The Wee Museum of Memory – What's on at the Wee Museum of Memory

The Wee Museum – bigger and bolder!

After 6 months sharing a unit with The Wee Play Hub we have moved again. As ever, this location may only be temporary, but we are deighted that we are now in what was previously the Superdry shop on the first floor. This unit was not meant to be for the museum but we managed to persuade OT management that it would work perfectly for us…and we’re delighted!

It’s always hard work moving out and moving in, but we had a brilliant team of staff and other volunteers who came along to carry boxes and furniture from the various ‘storage’ spaces that we had filled, way back in April. A huge thank you to them all – we wouldn’t have managed without you.

Superdry Steam Punk to Weird and Wonderful Wee Museum

The Superdry shop space, layout, design and fittings are quite quirky: a bit steam punky. However, this has provided us with a really exciting space to expand and develop into a new bigger, and bolder, Wee Museum of Memory.

Dark wood walls, the exposed metal heating and air conditioning pipes, the spotlights, and large window areas all mean that we are able to have much more of our collections on display. Over the years our donations have expanded and increased (we have had to turn down offers of many objects – particularly sewing machines, scrubbing boards, shoe lasts, stoneware hot water bottles, radios, cameras, irons, and hairdryers…sorry to everyone who has offered donations) that we were not able to put out on display for the public. With the increased space and distinct, almost separate, sections, we have been able to create themed areas: music, library, home and kitchen, fashion, travel, electronics and radios, children…We’ve allowed our imagination to run wild and used the opportunity to put out some of our personal favourites.

So much to see…

We’ve still got a friendly seating area which provides a lovely space to run our activity and reminscence sessions. The black display panel makes a surprisingly effective screen for the slide shows, film clips or singing videos that we use. Barry has also set up a continual projection of the photo archive or films such as ‘The Singing Street’ or other archive moving films on another of the black panels.

The kitchen and home area – with a cunningly displayed scubbing board alcove – prompts a lot of discussion and memories from visitors, particularly the Carbolic soap and Cremola Foam.

Barry’s vision of a ‘pick up a book and have a seat’ area for our books is proving popular. As is the the music area, with records to put on for a spin. The guitars are there for folk to try, as is the piano. We’ve also been able to put more of our clothes out. These are mostly ladies items – and you may have some ideas why this is the case? Did women hold onto their favourite clothes for longer, hoping that they might come back into fashion? The little red dress, the sparkly mini, the PVC raincoat, the black stilletoes, the yellow summer shoes…

The typewriters, telephones, late 20th century computers, cameras and radios continue to get a lot of attention and interest. It is interesting to notice who engages more with the different displays. Grandfathers, fathers and sons spend quite a bit of time examining the various cameras and phones – by picking them up or demonstrating how they were used.

Star attraction…

The current star donation, in pride of place at the front, is the Subbuteo game. The version we have now, with perimeter fencing, TV cameras, and score board, has come from our very own archivist, David. This brings in men of a certain age, including quite a few of the construction workers who are currently demolishing the Debenhams end of OT, who like to have a go reliving their youth, recreating a memorable World Cup match between Scotland and Spain. Viva Espania …Scotland the Brave! In some folks dreams Scotland will win the Jules Rimet trophy.

Come in and see…

Our Wee Museum of Memory is bigger and bolder, perhaps not brighter (due to the lighting that Superdry had) but it is atmospheric, welcoming, interesting, quirky, interactive, and fun. We offer something for visitors of all ages and backgrounds. If you haven’t been before, then come in and see…it’s free!

There’s always something happening…

The LMA/Wee Museum of Memory is an eclectic organisation. We function as a wee museum developing our collections and policies in order to achieve museum accreditation status. But that is only a small part of our work and outreach.

Our team organise the ‘Wee Hubs’: the Wee Play Hub is located in the other half of the Wee Museum of Memory and the Wee Hub 2 is upstairs, on the second floor of OT. These spaces are used by us, and by a variety of other community groups, offering a diverse range of activities and workshops. From upcycling furniture by Bethany Christian Trust, Latin Dance classes by LACAE, to Inspiring Leith running English conversation classes and messy play/art/craft sessions in the Wee Play Hub. There is always something happening for children and adults.

