr.v. en·grossed, en·gross·ing, en·gross·es 1. To occupy exclusively; absorb: A great novel engrosses the reader. See Synonyms at monopolize. 2. . What happened next? We went back downstairs to see the printing machines, from the first one which was treadle- operated to a more modern one dating from the '50s. There were three printers and we saw them all working. Did you enjoy the tour? Oh yes. It was lovely to see something so well preserved. The tours have to be small but this makes it more intimate. Did the boys enjoy it? They really did which was great as they thought it sounded boring. However, they enjoyed it, particularly the typesetting typesetting: see printing. typesetting Setting of type for use in any of various printing processes. Type for printing, using woodblocks, was invented in China in the 11th century, and movable type using metal molds had appeared in Korea by the 13th and they were interested to find out that a lot of their computer language actually began with printing. What about your husband? He found it really interesting - I lost him afterwards because I didn't realise he had gone back to ask the staff more questions. Would you recommend it? Definitely. It is an interesting trip for older children and it doesn't have to be good weather to enjoy it. As told to Nan Spowart Details... Robert Smail's Printing Works Robert Smail's Printing Works is a fully functional Victorian era letterpress printing works in the small Scottish Borders town of Innerleithen, now preserved by The National Trust for Scotland as an Industrial Heritage museum showing visitors the operation of a local printer , 7-9 High Street, Innerleithen. Tel: 01896 830206. Getting there: Innerleithen is on the A72, 30 miles from Edinburgh, six miles from Peebles. Open: Until October 27 - Sundays, 1pm-5pm, then noon until 5pm Thursday- Monday. Entry: Adult, pounds 3.50, child/concession, pounds 2.60, family pounds 9.50. |
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