Fiona Davidson
@learninghoolet.bsky.social
Learning Officer; Scots speaker; LEGO whisperer; interests in archaeology & industrial history; waterwheel nerd; in wi the bricks @StanleyMills/ Aw views ma ain.
Ok @magnifyzoology.bsky.social - 1st time in 5 years of #museum30 you’ve got me stumped with a prompt! Cannae find a connection atween #mural & Stanley Mills! So here’s an image of a mural fae yin of ma learning projects. St Tenew on a Glesgae gable end thit we yaised for the Thaney’s Haven project.
November 28, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Ok @magnifyzoology.bsky.social - 1st time in 5 years of #museum30 you’ve got me stumped with a prompt! Cannae find a connection atween #mural & Stanley Mills! So here’s an image of a mural fae yin of ma learning projects. St Tenew on a Glesgae gable end thit we yaised for the Thaney’s Haven project.
#museum30 Day 27 prompt is #achievement Ou were fair chuffed this year when oor Stories in Scots at Stanley Mills project wi the P2/3 bairns fae Stanley PS was shortlisted for a Scots Language Award. It was great fir aw the effort pit in by the bairns & cless teacher tae be recognised. 😊
November 27, 2025 at 2:10 PM
#museum30 Day 27 prompt is #achievement Ou were fair chuffed this year when oor Stories in Scots at Stanley Mills project wi the P2/3 bairns fae Stanley PS was shortlisted for a Scots Language Award. It was great fir aw the effort pit in by the bairns & cless teacher tae be recognised. 😊
#museum30 Day 26 prompt is #moving Moving materials, whether raw or finished goods, was integral to the cotton process. Stanley Mills has all sorts of objects that were created to move cotton from yin part of the mill to another - from slubbing cans on wheels to hide skin bogeys!
November 26, 2025 at 9:01 AM
#museum30 Day 25 prompt is #danger The first workers at Stanley Mills were Gaelic speakers. It was a dangerous (Gaelic = cunnart) working environment: moving machine parts to cotton dust, noise to risk of fires. This panel from yin of oor community textile projects was created by Murthly WI.
November 25, 2025 at 9:46 PM
#Museum30 Day 24 prompt is #specialist From drama to storytelling, historic re-enactment to craftwork, specialists have been integral to bringing Stanley Mills history to life for learners, creating memorable and engaging experiences for all ages.
November 24, 2025 at 2:47 PM
#Museum30 Day 24 prompt is #specialist From drama to storytelling, historic re-enactment to craftwork, specialists have been integral to bringing Stanley Mills history to life for learners, creating memorable and engaging experiences for all ages.
#museum30 Day 22 prompt is #walk the majority of the millworkers at Stanley Mills lived in Stanley village - which was created for the workers. When the bell rang to start work, they would walk doon mill brae often arm in airm . At the end of the day, it must have been a thought to walk back up!
November 22, 2025 at 8:48 AM
#museum30 Day 20 is #Diary. James Boswell, biographer & diarist, records meeting up with George Dempster MP (an early investor & key figure at Stanley Mills) & another Scot, Andrew Erskine, in London to see a new Tragedy called Elvira's - though they'd already decided to damn the play in advance!
November 20, 2025 at 1:54 PM
#museum30 Day 19 prompt is #magic. There used to be ‘fairy ring’ behind Stanley Mills. They were said to be magical places where fairies danced in a circle. If you stepped in yin, you’d be made to dance til exhaustion. This millworker clearly wasnae feart! Rings are caused by an underground fungus.
November 19, 2025 at 10:15 AM
#Museum30 Day 18 prompt is #photographs There‘a no many photaes of folk who lived or worked at HES properties. But ou have them for Stanley Mills! Glass plates showing the construction of the hydro scheme in the 1920s were donated by the Culbert family, many of whom worked at the mill.
November 18, 2025 at 6:39 PM
#Museum30 Day 18 prompt is #photographs There‘a no many photaes of folk who lived or worked at HES properties. But ou have them for Stanley Mills! Glass plates showing the construction of the hydro scheme in the 1920s were donated by the Culbert family, many of whom worked at the mill.
#Museum30 Day 17 prompt is #making Stanley Mills made predominantly cotton products throughout its 225 year history. Specialising in niche products ensured it outlived its competitors into the late 20th century. These included narrow tape for cigarette factories & heavy duty belting for factories.
November 17, 2025 at 1:15 PM
#museum30 Day16 prompt is #Last12Months has involved lots of community engagement at Stanley Mills, starting with oor mill themed tree at Stanley PS Xmas Tree Fair & including a LEGO mosaic for Mills weekend, a Pop Up display, Soup Club talks & visit, & activities for National Play Day & Maths Week.
