Jim Stephen, Alec Badenoch and myself were all selected for international duty at Bridge of Allan.
I remember I was quoted in the Evening Express at great length. I was certainly fired up for the game. I said: ‘It is always a great honour to be selected for Scotland, and this match – which we like to refer to as a “serious friendly” – means a great deal to us. Our defeat by just five shots last year was really hard to swallow, particularly as we were going for a hat-trick of wins. So everyone is really keyed up and out to get revenge on home territory. It’s bound to be a tough match as England have a very strong association – we only have twenty-one jails to choose from, while they have 121. But we have to go into the game confident. The team played a practice match at Bridge of Allan recently and although we lost, it was a very useful exercise.’
Thankfully we managed to get the trophy back and ensured it remained in Scotland for another twelve months, and I wasn’t left with egg on my face. We won 124 shots to ninety-five to make it a pretty comprehensive victory.
I was quoted again by the Evening Express. I added: ‘Defeat last year was a bitter pill to swallow and we certainly didn’t want to lose at home this time. That spurred us on. A few of the English team said they were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of our team.’
All of the team got decent local press exposure. It was also added to, at that time, by the Green Final, which was the local Saturday evening results newspaper. That is now very much a thing of the past in Scotland, with everything pretty much at your fingertips thanks to television, radio, computers, tablets and the internet. You can now see the goals and games as they happen but back then you struggled to get match reports.
The Green Final was also good to give extra spots to your maybe lesser sports. It was certainly a welcome outlet for the Aberdeen bowling scene. They did a good article with Johnny Annand back in 1997 as he prepared to make his debut for the Scottish Prison Service. That year we were to travel south of the border with Rugby the chosen venue by our English hosts. The newspaper article came complete with a photograph of the team: John, Alex Badenoch, Gordon Tough, who was making his international debut, and myself.
John was quoted widely. He said: ‘You always look to do your best against any team, but facing England adds that extra little something. Every Scot wants to put one over on the Sassenachs. Having spoken to some of the team in competitions this year, they feel we can go down there and do it because we are better organised than ever. To beat them on their own patch really would be something because they are sure to be that wee bit stronger.’
That proved to be another successful away day for the Scottish Prison team. We won in Rugby by forty-eight shots to take a 4–1 lead over our English counterparts. I also got in on the act. I spoke to the Evening Express in the wake of our win. I confirmed: ‘The team spirit on the bus on the way down to Rugby was just amazing and I just couldn’t see us losing it. We really went in with a very professional attitude this time around. There were a number of lessons learned from our last trip to England. We had a team meeting in the morning and did a wee huddle in the middle of the green. Everyone knew what we had to do. And any socialising before the game had been kept to a minimum.’
Another victory at Rugby was even more special. I was presented with a special plaque as one of only four players to have played for the Scottish Prison Service ten times. It was another great honour and was something of a surprise when my teammates got round me to make the presentation. I honestly didn’t realise I had played that many times for Scotland and it really was a surprise albeit a rather pleasant one – especially after our win.
I continued to play for Scotland and in the bowling competitions after I had retired from the Scottish Prison Service, which was a good way for me to keep in touch with a lot of my former colleagues.
Centenary Celebrations
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The Centenary
We had all our plans in place to make 1991 a year to remember and to make it a centenary celebration worthy of marking 100 years of Her Majesty’s Prison Aberdeen. The prison had its own mission statement, and the centenary committee had one of its own aswell, both running parallel to each other.
The mission statement of HMP Aberdeen was:
We inspire to an environment in which dignity, respect and humanity all prevail; developing a range of options which allows each individual to achieve their full potential within an atmosphere that fosters good inter-personal relationships and a spirit of shared enterprise; within a framework of humane containment we aim to create for both staff and inmates alike an organisation with a management style which is open and accountable, just and safe for all.
The centenary year committee’s mission statement was :
The aim of the Centenary Year Committee is to provide a series of events which will provide fun, entertainment and fund-raising in the build-up to 9th June, 1991, when we will commemorate the initial transportation of male and female convicts dressed in a typical garb of that period across the city of Aberdeen from the Old East Prison to Craiginches in Torry, turning the old 1891 flitting into 1991 entertainment.
The ultimate aim is for a ‘Good time to be had by all.’
The centenary committee held several meetings. We had started to look at how we could mark the occasion. We put several things in place but we quickly realised with the way things were taking off the committee was never going to be able to cope with everything on its own.
We knew we needed more help so we asked for officers to become involved with the committee. That would be the only way we would be able to realise our dream because it was going to be such a massive project. We also had a prisoner on the committee because we thought it was important to give the prisoners an input.
We had several meetings and discussions as to the things we could do to mark the centenary. One of the original and main ideas was to try and locate the original Black Maria, a horse-drawn prison cart, and to try and restore it to its prime. We knew that was a long shot and if we couldn’t get the original one then we wanted to get one of the same period that we could use because we knew it could be central to the festivities. That turned into a story in itself that I will go into in greater detail later on and that project was taken on by Allan Grant, assisted by Ernie Christie.
