Winchburgh
5th
March 2010:
The P6
& P7 students have been learning about the importance
of the shale oil industry heritage to the village of Winchburgh.
By learning about the rich history of the village, they have
also been taking part in the Shale Villages project by learning
how to undertake oral history projects and have been conducting
interviews individually with family members with memories
of the shale times and with notable people from Winchburgh
being interviewed by the entire class at the school. The interviews
are contributing to the developing living memory archive held
at the museum.
As a part of understanding the scale of the industry, the
class were given a guided tour of the museum by Linlithgow-based
railway and shale oil historian, Harry Knox.
To celebrate the shale oil history of the village the class
are also working with Scottish folk singer Gill Bowman to
create new folk songs about the industry using the oral history
interviews combined with the learned history. By celebrating
the memory of the shale industry in this way, the Holy Family
Primary School are making a significant contribution to ensuring
the legacy of the shale industry is not forgotten from the
village of Winchburgh.
13th
October 2009:
From
an initial public meeting there has been a great response.
Within a short period of time the village created a steering
group as it quickly became apparent that there were going
to be many heritage-based projects in and around Winchburgh.
From the first steering group meeting there is scope for four
projects, coordinated through the steering group, to be undertaken
as part of the Shale Villages Project. There will be a combination
of: heritage web site, archival research, photography and
oral history.
From
the initial Steering Group meeting, the Acting Head Teacher
of Holy Family Primary School, Lizamaria Marzella invited
local historian Andrew Pettie, to give a talk to the school
students on his research on the village and on his own personal
experiences and anecdotes. The talk took place on 8 October
2009 at the school and was a great success.
Tom Bryce
is a former electrical engineer and is conducting research
on the development of the Niddry Castle Oil Works and the
supporting electric railway. As well as archival research
Tom has been in contact and with Bill Headridge, a former
“pug” driver on the Winchburgh Tramway. Tom and
Bill came to the Shale Oil Museum and Tom started his interview
process with Bill, who was a driver in the 1950s. |