These sessions would not run without the commitment and energy of the organisers of the activities. Raksha, Ibra and Alan are full of ideas to engage young children, and their adult companions, in art and craft. Painting, sticking, collages, printing…lots to try. These run on Wednesday morning and afternoon, Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings. They are free to attend and no need to book.

On Friday afternoons, Jacquy has a story telling session, from 2.00 to 2.30 pm. A time for a quieter activity, the children sit on the floor when she rings her bell and listen to her lovely gentle stories.

Kenneth runs a Lego club in the Wee Play hub. Behind the scenes all the bits and pieces of Lego are stored away, but come Saturday afternoon they all come out. Like all the activites, it is free to drop in. Come along and join in the model making.

Up in the Wee Hub 2, Bethany Christian Trust run drop-in upcycling furniture, From 1-2.30 on Tuesday afternoon they take unloved and discarded furniture to clean, repair and redesign into usable and functional furnishings. The Latin Dance run by LACAE on Thursdays, has a teens session from 6.00-7.00 pm and a Salsa fundamentals session from 7.00-8.00pm. Again these are free and no need to book.

We are grateful to all those organisations and volunteers who run the sessions, and to our team of Delphine, Caroline, Heather and Barry who organise the weekly calendar.

We’ve moved… temporarily

Due to the exciting developments at Ocean Terminal The Wee, Museum of Memory has had to leave the old unit on the second floor to a new – temporary – space on the first floor. We moved into an empty restaurant at the end of 2019 and quickly adapted to the space. We had a window looking out onto Britannia, space for an office, a sound proofed studio, and an L-shaped area for display and public access.

Of course within a few months the country, had gone into Lockdown as Covid 19 spread. Many of us worked from home, or were on furlough. Once we reopened, we continued to expand our collections with many interesting donations of objects and memories. Our children’s area developed into a well used play area. The sofas and chairs beside the window were great for our regular reminiscence and activity groups. Our visitor numbers often exceeded 100 per day…

But things change, and after much planning OT embarked on their ambitious redevelopment in November 2023. The Wee Hub moved into the empty French Connection unit on the first floor (as well as using the Wagamama space) at the end of last year. However the Wee Museum’s new home needs some TLC and repair work before we can use it, so we in the meantime we have taken over half of the Wee Hub. On 29th March we closed the Wee Museum on the second floor, packed up and moved downstairs. With the help of a team of staff and volunteers (thank you to our team of young lads: Darren, Kris and Stefan – who helped us move the last time) over two weeks we packed, transported, carried boxes, furniture, equipment, pictures, mannequins, cases, bits and bobs with no major disasters or breakages!

Although we no longer have a window, we organised a comfy seating area for our groups, which have restarted with John’s Tuesday afternoon group and Joyce’s Thursday morning group.

With limited space we have also had to reorganise and reduce the amount of material that is on display. What is visible is only a selection of what we have in the collection, most of which is now stored at the back of the unit or in OT’s storage space. Naomi has carefully chosen objects to reflect the kind of material that has been donated to us, both typical and unique, so that visitors are still able to engage with, pick up and reminiscence about their childhood, home life, work, travel, hobbies… The displays are themed: sport and leisure, travel and transport, medicines and savings, food storage, drinks, household and cooking, technology, hair and beauty and sewing. The space is accessible for those using mobility aids, and the objects can still be picked up and examined. Our children’s play area has had to be stored but we do share a space with the Wee Play Hub so are not excluding younger visitors.

Although it is likely that we will be moving again later in the year, at the moment we are again open seven days a week: 10.30 to 4.00 Monday to Friday and 11.00-4.00 at weekends. Our Memory Boxes can still be borrowed (for a small donation). Visitors are welcome to join our groups on Tuesday and Thursday and we can book other groups for planned reminiscence sessions – a donation towards tea and coffee is welcome. If you want to pop in and have a wander round and reminisce with one of us, or have any questions drop us an email: comhist@googlemail.com. Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheWeeMuseumOfMemory

or TikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@livingmemoryassociation

Seeking the Highland Cow

By Vivienne Corgoova

The year was 1958 when Addie Donaldson went on a cycling holiday with his wife Barbara to explore the Highlands. While cycling, they simply had to capture the approaching automobile in a photograph as they happened to be fellow tourists captivated by the mysterious atmosphere of the Highlands. The romantic promotion of the Scottish Highlands saw its peak after the publication of Sir Walter Scott´s historical novels in the early 19^th century. “My heart’s in the Highlands a-chasing the deer,” (Scott, line 2) is one of his profound quotes which summarizes the importance the Scottish nature resembled to the author himself. Scott´s depictions of the Scottish Highlands as a mythical, melancholic, and yet bewitching and beautiful place inspired tourists and families across Britain to use the Highlands as their weekend getaway. The illustrations in Scott´s novels by a history painter, William Allan, complimented his literary depiction of Scottish heritage and enhanced the reader´s desire to visit the landscape. The mid-19th century therefore marked the emergence of literary tourism in Scotland.

