Fleming Reid Mill.    Mrs. Black  Mrs Nan Black supplied a very interesting photo of Fleming Reid’s Mill around the time of the Coronation in 1953. She and her aunt Mary are both in the photo and you can see the bunting up to celebrate the occasion.   Nan was fifteen when she started work at […]

Fleming Reid Mill. Marjorie Munro Marjory never worked in Fleming Reid’s herself but her great grandfather had connections with the mill. His name was Heaton Scott and he was born in Yorkshire in 1844. As a young man he worked in the woollen mills in Keithley in Yorkshire. In 1880, he and his young family […]

Annabella Johnston Annabella started work at the Merino Mill when she was fifteen.  It was dirty work and was also heavy work.   She was a canvas weaver and they worked with formaldehyde which was hard on the hands.  She was on piece work and worked two nights and a Saturday morning, overtime, for which she […]

Ellen Sinclair Ellen Sinclair is eighty –three years old now but she has fond memories of her first job at the Merino Mill where she started work at the age of fourteen.  Ellen’s first wage was £1 a week. She worked as a turner which meant that she turned the heels of socks.  The socks […]

Mrs.Jean Dougan Mrs. Dougan, who is now eighty one years old, left school at fourteen and started work in the Merino Mill.  That was in 1946.  Over the years she worked in many different departments and eventually became a supervisor. Her first job was as a cutter but she also worked at separating the wool.    Her […]