It was agreed that 9th June 1991 would be at the heart of the celebrations, as it was 100 years to the day since Craiginches had been put into service. It was a day in Craiginches’ history that we couldn’t let pass without marking it as a special event.
So we agreed that we would re-enact that first journey of the Black Maria from the city jail to Craiginches. The idea was to get people dressed up in period costume and to make it a day to remember.
We also wanted to return the prison bell that was removed after the rooftop protest, and our other thought was to get a centenary plaque to mark the prison’s first 100 years.
Everything took a lot of hard work and planning.
We kicked off the centenary party at the Castlegate, at the top end of Union Street in Aberdeen city centre. We had traditional prison stocks and a number of entertainers on duty. The Buchan Heritage Society performed some bothy ballads then a local folk band, Broke-In-Spoke, did some numbers. There were also fine performances from the Bon Accord Cloggies dance group and a firefighting display from Grampian Fire Brigade. So we had a diverse range of entertainment for everyone.
We also got a lot of the local schools involved to do a number of poetry readings. That kept things ticking over to the main event – the re-enactment of the maiden journey to Craiginches. Our officers, Allan Grant and Bill Stephen, were decked out in old Victorian prison uniforms and led the procession. The Black Maria was led by an Irish cob horse called June which we had borrowed from the Duthie Park.
The only thing we were lacking was a prisoner. So we locked the local television personality and radio disc jockey, Robin Galloway, up in the Black Maria, along with local entertainer, Jim Rosie, and took them from
the Castlegate back to the prison.
Robin was on Northsound One at the time. He took a keen interest in our work and how things were progressing. He gave us a lot of publicity and that was why we asked if he would be our prisoner for the day in our centenary event. The Black Maria headed a cavalcade of vintage vehicles that followed in the parade back to the prison.
Speaking to the Press and Journal, I said: ‘It was a beautiful climax to a lot of hard work which was put in by a lot of people.’We held a sports day that ended with a barbecue for the prisoners. The prisoners did various runs, activities and sporting events. They loved it because it was a break from the normal mundane prison routine. The prison staff, headed by Norrie Page and his other kitchen staff, did the barbecue, which again gave them something different from the more traditional prison food.
We also wanted a permanent reminder of the centenary stone in the front wall of the prison beside the entrance. So Alex Gray, the works boss, got a special stone engraved. On our arrival back from the parade the Scottish Prison Service deputy director Alan Walker unveiled a Granite stone commemorating the prison’s 100th birthday.
Alan made a major statement with his speech ahead of the unveiling. He said: ‘Aberdeen prison is the ”jewel in the crown of the Scottish Prison Service.”’ I have to say it was a humbling statement for all the staff and committee members who had worked so hard and put so much effort into making Craiginches the success it was.
Alan also wrote a letter to the governor Leslie McBain to thank him for the hospitality that had been shown to him and his wife during his visit.
He wrote:
I should like to express my appreciation to you and your staff for the friendly and courteous manner in which you looked after my wife and I at your recent centenary celebrations. Perhaps you would allow me, through the medium of your Governors Order Book, to express my commendation to all members of staff, especially Mr Glennie.
Every element appeared to work so well from the routine administration to the unveiling ceremony and I am aware these matters were the result of extremely careful and thorough planning and are not left to chance.
On our way home we experienced torrential rain the like of which I have not seen since my days in Africa. I was a little puzzled why it held off during the ceremony. It did cross my mind that perhaps the Salvation Army and members of Aberdeen Prison had negotiated the timing of the rain with a ‘higher place’.
Thank you again
Alan Walker
As part of our centenary year we also opened a shop unit in Aberdeen’s Trinity Shopping Centre.
It allowed us to display some of the memorabilia that we had collected or had been donated to Craiginches through the years.
There was an empty unit within the Trinity Centre so we just approached their management and explained why we wanted the shop and asked if we could have it. Thankfully, they agreed and we got it rent-free.
We had to fall back on Alex Gray again because it was just a shell, left over from the previous occupants of the shop. Alex got involved and got some of his tradesmen up to our unit in the centre. They kitted it out, allowing us to have our exhibition. Alex was such a valuable member of our team and the contribution his tradesmen made to our cause was fantastic. We had hundreds and hundreds of people visit the display and they were amazed at what went on in the prison. They, like most others, thought Craiginches held prisoners and that was it.
We put out all our prison memorabilia and photographs to give people a real flavour of things at Craiginches. We were also assisted by the Scottish Prison Service Training College, who had a tremendous collection in its own archives. Peterhead Prison also helped. They gave us a matchstick model of St Machar’s Cathedral in Aberdeen. It was solely made out of matchsticks by a prisoner. It was quite a common pastime amongst inmates. It was also a real skill.