In addition to the literary works of Scottish authors, the British royal family also contributed to the popularization of touring Scottish nature mainly thanks to Queen Victoria´s numerous visits to the Balmoral Castle. Many English people wanted to follow her travels and participate in the new “touring Scotland trend.” This can raise several questions concerning Scottish uniqueness. What makes Scotland different? How is Scottish identity defined and why is it so attractive to tourists? The iconography in a typical Scottish souvenir shop would be filled with images of tartans, bagpipes, whiskey, and predominantly magical Scottish nature with the cutest Highland cows and vibrant blue skies without any sign of rain. While these images are usually used to lure tourists into the country, they are also associated with Scottish nationhood. The way most nations started to form is by declaring what they are not like rather than emphasizing their most prominent features. Scotland sought to distinguish itself from the English identity by stating that it was different from England building the evidence from stereotypical images such as men in kilts, bagpipers in the Highlands and magnificent nature. This distinction was the point that made the English public interested in the country and it forced them to explore the country to witness those mythical characteristics.

John Howden with his family in the Highlands, 1960

As the railway system across Britain evolved and improved throughout the 20^th century, tickets soon became more accessible to the working classes who could travel to different parts of the country for leisure. In 1983, ScotRail was first introduced to public transport making the travel from southern parts of the UK to the north even easier. The accessibility of the transport system was strongly interlinked with tourism as the decision to go on a holiday to the other side of the country often depended on the convenience of railways, roads, and buses. In very recent history, we can see how imperative transportation is for touring companies as hundreds of Edinburgh Tour Buses pass us every day. These buses can easily go from the Royal Mile to Royal Yacht Britannia in Leith just in a few minutes while providing the guides with the possibility to cover a wider area of Edinburgh´s history all while looking out the window and seeing the mentioned places. The popularity of such buses shows the importance of the tourism sector in Scottish history which also provides 13% of Scotland´s total employment (Bhandari, 21). Even though the stereotypical images on postcards and guide tour leaflets barely represent the complexity of Scottish identity, they are a profound part of a visitor´s idea of Scotland which can only encourage them to visit the place and experience the full extent of Scottish heritage.

“Trasport and Tourism” display in The Wee Museum

Don´t forget to visit us in The Wee Museum of Living Memory to see our “Transport and Tourism” monthly table!

Sources:

Scott, Walter. “My heart’s in the Highlands”

Bhandari, Kalyan. Tourism and National Identity: Heritage and Nationhood in Scotland. Bristol, UK: Channel View Publications, 2014.

Glendening, John. The High Road: Romantic Tourism, Scotland, and Literature, 1720-1820, Macmillan, 1997.

Wee Hubs – 2024 news

We closed the Wee Hub in the former Debenhams at the end of 2023 as OT have started their long-awaited rebuilding programme. However, this did not mean that the idea of having community spaces being used by different ages and groups stopped, so LMA are delighted that they will be managing two units in OT for public use.

They are The Wee Play Hub and The Wee Hub Lounge. The units are undoubtedly smaller than Debenhams, one is on the first floor, and the other on the second floor but they are up and running already.

The units have been cleaned, tidied and organised by the usual enthusiastic team of: Heather, Caroline, and one of our volunteers, David C. Delphine, David D, and Barry have also been involved shifting furniture, co-ordinating bookings, and setting up the play stations etc.

Wee Play Hub art and guitars and art work

French Connection to The Wee Play Hub…

The former French Connection, now The Wee Play Hub, is open 11.00 – 3.00 pm Wednesday to Sunday and anyone can pop in and play with the toys, read books, play the piano or one of our guitars, or try out video games. You can also sit down and have a rest, eat your lunch, have a chat…The walls provide space for displaying art work by some of those who used the old Wee Hub for studio space; there is aready a display up. Alan will be running workshops for his abstract art, the Conversation Club meet weekly and LACAE hold children’s language classes. Think Circus are also going to be doing circus jam sessions at weekends.

