Ernie Christie, another of the committee, and Allan Grant finally persuaded the farmer to hand it over, although it cost us £10 for the pleasure. I would love to say it was a bargain. It wasn’t back then but looking back now it has proved to be something of a real snip.
So with the transaction completed, we went out to Peterculter with Ernie’s trailer and took the Black Maria back home. When we got back to Craiginches and saw the extent of the work we had to do we were left wondering if it was really going to be worth it. Was there any chance of restoring this battered old cart to its former glory? Remember this was about a year before the centenary celebrations and we didn’t have long to deliver.
We didn’t really know where to start. We were just thankful George MacAllan, the work shed boss at the prison, managed to empty an out-shed for us to store the Black Maria. Alex Gray, the works boss, was a huge help. He even gave us the use of his tradesmen and they all worked on it for weeks and weeks and started to get it repaired. Allan Grant had also continued his own research and he found a craftsman at Stonehaven who made two brand new wheel hubs for us, including all the individual wooden spokes, before he got somebody else from Pitcaple in Aberdeenshire to donate a metal wheel axle. We also got a blacksmith from Kirkton of Skene to finish the wheels off by putting the metal rims round them. Things were suddenly beginning to take shape and the impossible was looking possible.
Once we got the bodywork all done and the wheels sorted they took it down to a company called Gemini in Stonehaven to get it painted its trademark black. They also managed to get the royal emblems painted on the side panels. It was a major operation and took months.
We were lucky we had so many skilled tradesmen at our disposal in the prison. Allan also made sure he had everything in hand when it came to sourcing the more troublesome parts. We were also able to dip into the prison’s common goods fund. It was money that was available to help good causes or things which would help raise the profile of the prison. The governor, Leslie McBain, took care of that for us.
Allan in particular took the Black Maria as his own project and he gave it his all. Everyone can now see the end product and it is fair to say he and everyone connected with the restoration did themselves and the prison proud.
The Black Maria was central to our celebrations and actually became a bit of a minor celebrity in its own right. It even appeared in the BBC drama Micawber, which starred David Jason and was filmed in Edinburgh.
After the centenary celebrations were done and dusted, we wondered what we would do with the Black Maria. It was initially put on display at various sites across the North-east, including the Transport Museum out at Alford.
The Prison Museum at Inverary had earlier posted an interest in the Black Maria and requested it be put there. It was refused at that point as there were events at Irvine in Ayrshire and Fraserburgh Festival for horse-drawn vintage vehicles that it had been booked to attend that year.
After that it was kept in storage at our sister prison, HMP Peterhead, because we had nowhere to keep it at Craiginches. It remained in the Blue Toon until it was announced that both remaining prisons were to close.
The decision about what to do with the restored Black Maria was left to Archie Orr, a Principal Officer at Craiginches. The two remaining lads on the committee, Ernie Christie and Allan Mackinnon, had moved on to the open prison at Noranside, and Allan Grant, who had restored it, and I had both retired from the service. After all the work that went in to restoring it, it was a big decision. We wanted to make sure it was looked after and shown off in all its glory, not left to go to wrack and ruin like had happened when it was initially put out of commission all those years ago. Ernie and Allan left instructions with Archie to contact Inverary to see if they were still interested and, if so, they could arrange to have it picked up and taken down. They also knew if the Black Maria was left in the prison when the demolishing teams came in it would end up with the same fate as the old prisons themselves. We had done a lot of work and they wanted people to continue to see it in its full glory. They didn’t want to see it falling into disrepair as had happened in the first instance.
It was no surprise that Inverary Prison agreed to take the Black Maria because they knew it would be a real Jewel in their Crown.
It may sound a match made in heaven but there was one small headache. How were they going to get the Black Maria into Inverary? That was a minor operation in itself. The vintage cart was lifted over the 12-foot prison walls by a hired crane because there were no double doors or entrances big enough to roll it directly in. It is now situated in the courtyard of the prison.
38
Centenary Beneficiaries
The centenary was a celebration, but we also saw it as a key vehicle through which we could help others. From the centenary book for Her Majesty’s Prison Aberdeen:
We specialists in the care of offenders are going all out to raise money in support of Aberdeen’s indispensable Childhood Leukaemia Unit because we believe that if, through our efforts, treatment can be improved for just one child, then our fund-raising will be worthwhile.
Based in Ward 4 of Aberdeen Sick Children’s Hospital, it administers treatment to children from Grampian, Orkney, Shetland, and Highland regions. This valuable facility not only specialises in the care of children, it also cares for the family relationships of the young Leukaemia victims and uses its awareness of all the implications which that fatal disease will have for the family unit to strengthen the fortitude of its members.
The fight against leukaemia was always one that pulled on the heartstrings at HMP Aberdeen. When it came to our centenary fund-raising it quickly came to the fore again. This time we decided to try and raise money for child sufferers. So we got in touch with Aberdeen Royal Infirmary again and they put us in touch with Ward 4.