Bill Fearnley, who was a deputy director for training and organisational development support for the Scottish Prison Service, also paid Craiginches a visit in our centenary. He seemed to be impressed with our shop unit. He later sent a letter to our governor, Leslie McBain. It read:
After all the earlier trials and tribulations, my reception yesterday by you and your colleagues and the valuable insights I got into what makes training tick at Aberdeen (and other things which might help to make the tick louder) meant a very enjoyable and wholly worthwhile visit. Thank you and please convey my gratitude to everyone concerned.
John Watt (to whom I have also written) has probably told you that we went to the centenary exhibition to round off my visit. I thought the exhibition had everything – visual appeal, excellent exhibits, a telling message and two worthwhile causes to support. I have to congratulate Bryan Glennie and his organising committee on their superb production.
Yours sincerely
Bill Fearnley
The other thing we wanted to do was to get the prison bell back up. The big brass bell had been out of commission for near enough twenty years after our infamous rooftop protest of 1972. It had been kept in storage since it was removed. It was all polished, cleaned and gleaming when it was put back up with all its original fittings at the entrance to A Hall.
The other major event we had organised was a centenary dinner dance. We held the event at the Douglas Hotel in Market Street. More than 200 staff, ex-colleagues and others from Peterhead and further afield attended. It was another great night and was more of a reward for the staff and those involved with the prison.
37
Black Maria
O, Black Maria, I love you;
Mony’s the time ye’ve hurlt me when I’ve been fu.
Seven an’ seven’s fourteen, an’ seven’s twenty one.
An’ I’ve been aff ti Craigie-aigie-inches in the four-wheeled van.
A letter was published in the Press and Journal newspaper from an elderly gentleman called Ian Bremner from Leslie, Fife, who remembered this song being sung as a child by a travelling entertainer in his local village hall.
When we got the committee together for our centenary, we wanted something with links to Craiginches from the very early years.
It was very much a celebration of then and now and we wanted to portray that. So we had to think long and hard as to what we could incorporate into our plans to give the general reflection of the prison through the years.
Allan Grant, who was on the committee, was doing a bit about the history of the prison for our landmark project. He quickly found the Black Maria was very prominent in the history of Craiginches. It was a horse-drawn prison cart that used to transport the prisoners from the city court to the jail or between jails. It was used by the prison service and also by the police. The Black Maria was first introduced into the United Kingdom in the 1820s. It was first used at Craiginches around 1891 to take the prisoners on the roughly two-mile trip from the court to the prison.
The main body of the Black Maria was made of wood and was fitted to carry six prisoners in small individual cells. It had no windows, with a small roof ventilator offering limited air.
The Black Maria’s name goes back to America in the 1840s. It centres round Maria Lee, who was the black owner of a lodging house in Boston, Massachusetts.
The story goes that she was always on to the police and authorities, letting them know when one of her residents or somebody in the community was up to no good. She was basically an informant.
The police horse and two-wheeled cart was always at her door so that it got the nickname Black Maria, both in the United States of America and in the United Kingdom.
Allan took a keen interest in our own Black Maria. He knew the prison used to have one and tried to find out what had happened to it. Allan worked closely with the Grampian Police historian and made real inroads to the whereabouts of our own original Black Maria.
Amazingly, he managed to discover its actual whereabouts. That in itself was a major feat because most of us thought the Black Maria would have long since been scrapped. It was discovered ou
t in Peterculter, thanks to some homework the police historian had done.
There was a fair bit of excitement about his discovery but that quickly disappeared when we went out to have a look at the Black Maria. It is fair to say it wasn’t in the best of conditions. It was an absolute wreck and any restoration dreams looked a near impossibility. All the wooden panels were wrecked, with broken roof felt everywhere and damp throughout.
It was no wonder the Black Maria was out in a farmer’s yard and was being used as a makeshift henhouse. The Black Maria as I have explained had history but this particular one had had a less conventional one in recent years.
After it had been put out of commission it was used as a garden shed and even had a sink fitted inside it. Then it was moved out to Peterculter during the Second World War.
It had been initially used as a farmyard store but by the time we had got there it had been relegated to a chicken coup. In fairness, I don’t even know if it was fit for that!
We then went and spoke to the local farmer who owned the Black Maria. We had a prisoner on the committee and we actually took him out with us to see the Black Maria. His comments and reaction when he first saw it pretty much sums up the state it was in. He had us all just about doubled up with laughter when he said: ‘What the hell is this? What are we meant to do with this?’ The members of the committee explained they were looking to get the Black Maria back but the farmer was having none of it. He just said he didn’t want to sell it. It wasn’t as if it was a family heirloom that was going to make him thousands of pounds in the future. We were actually doing him and his chickens a favour!
Craiginches Page 16