It’s certainly not as big a space as the children’s play area in the old Debenhams was but The Wee Play Hub once again provides a safe area for parents and toddlers. We only opened a few days before Christmas but it is already proving very popular. There is no official co-ordinated programme as yet but Caroline is on the case and the first ‘event’ is a Bairns Burns Party on 25 January at 1.30 pm. There will be music and dance and poems so get out your kilt and tam o’shanters and come along!

Wagamama to Wee Hub Lounge.

As this was previously a restaurant it was more of a challenge decidint how to best use the space, given that the counters for preparing and serving food are fixed and cannot be moved. Debenhams Wee Hub had proved very popular for dance groups or individuals – either as rehearsal space or for free classes – and it was decided that the area would work best as a dance practice area. Since the space is limited, and access complicated, most of the sessions are not open for drop-in by members of the public but a number of our previous groups have restarted their sessions. These include: Ukrainian, Bulgarian dance classes, as well as and LACAE and Onisis. The Wee Hub Lounge is also being used for upcycling furniture and for a martial arts fitness class.

Whenever we have moved into a new unit there has always been the opportunity to recycle and repurpose the fittings and furniture that has been left behind. There wasn’t a lot in Wagamama but the floor to ceiling mirrors along one wall all came from changing rooms in Debenhams – a shining example of recyling – and is proving popular with dancers!

The Wee Hub Lounge – now used for dance practices

Pop in to The Wee Play Hub for a visit and check it out.

Wee Scottish Indulgence

By Vivienne Corgoova

‘The Last Word’ – a model pub from the Wee Museum’s Collection, made and donated by a volunteer.

They are seen on every street and every corner, a prerequisite of even the smallest Scottish village and an integral part of all Scottish tourist guides. Their popularity persevered even in the modern era connecting modern society with communities in the past. Bars, pubs, inns, ale houses, and taverns. They were all used as the main sites for socialising for centuries and continue to be regarded as places of social connections even today. Scottish pubs have been an intrinsic part of Scottish history since the 1700s. After the Union of Scotland and England in 1707, major political and social changes took place forcing the general Scottish public to engage in political discussions and form protesting groups. Pubs and ale houses at the time were considered public spaces where labourers, merchants, craftsmen, and others could meet and discuss their discontent with the current politics without being noticed by the authorities. No wonder that even Robert Burns, a prominent Scottish poet during the Jacobite Uprisings, wittily refers to such meetings in his poem “The Author’s Earnest Cry and Prayer”: “Freedom and whisky gang thegither” (Burns, stanza 32). Since then, it was often the Presbyterian ministers and clergy criticizing the Scottish public for their drunkenness and rising level of crime. This notion together with constant rioting was one of the reasons why the Scots were regarded as “the swine and rabble of England and Scotland” (Husks for Swine, 1974).

A wee bit of a Gin Craze

Anyone who enjoys a good pub crawl would soon notice the extensive selection of gins in every good bar or pub ranging from London and its notorious London Dry Gin to Scottish numerous craft gins. This notion can be once again traced all the way back to the 18^th century´s “Gin Craze” when the consumption of gin skyrocketed among the British public. Gin was particularly popular in working-class environments as it was seen as the cheaper alternative to French brandy. First crates of gin were being imported from the Netherlands meaning that the Port of Leith played a crucial part in distributing gin among Edinburgh citizens. Soon enough, the market opened up to gin distillation after Queen Anne herself approved of the botanical drink which led her to reduce taxes for the distilleries and even allow them to run the business without any license needed. However, the heavenly indulgence did not last for long and in the mid-18^th century, the authorities realized that crime had significantly increased after the introduction of gin to the market. By 1743, England was known for drinking almost 10 litres of gin per person per year. Naturally, the taxation on gin was increased in the Gin Act of 1751 as a response to that. Despite the decrease in consumption after the Act was issued, gin remained a popular drink and the established distilleries were getting more recognition.