They explained how it would make a big difference to their patients if they were able to bring in a couple of PC2 dual volumetric pumps. They were pumps which allowed nurses and the patients to set the precise dosage of any drugs that were being administered. We raised £3,000 and then a further £1,500.
As well as the equipment, we also raised money for Ward 4, which was one of the children’s wards at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. We had close links with Ward 4. They came through an officer whose wife worked with sick kids. It all kicked off when she asked if we could come along and entertain the ward one afternoon.
Bill Duncan, who did the disco at our centenary dance, also did a bit of amateur magician work on the side. I got him on board and we would go up and take sweets and balloons and play games and entertain the children for an hour or two at a time over the space of a good few months.
I used to come out and sit in the car and put my head in my hands and a few tears used to fall after we had been with them and it’s something I am not ashamed to tell you. I was so touched by them. Some of the children were battling for their lives with illnesses like leukaemia and cancer but the welcome and spirit they gave you when you were there was just unbelievable. They had something special about them. They continued with life as if there was nothing wrong with them.
It was heartbreaking because you would find out that this boy or girl had passed away since your last visit.
It was from there we started to raise more funds for Ward 4. It touched the prison staff and it was clear that this was another project for which we didn’t have any problems raising money. We raised money initially for drips.
A lot of the money from the centenary celebrations went to Ward 4. We had all the usual fund-raisers and also one with a difference. You were able to pour a bucket of porridge over an officer’s head in the Trinity Centre for a £1 donation. All the money from there went to Ward 4.
39
The Royal Seal of Approval
We were all delighted with the way HMP Aberdeen’s centenary had been marked. It was celebrated in some style, there had been no doubt about that. A lot of hard work and planning had gone into making it the undoubted success
it had been. We were happy with what we had done and didn’t think there was much more we could have done to cap things off until we got an unexpected and a more than welcome surprise dropping through the letter box at Craiginches.
Her Royal Highness Princess Royal wasn’t for letting the prison, or myself, down after all. An official letter with the royal seal was delivered and confirmed Princess Anne had booked in several official engagements in Aberdeen. We were all thrilled to learn that a visit to Craiginches was one of them. She was to visit a fish processing plant first, then the prison and she was to sign off her day in the North-east by attending a centenary service at St Mark’s Church. The joke from the minister at St Mark’s, Reverend John Watson, that day was that the three places Princess Anne had visited were known locally as ‘education, salvation and damnation’.
We had always hoped we would get Princess Anne. We couldn’t quite believe it when the governor, Bill Rattray, told us of her intended visit. I was still in a bit of shock but at the same time I was absolutely delighted because I knew how massive a thing it was and it would be an unforgettable day in the history of the prison.
The news certainly helped to lift the obvious lull around Craiginches after all the excitement of the centenary had started to fade away. It was a great boost but it also meant more work for us, not that we were complaining, as the Centenary Links Committee went back to the drawing board to see if we could put a plan of action in place for our special guest.
We were still active with our fund-raising efforts but we wanted to make it a day to remember for the Princess Royal and to make sure Craiginches lived up to all the hype. I had told her all about the things we had done and were doing in our previous meetings and conversations together at the Butler Trust Awards and then at Bute House.
When you speak to Princess Anne she is a lovely, caring person and very accommodating. I was disappointed when we couldn’t get her up for our centenary but when I look back things probably worked out even better with the visit coming after the centenary. We had more than enough to attend to with the celebrations. The good thing was that the following year the prison was back to near normality and we were able to put more time and organisation into our royal visit.
We had to get our side of things sorted out and worked in tandem with the police and the royals’ security chiefs. They had planned everything for Princess Anne and, in all honesty, it was just like a normal day at the prison, outside of the things we had organised for the visit, which we were told would probably be no more than a couple of hours.
We sat down as a committee and with governor to try and think of the best things we could do to show her the good work that we had done and were doing in and around Craiginches. The governor, Bill Rattray, was going to take her for a walk round the workshops of the prison and then after that we would show her the Black Maria and she would sign off by unveiling a special plaque to commemorate her visit. Whistle-stop would be a fair description as we had so many things to fit in.
We did all our pre-planning and made sure everything was ready for Princess Anne. We decided to make full use of the photographs and things from our slide show that we took out into the community. We also had photographs up from the Butler Trust Award ceremony but believe me that was the governor’s doing. They had nothing to do with me. The visit was confirmed for 20th March 1992.
So when the Princess Royal came into the prison she was welcomed by the governor and he then led her into the prison chapel to begin her tour. We had set out the visual displays in the chapel with a sample of some of the arts and crafts that were produced within the workshops of the prison, including football and army camouflage and items from the knitting shop, which showed her the quality of the work done in prison.
We then put some further photographs, pictures and displays up around the chapel. They showed all the work the prisoners had done up at Burn O’Vat and Balmedie Beach in our outside projects.
