Last autumn, before everything went pear-shape, we answered a telephone call from a lady in southern Ayrshire, who explained they have lived since 1970, but were now leaving: she had a room filled with everything that they didn’t feel able to take with them. It included lace, textiles, China, churns,…
I consider myself blessed because not only did I grow up in a house with books, I had the good fortune to attend Irvine Royal Academy at a time when the Head of English was Dr Alec Forbes. Dr Forbes was famous for two things: the first was that on…
In week twelve of our new life, confined to the house and gardens, I thought that a blog, with the story of one of my trips around the world, or Europe anyway, might be a slight diversion and show how one’s view, in any kind of design can be changed…
I sometimes wonder what Wordsworth would have said had he been able to publish a blog. Would we have had descriptions of the daffodils, instead of the poem, or would we have had both? I ask this question because to my astonishment, my blog posts appear to have been read…
About two years ago, I took on the task of writing a companion book for my History of Dalgarven Mill which was to cover the costume collection, the putting together of it, the quality of it, with little offshoots into lace making, Paisley shawls, Ayrshire blankets and the like. Usually,…