Bottles, beer mats, souvenir booklets and more make up the Wee Museum’s collection of alcohol-related objects

Gordon’s London Dry Gin was introduced to the market in 1769 by Alexander Gordon who was of Scottish descent. The Wee Museum’s collection holds a miniature book ‘Gordon´s Recipes for Cocktails and Other Mixed Drinks’ which on the very first page highlights that “the name Gordon guarantees purity and quality.” The book contains recipes for the old gin classics. Negronis, dry Martinis or Clover Club. The cocktail more unknown to modern bar-goers would be “Gin Daisy”, which can be made as follows:

Half fill tumbler with chipped ice and add

1 glass Gordon´s Dry Gin

6 dashes of Grenadine

Juice of ½ a Lemon

½ Tablespoonful of Powdered Sugar

Stir well until the glass is frosted, fill with Soda Water adding 2 or 3 sprigs of Mint, and decorate with slices of fruit in season.

All of our alcohol-related objects are handled frequently, but of course the bottles are empty!

Make a wee space for women

Moralising over the consumption of alcohol naturally could not go without a dash of double standards that would demonize women who participated in the “pub culture”. During the First World War, female pub-going significantly increased as a result of growing anxieties surrounding the war continuing in the interwar period too. The public treated female drunkenness as a failure of morality and a total end of femininity and proper womanhood. The reason was simple, the demon drink could only lead to sexual immorality or to the abandonment of maternal responsibilities. The stigma over women in drinking spaces changed after the Second World War when women were widely employed in hospitality, service-based industries, and warehouses. By the mid-1990s in Scotland, there would even be a higher percentage of women in such workplaces than men. A picture from our photo archive depicting the bottling line at Invergordon Whisky Bond in 1990 shows that women made up the majority of such workplaces relating to alcohol.

A photograph from our archive, showing women working at Invergordon Whisky Bond in 1990.

Sources

Burns, Robert. “The Author’s Earnest Cry and Prayer.” 1786

Husks for Swine. Dedicated to the Swine of England, the Rabble of Scotland, and the Wretches of Ireland. 1794. Edinburgh: Edinburgh.

Yeomans, Henry. Alcohol and Moral Regulation: Public Attitudes, Spirited Measures and Victorian Hangovers. Bristol ; Policy Press, 2014.

Cooke, Anthony. A History of Drinking: The Scottish Pub since 1700. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2022.

The History of Gin in Edinburgh: From Old Town to New, 2023 https://secretgardendistillery.co.uk/blogs/secret-garden-blog/the-history-of-gin-in-edinburgh-from-old-town-to-new

Another busy year has passed…

Another busy year has gone by so quickly at the Wee Museum of Memory/The Living Memory Association. Although the Wee Hub (Debenhams version) has closed, we will be managing some smaller units in the centre to provide hubs and space for artists, dancers, and children. These units need to be cleaned and prepared and made safe for users and public so they are not quite ready yet – but please do watch this space or contact us for further information. Caroline has again taken point with organising the new area and, although we have all had a wee turn at cleaning, our volunteer David merits a special thanks for all his hard work.

The Wee Museum remains in situ on the second floor beside Britannia but will move to another unit at some point in 2024 – we do not know where or when as yet. Packing up, moving and then unpacking and setting out in a new space will be interesting and challenging but the move should give us the opportunity to review the layout, as well as selecting what objects and materials will be included in the displays. Naomi will keep us organised with how we approach this slightly daunting task. We obviously aim to maintain a welcoming venue that visitors will continue to find interesting and engaging, as well as memory provoking, wherever we are located.

Wee Museum of Memory – still next to Britannia.

Throughout this year we have had a very varied diet of events and projects. John and Joyce have held regular drop-in sessions. John held reminiscence sessions on Tuesday afternoons, and Joyce’s Thursday morning activity group combined reminiscence with crafts, art, exercises, singing, slide shows, music, circus skills, and customs and traditions. They both also took sessions for visiting groups from a variety of organisatiobusy ns including: Wardie Gentle Walking group, Pilmeny Older People’s group, Healthy Together, Rotary Club Dalkeith, Beacon Club, Pilmeny Development Group, Portobello Older People’s Project, St Anne’s Care Home, International Women’s Group, and Friendship Group.

The extended and improved memory boxes have proved popular and are being borrowed on a regular basis. The School Bag remains the most popular, and has been used in some schools as well as other community groups. The bags and boxes have been used by different groups including: Celtic FC Foundation, Heart of Newhaven, and Pilmeny Ladies Club.