I had quite a chat with Princess Anne, as we shared some time in the chapel. She was especially impressed with the outside projects we had managed to get the prisoners involved in. Seeing all the photographs of the prisoners at work and then the finished projects made it that bit more real. It allowed her to get more of a flavour of things. She insisted the work we had done had been fantastic and she admitted it would be great if more prisons adopted similar projects and engagements with their outside communities.
We then took the Princess on a tour around the prison, including the workshops. Some of the prisoners, as you may recall, made bow fenders for the Asgard II when it came to Aberdeen for the Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race. We were also aware the Princess Royal had recently purchased a new boat of her own, named the Blue Doublet. It was named Doublet as that was the horse on which she won the European Eventing Championships back in 1971.
George MacAllan, the boss of the main work shed, decided it would be a good idea to make special bow fenders for the latest addition to the royal fleet. They made a great job of them but we’d come to expect nothing less from them. He then put the bow fenders proudly on display in the chapel. He left them hanging up so the Princess Royal could see them when she walked round the room. She looked around and then set her gaze on the bow fenders. George waited a couple of minutes then asked her: ‘Do you like them?’ She replied in the affirmative and he said: ’I am relieved about that because we made them for you, as a thank you for visiting the prison.’ Princess Anne was delighted. That brought a massive smile to her face and George turned to one of her following aides and said: ‘You better make sure there is plenty of room in the boot of the car for these.’
The kitchen staff then provided everybody with tea and coffee and Princess Anne cut a cake which had been specially baked for the event.
Princess Anne was then told about some of the other work we carried out before she was taken out to the courtyard to see our pride and joy – the Black Maria. The Black Maria was out again in its full glory. We had it all polished and cleaned and again had got a loan of a horse from the Duthie Park. We harnessed the horse up to the Black Maria inside the inner gate of the prison. We also got some of the male and female staff, Ernie Christie and Tracy Riddoch, dressed up in the period uniforms we had used for the centenary.
We put photographs on display inside the Black Maria from when it had been used as a hen house and then through the various stages of its restoration. It just showed her the work we had painstakingly put in. She had a good look around it and she had her picture taken with it too. She took a great interest and really couldn’t believe the transformation in the Black Maria. Not many people could.
She then unveiled a plaque inside the gate reception area of the prison which stated the date of her visit and also a board that listed all the previous governors at Craiginches. They were both nice and lasting tributes. One of the female office staff, Kim Garland, then presented Princess Anne with a bouquet and she had her official press photographs taken. Her final engagement was to sign our visitors’ book. There were a few more snaps of that taken and then she said her thank yous and farewells and was on her way, with her flowers, bow fenders and more importantly her Aitken’s rowies. I had nipped round to get a special box of rowies made up from Mrs Aitken. I was not going to let Princess Anne go home without them. It just made sure it was the perfect day for her and everybody else at HMP Aberdeen.
I think the day was summed up when my colleague and my fellow bowler, Gordon Tough, retired. Huntly-born Gordon worked as a senior catering officer at Craiginches for more than thirty years. The Press and Journal newspaper did a piece on Gordon as he hung up his cooking apron and chef’s hat for good.
He said: ‘My highlight, just before I retired, was being introduced to Princess Anne when she visited the prison. That, for me, says everything and what Princess Anne’s visit meant to everyone at Craiginches.’
It was the same when we lost the ever resourceful Alex Gray from our ranks. He had been a massive influence at the prison and a major driving forc
e on the centenary committee. We would never have managed without his help. Alex decided to take on a promotion and moved down to the Central Belt to take charge of the Polmont Young Offender’s Institute Works Department.
We knew we had to give Alex a send-off to remember. So we got the Black Maria, which he had helped us to restore, and took photographs of Alex sitting on it. We also presented Alex with a framed photograph of Princess Anne being shown round the Black Maria that day. So it is fair to say her visit lives long in the lives of most of the staff.
The End
40
My Retirement
I was working down at the Scottish Prison Service College at Polmont, near Falkirk, on another secondment. That was back in 1995. One of the tutors had broken his ankle and I was asked to fill in by my old friend George Laird. I enjoyed going down to the training college because it was a lot different from my daily work at Craiginches. I went down as cover and ended up down there for even longer than I had thought! While the officer had been off recovering from his accident he had ended up landing another post as an assistant governor at Craiginches. I am not sure if he was classing that as a lucky break or not! But it could have been a lot worse.
When I was down covering we had a departmental visit from the head office. I remember it was quite a big thing and all the tutors were lined up to be introduced. There was also a member of staff from the Scottish Prison Service’s personnel department. This gentleman, I can’t remember his name but he was high up in the personnel department of the Scottish Prison Service, shook my hand and asked about my service, where I had been and worked. We got speaking and I gave him a brief history of my career in the prison service. I then told him how I had worked with the Post Office before that and how I had managed to transfer my service from there.
Craiginches Page 17