November 16, 2025 at 12:46 PM
#museum30 Day16 prompt is #Last12Months has involved lots of community engagement at Stanley Mills, starting with oor mill themed tree at Stanley PS Xmas Tree Fair & including a LEGO mosaic for Mills weekend, a Pop Up display, Soup Club talks & visit, & activities for National Play Day & Maths Week.
#museum30 Day 15 prompt is #kindness During WWII, Stanley Mills took 3p a week from the wages of millworkers like Nell Hannah, for Comfort Boxes for troops. Nell nominated a man she yince dated who had joined the navy. He received a box, it led to a marriage proposal (which was accepted!) 😊
November 15, 2025 at 4:39 PM
#museum30 Day 14 prompt is #heavy . The design of the Bell Mill at Stanley Mills is all aboot process, with some of the biggest & heaviest machinery on the lowest floors. Yin of the heaviest machines is the opening machine which broke up cotton - it’s now in oor Artefact Room - on the 4th floor!!
November 14, 2025 at 8:50 AM
He also picked up a braw pair of socks when he was there. For his feet… 😄🍏🧦
November 13, 2025 at 4:45 PM
He also picked up a braw pair of socks when he was there. For his feet… 😄🍏🧦
#museum30 Day 13 prompt is #background This is Hamish, yin of oor knitted soft toy dolls produced by the Stanley WI ladies as part of a community textile project at Stanley Mills. He went to Finland as part of a storytelling exchange! Here he is with Vapriikki museum in Tampere in the background!
November 13, 2025 at 8:34 AM
#museum30 Day 13 prompt is #background This is Hamish, yin of oor knitted soft toy dolls produced by the Stanley WI ladies as part of a community textile project at Stanley Mills. He went to Finland as part of a storytelling exchange! Here he is with Vapriikki museum in Tampere in the background!
#museum30 Day 12 theme is #digital Yin of the first learning resources developed at Stanley Mills, back in 2008, was digital. But as ou aw ken, digital technology moves quickly, and the software used to create (and support) it became obsolete - much like the waterwheel technology used at the mill!
November 12, 2025 at 4:16 PM
#museum30 Day 11 prompt is #reflection and taking it literally, this iconic shot of Stanley Mills, in Perthshire has the Bell Mill reflected in the water in the lade.
November 11, 2025 at 4:39 PM
#museum30 Day 11 prompt is #reflection and taking it literally, this iconic shot of Stanley Mills, in Perthshire has the Bell Mill reflected in the water in the lade.
The day's #museum30 prompt is #rainbow. There's nae end of photaes of rainbows ower historic castles - but rainbows ower Stanley Mills arelike hen's teeth! However ou've run some fab sessions for Rainbow Guide units ower the years, playing traditional games, sharing stories and trying weavin. ☺️
November 10, 2025 at 10:56 AM
#museum30 Day 9 theme is #map This close up is from a map of Perthshire created by James Stobie, factor to the Duke of Atholl, in 1787 - the year Stanley Mills opened. You can see the Bell Mill on the banks of the Tay and Stanley House to the right. It notes the names of local landowners too.
November 9, 2025 at 10:01 AM
#museum30 Day 8 (back in sync efter a double Day 5!). The theme is #stitch . Oor Community Tapestry panel is displayed in the Stanley Mills visitor centre. Made by 117 folk of aw ages, it has 13 different types of stitches and represents Stanley's links to the world & the world's links to Stanley.
November 8, 2025 at 10:52 AM
#museum30 Day 6 theme is #box . Back in the early 1800s, James Craig, the manager at Stanley Mills, received advice on running the cotton mill from David Dale & Robert Owen at New Lanark. They received boxes of salmon in return! Nowadays salmon boxes are used to store oor artefacts!
November 7, 2025 at 8:26 AM
#museum30 Day 5 is #clay. The Company set up to establish Stanley Mills, along with the inhabitants of Stanley village, were given permission by the Duke of Atholl to extract clay from local pits and to make bricks. The Bell Mill at Stanley is an early example of a brick building in Perthshire.
November 6, 2025 at 8:17 PM
#museum30 Day 5 #sharing Yin of the joys of the learning programme at Stanley Mills has been involving the former workers. This is former mechanic John Robertson sharing his stories of working in the carding room in the 1960s with families as part of a Mills, Machines & Mechanics activity day.
November 5, 2025 at 7:58 PM