The studio has been well used by Barry and Russell recording and editing podcasts. Conor, our musician summer intern, also re-edited some earlier podcasts, demonstrating great technical, as well as composing, skills. Raj has been in recording and editing Sikh Stories, and Barry has mentored and trained the Nkula Health project to record and edit their reminiscences. He has also spearheaded our increased social media presence with Facebook posts and short Tiktok videos featuring some staff and a few of our regular volunteers: there has been some friendly rivalry over the numbers of viewers each video gets but there is no doubt Sofia and Stuart are top of the league.

Russell has been busy interviewing and recording, doing outreach talks and creating an engaging display in the ‘Away for the Messages’ unit. There are plans afoot to do more work on the inside area and recreate a ‘shop-like’ environment, so there will be plenty to see on the ground floor.

We are grateful to have had regular help from a range of volunteers over the year, with a few being mentored by Naomi and Russell to help with collection management or displays. Although some have finished their time with us and returned to university, we hope that more recent volunteers continue to show interest in helping at LMA/Wee Museum of Memory and our projects.

David has maintained the photo archive, updating information on existing images and entering new donations. He’s also extremely handy at moving shelving units and other bits of furniture. The Wee Hub booking calendar and weekly What’s On programme was co-ordinated and produced by Delphine.This was quite a feat of timetabling and patience, so a massive thank you to her and hope she enjoys a well-deserved quietish month or two.

Beside us all is, of course, Heather who was also very involved with overseeing the events and programme at the Wee Hub. With Caroline, she is currently negotiating access to, and use of, the new wee Wee Hub at Wagamama as well as the the Wee Play Hub in what was French Connection, so no rest there yet. And of course, throughout the year Heather and other staff have been completing many, many grant applications in order to fund our various projects so that the Living Memory Association can continue reminiscing with visitors. It’s been a busy year right enough.

Here’s to more in 2024!

A new chapter for The Wee Hub

It doesn’t seem that long ago that I wrote a blog announcing we would be managing the empty Debenham’s as a community art and heritage space. What a lot has happened since January 2022!

The Wee Hub will be closing its doors at its current location on
October 27th 2023, but we will definitely be back! Thanks to the fantastic support of Ocean Terminal, The Wee Hub is on the move.

When the idea was first proposed it had only a vague shape or concept, nothing was set in concrete – apart from the basic building. Many voices threw around ideas and questions about how to use the space, what kind of tenants or users might want to be involved, how would we manage and administer the overall project? Art and artists, music and musicians, children’s playareas, heritage and history…all kinds of everything but where to start? At the beginning there was a lot of clearing to be done before it could be used by visitors and other groups. Hard graft put in by the initial team, and it was all hands on deck to shift units and other furnishings, painting and reconfiguring. We had some Kickstarter-funded young people to help help create a lively welcoming atmosphere in what was initially a huge, sad and abandoned shop.

Some of the organisations who arrived in the early months remained with us to the end: Salle Holyrood Fencing, Tinderbox, Thistle Model Railway, Pianodrome, and Think Circus. These groups have held events and workshops, and put on performances. We have had dance classes – line dancing was a hit with David and Delphine – and dance displays. Circus skills sessions with spinning plates and hoola hoops were popular on Friday afternoons with visitors, both young and old(er). Classes to learn English were attended by some of the Ukrainians who were housed on the ship after the Russian invasion. Although no longer living on the ship, the Ukrainians have continued to use the Hub and held a national celebration day and ran a kids’ summer club. The children’s play area – The Wee Hoppers – has always been popular with parents and children; a safe indoor place to run around, play with bikes and trikes, exploring the pirate ship and generally making a lot of noise.

There was a whole community of mannequins left behind once Debenhams left and the offer to pick one to decorate or dress was taken up by nursery groups, individuals, and other groups, including the Edinburgh Festival Carnival whose mannequins were dressed in amazing costumes featuring vast amounts of feathers and sparkles!

There were still a lot of mannequins hiding in the store rooms.

The Wee Hub has seen performances of music and drama: Forth Children’s Theatre put on a panto, The Claremont Players entertained us with music, visitors would give us a tune on one of the pianos or accordions, and in The Wee Hub record spot anyone could pick a 45 or 33 record from the selection and play it was all to hear.

