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Hall Russell Reminiscence Day - 11 March 2006

by Fiona-Jane Brown

Most folk won't be aware of the Adelphi, but it sits on one of the oldest sites in Aberdeen, St Catherine's Hill, but if you go through the granite archway near the Castlegate, you'll find Aberdeen's Trade Union Council club. That was where AROHA invited former employees of Aberdeen's most famous ship building yard, Hall Russell & Co. to recall their days there.

Since 1993, Hall Russell's disppeared from Fittie's Pocra Quay, the council taking over the property to provide more oil services facilities for the harbour. 13 years later, some students undertaking an oral history course at the university of Aberdeen interviewed some former Russell's employees, and the idea began to float that AROHA should celebrate this great institution. So, the company that was reputed to 'quote for anything that floats' was brought back to the city's consciousness once more.

Along with the students, Hugo Manson, David Atherton, Martha Stewart, Bee Kerr and myself represented AROHA. We were pleased to welcome about a dozen former employees from the shipyard as well as a number of interested parties. We heard snippets from the students' interviews, recorded live the memories of the HR folk present, and saw Stanley Bruce's fascinating presentation on the history of Hall Russell from its earliest times when in 1785, Alexander Hall, the farmer's boy fae Auchterless got a job as a ship's carpenter with Alex Gibbon in Fittie, before he eventually started a business of his own.

Everyone was able to look at the huge collection of photos donated by Ian Birnie, again, another former HR employee. These will represent the start of the Hall Russell archive, which we hope will find a suitable permanent home soon.

We had a visit to the former machine shop which still stands in Fittie across from the Neptune Bar, courtesy of an Aberdeen City Council minibus. The yard rings again to the sound of hammers, welders and engineers as it is currently used as a private engineering shop. The turntables in the floor, the cranes and ironwork are still there, and our HR boys posed for photos by the P&J photographer while they also recalled their working days with the journalist.

It was clear from the smiles that old friendships had been renewed, memories revived and folk had enjoyed themselves. We hope its only the start of the gathering of Hall Russell's history and that someone will take up the challenge of writing it up.

Inside the old machine shop at Fittie

'That wis far we got wir sandwiches at lunchtime,' Hugo hears about working memories, while David shares a joke on his mobile in the background.

Exciting Archives -

Apart from Ian's photos and Stanley's great presentation, we had two really exciting archival items on the day. First was the playing of an early 20th century recording from Beltona of the Hall Russell Malevoice choir. With some modern technology, the recording from the 78rpm LPs was transferred to CD to share with those on the day. We had been loaned these after an appeal in the P&J's Peter Mitchell's diary column. Thanks Peter for publicising it, it paid off!

Also, mid-way through the morning, we had an interruption, but it turned out to be a welcome one! A former policeman, whose beat had included Fittie and the old shipyard buildings, had done a bit of dectective work one day while checking that vandals had not broken in to one of the yards. What he found was a company accident book dating from the 1960s. Hugo delightedly received it and began to find examples of minor and major incidents that had happened.

Ian Birnie has a photo here of Kenny Skinner being instructed presumably in safe working practices by the company nurse. Health & Safety isn't a new thing, folks! But we are delighted that this treasure was rescued literally from the rubbish dump, and thanks to our conscientious bobby!

'Now Kenny, mind and dinna hurt yourself!' Company nurse keeps the youngster right

Kenny ensures he has his safety goggles on!

Outside Engineers 4-12-39 (courtesy of Ian Birnie)

Vote of Thanks -

Aberdeen Trade Union Council for the use of the venue & refreshments
Aberdeen City Council for the use of the minibus
Aberdeen Central Library for the loan of display boards
Ian Birnie for his photos
Stanley Bruce for his poetry and history lesson
Those who loaned the LPs of the choir
Our eagle-eyed policeman for saving the accident book
The P&J for its coverage of the event

Special Thanks - to Martha and the others who organised my birthday cake as I was 33 on the day! (FJB)

If you have any information or photos concerning Hall Russell & Co, do get in touch at the usual email address - info@arohascotland.org