Art and artists have also been a regular feature in the Hub. Photographs of conflict in Ukraine to photos taken by Musselburgh Camera Club. Paintings and drawings produced by, amongst several, Hannah, Ewan, and Delphine. Alan Abstract, recycling plastic found in the store rooms, has created an amazing range of work. He has held workshops both in the Hub and with our Thursday activity group, and has now started exhibiting his work elsewhere. David, another artist working with recycled materials, created a short film ‘Metamorphosis’ about the Hub showing how it evolved from a vacant shell into a vibrant hub. Kerry has worked with textiles and her crochet class will migrate up to the Wee Museum.

Brian has displayed his many Picasso inspired paintings and lots of visitors and regulars designed and painted the ceiling tiles as part of our farewell to The Wee Hub. These colourful, daft, weird, thoughtful, delightful, wild, crazy, brilliant, abstract, clever, unique squares are a metaphor for the crazy, wild project that is The Wee Hub. An amazing and exciting community project that has offered a safe space and opportunity to do lots of things…and make lots of memories.

We can’t wait to welcome you back soon in our new space! You will find us on the second floor in the former Wagamama restaurant space. We’ll resume our weekly programme of activities in the coming months.

We know how much the children’s play area meant to many of you. We are working on recreating that beloved space in a new unit within the centre.

Thank you for being a part of The Wee Hub community, and stay tuned for more updates!

Our new display…

We are introducing a new display area in the Wee Museum of Memory which will focus on a particular theme each month. The themes, and objects to support them, will be selected by different members of staff or volunteer to reflect their personal interests in the topic or the objects themselves.

This month’s theme was chosen by one of our volunteers Hayley, who has been helping Naomi with the collections, in particular the Queen Edinburgh Project. Hayley is studying history at the University of Stirling and has been voluteering with us for some months. The objects that Hayley has selected all relate to youth organisations such as Guiding and the Boys’ Brigade. She was herelf involved with Guiding for many years, from Rainbows, to Brownies, Guides, and then as a Young Leader with a Rainbow group.

We have quite a lot of material culture related to these organisations in the our collections which has been donated over the years, including: uniforms, hats, belts, badges, books, and programmes.

Hayley has chosen a Brownie Uniform from the 1970s which shows a yellow cross-over tie with a white metal trefoil badge. The girl who wore this uniform was in the Imps and was a sixer. She was also awarded quite a few merit or proficiency badges. The Girl Guide

uniform is older – from the early 1960s – with the traditional pale blue triangular scarf folded into a neck tie and pinned with a white metal trefoil badge. The donor also gained a few proficiency badges including laundress, child nurse, and cook.

Merit or proficiency badges were a key element of youth organisations and we have a board with all the badges that were awarded to May, one of our regular visitors. May was at boarding school in Dollar and was in 1st Dollar B. Company. She was in the Nightingale patrol, and gained seventeen proficiency badges, including fitness, gymnast, cyclist, hiker, country dancer, reader, cook and needlewoman. These badges sum up well what we learned about May in later years: she was a very active lady who had trained as a physio, she liked cooking and was an excellent needlewoman who also knitted and crocheted – she taught some of us how to do both, although we never managed to reach her level of skill.

Hayley also selected a few objects about the Boys’ Brigade from our collection – notably a Pill Box hat which many will associate with the BBs – a leather belt with a yellow metal buckle, and an arm band with some metal proficiency badges including: Leadership, Physical, Adventure, and Interests. The selection of badges we have here is from the later twentieth century, possibly the 1980s.

Boy’s Brigade Pill Box hat, badges and belt.

Many key youth organisations started in the late nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries and are still going today. They have had to adapt and evolve over the years, responding to changes in social habits and preferences. The display that Hayley has chosen reflects some of the changes in uniforms between the 1960s and 1980s, but also highlights that offering opportunities and developing skills for young people is still important for all of these organisations. The display demonstrates our ethos at the Wee Museum of Memory: to reflect lived experiences and living memories of social history through the twentieth century, for all ages, young and old.

Pop in and share your memories…perhaps you remember or took part in The Gang Show which was a yearly event at the King’s Theatre?

‘Away for the messages’

Good news…

We have started a new reminiscence project about shopping and retail. Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the project focuses on memories about, and the changing nature and use of retail space in, Edinburgh and beyond. For the next eighteenth months, Russell and Heather will be gathering memories, experiences, photographs and objects related to different shops and retail outlets.

Based in the ground floor at Ocean Terminal, the longer-term plan is to re-create an old-fashioned shop – complete with counters and shelves, and scales for weighing shopping. If anyone has an old till they are not using, we would love to borrow it. This space will welcome visitors of all ages to pop in, and reminisce and interact with the displays. Russell hopes that children will be encouraged to use the scales to work out how much potatoes weigh – or learn how to flip a paper poke containing sweeties!

Currently the space is open and displaying some of the material that we already had in our photo archive and collections. Maybe you recognise some of these images? Maybe you worked as a delivery boy like this lad below from 1960? Or maybe you got deliveries from the butcher this way?

Do you remember going to get your messages from a provisions shop like this one on Marchmont Road? The photo is from 1925, and the shop assistant is very formal in his attire, with his buttoned-up tan coat (probably made of heavy duty cotton) and collar and tie. The customer looks as if he might be purchasing some Melrose’s tea – as there appears to be plenty of promotional advertising for this beverage.

Provision merchant, Marchmont Road, 1925.

This photo of Meyer’s shop and bar, on Iona Street, from 1923 shows the family shop stocked a ‘high class’ food stuff, certainly one that might appeal to younger customers: Cadbury’s and Fry’s chocolate. Judging by the large jars in the window they likely sold other confectionary as well – boilings, rock, bonbons, licorice etc – which could be purchased by weight. Perhaps they also had the option of choosing a certain number of sweets for a ha-penny or penny, which was very popular with children when they wanted to spend their pocket money? Penny Dainties, Fruit Salad, LuckyPotatoes, Flying Saucers, Toffee Doddles, Rhubard Rock, Raspberry Ripples…what was your favourite? Again the shop owners/assistants are wearing aprons and shirt and ties.

Russell has been collecting new images and memories from visitors and through social media, so our shop-related collection is growing.

Some of our followers on social media identified this shop as being located at 23 Cadzow Place and the proprietor as A. Berger. It was a ‘Wholesale and Retail Fruit Merchants and Confectioners’ and the shop advertised itself as being ‘The Jaffa King’. This grocer’s shop appears to stock a wide range of fresh fruit and veg – Golden Delicious, Granny Smiths, and potatoes are priced in the window, and he is holding a cawliflower – as well as plenty tinned goods. In the window you can spot several varieties of Heinz goods, a tin of haggis, as well as cans of Lilt (The Totally Tropical Taste), Fanta, CocaCola and Cariba (Pineapple and Grapefruit?).

This photo shows Herbert Nisbet and his daughter June, in 1970, outside their shop JA Nisbet, Glass & China merchants at 75a George Street. You can see a sign in the window advising about them moving to Rose Street. Russell’s interview with June about Nisbet’s, will be included in one of our future podcasts.

A ‘self-service’ St. Cuthbert’s Association Store on Nicolson Street, (undated).

No project about shopping would be complete without memories about the co-op. Whether you remember St Cuthbert’s in Edinburgh, The Provident in Leith, or ELCO in East Lothian, the co-operative movement has had a huge impact on retail trends. The co-op was able to supply food and services from the cradle to the grave. Clothes – especially school uniforms – furniture, electrical goods, linens, butcher, baker – maybe even candlestick maker – fruit, veg, dairy, right through to funeral services, the co-op was the go-to for many families. The divi that was added to the member’s book with every purchase was a convenient way of saving a few extra pennies or pounds. Who remembers their mum’s divi number? Many of our visitors are able to recite this number straight off with little promting.

The picture of the St Cuthbert’s on Nicolson Street, shows the shift from being served by the shop assistant from behind the counter to self service, where the customer would take their purchases straight from the shelves and pay for it all at the check-out. The staff are still all dressed in quite formal white uniform coats. From this picture it looks as if the till operators were female and the men were in more of a supervisory role, which might well have been the case in the late ’50s and early ’60s. Self-service shops were introduced by St Cuthbert’s around 1958 and, of course, are very recognisable to today’s shoppers.

Russell has already interviewed a number of visitors to the unit and has put together the first of ‘Away for the Messages’ podcasts. It can be listened to using this link https://thelivingmemoryassociation.libsyn.com/away-for-the-messages-episode-1

If you have any memories, photos or other material about shops and shopping that you would like to share pop in to any of our units at OT or email us: comhist@googlemail.com