I read an article about the annual exhibition staged by Burntisland Heritage Trust. This year's topic was the shipbuilding heritage of the coastal town. I'm interested in all forms of transport and industrial heritage, so I decided to go along and see what was on offer. The premises of the Heritage Trust are located on Kirkgate, just off the High Street.
The exhibition was spread over three galleries. One room featured a collection of model ships that had been assembled by local resident Brian Dean (1937 - 2021). A native Tynesider and keen sailor, Brian spent a good chunk of his married life in Fife. He worked as an orthopaedic surgeon until his retiral in 1997. Impressive as Brian's resumé was, I'm not a great fan of scale models and I wandered over to the next display. This was more my cup of tea. A history of the Burntisland Shipbuilding Company that traded between 1918 and 1969. In the 19th century, Burntisland was a major port for the exportation of coal and there was a cross-river boat train link with Granton, discontinued in 1891 when the Forth Bridge opened. The town had also been the centre of the Forth herring industry. Brothers Wilfred and Amos Ayre founded the shipyard in 1918 and an eight-mile power cable was laid from Dunfermline, which also benefitted the town. The shipyard produced regular journals throughout its lifetime which meant there was plenty of accurate information available to the curators of the exhibition. Over 300 vessels were built and the yard offered several recreation clubs for the workers. The construction berths could accommodate ships up to 450 feet long and the first boat was launched in 1919. The yard was equipped with the latest technology and excellent rail and cranage facilities were available. Throughout the 20s and 30s, Burntisland produced a steady supply of "tramp" steamers - a workhorse of the seas that had no fixed route and carried a wide assortment of cargo, including occasional passengers. The First World War was ongoing when Burntisland began trading and the government placed an order for three cargo ships. Heavy losses due to submarine attacks had necessitated an extensive building programme and the ships were to be of a simple standardised type, to enable them to be delivered relatively quickly. As it turned out, the hostilities ended before Burntisland could hand over the vessels and they were privately sold instead. Wilfrid Ayre developed the "economy ship" which reduced fuel consumption by up to 50%. This allowed the yard to survive the Great Depression as there was considerable demand for transport with lower running costs. With the growing need for electricity in the early 20th century, power stations were built along the banks of the Thames to serve the southeast of England. Due to the number of bridges crossing the river, a ship with a low profile and collapsible masts and funnel was required. Burntisland built 16 of the so-called flat irons to enable the London turbines to be fuelled by coal. The firm reported having a full order book in 1939. Burntisland had carved out a niche, supplying specialised cargo ships.
The company had a stand at the 1938 Empire Exhibition in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow. A mock-up of a ship's bow dominated the display and the marketing message was that careful design of hulls for effective propulsion meant you didn't have to sacrifice an attractive appearance. The yard's wartime output exceeded that of any other on the east coast of Scotland. A total of 62 ships were launched during the conflict, totalling almost 400,000 tons. Prefabricated designs were created for the Merchant Navy, who had the difficult and dangerous task of crossing U-boat infested waters to carry supplies to and from friendly ports. By 1942, the Allies were losing 70 merchant ships per month in the North Atlantic alone. Wilfrid Ayre was appointed as a government advisor and his team came up with the idea of converting merchant vessels to aircraft carriers, to provide the much-needed defensive cover. Burntisland Shipyard was modified in the early 1960s to allow the construction of larger boats. Cargo liners became the new project but this move ultimately led to the yard over-extending itself. M.V Ohrmazd had the highest passenger capacity of any ship to be built at Burntisland. Launched in 1967, she proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back as protracted wrangling with the customer resulted in expensive penalty clauses being triggered, from which the yard never really recovered. The company went into liquidation at the end of 1968 and 800 workers were made redundant. The site was subsequently used to build platforms for oil rigs and by the 21st century, the dock complex was occupied by Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab) - building jackets for offshore wind turbines. Alas, this venture collapsed in 2020. The name Burntisland Shipyard lives on through the town's football team, who occasionally qualify for the Scottish Cup. The final gallery contained information about John Key & Sons, who ran the Abden Shipyard a few miles outside Burntisland between 1864 and 1884. I had a look at this material then crossed the street to enter another museum that was hosting its annual summer exhibition. I met up here with Nicole, who had been visiting a few of the town's independent shops. Tales of old ocean-going vessels not really being her thing.
The Museum of Communications is located on the High Street and the theme for this year is radio and television broadcasting, marking 100 years of BBC programmes. Open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from May until the end of September, the interior of the museum is larger than you might imagine. It was my first visit and I made my way up the stairs to the main display area. Naturally the story beings with radio and the airwaves reigned supreme until the mid-50s, when sales of TV sets took off. Cheap crystal receivers were a useful entry point to the new technology but were only really suitable for one person as the weak output could only power a single pair of headphones. The advent of the loudspeaker enabled the whole family to listen simultaneously. Power was often supplied by an accumulator (a wet battery that required regular charging) and I recall my gran talking about such arrangements. My early childhood listening was facilitated by my dad's bulky valve radio from the 1950s. It was too large to be classed as portable, although moving the unit from room to room was easy enough. The valves took a while to warm up and there was an audible hum before the speaker spluttered into life. Lightweight transistor radios were widely available from the 1960s onwards and I used to take a pocket-sized "tranny" on holiday and to football matches (to find out the results from around the country). People often talked about listening to the wireless, but that phrase seems to have disappeared. The Radio Times magazine was launched in 1923 and is still going strong as a viewing and listening guide. I read it every week via my digital subscription package. The first public demonstration of television was conducted by John Logie Baird, one of several Scotsmen who made great advances in communications technology. Ultimately his system wasn't chosen as the industry standard but Logie Baird remains the founding father of the small screen. Scheduled broadcasting began in 1936 and the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953 accelerated public demand. ITV came onstream in 1955 and BBC Two followed in 1964. The three-channel model remained in place until 1982, when Channel 4 started (I remember the first broadcast). Meanwhile, radio broadcast quality benefitted from the introduction of FM stations, which could handle stereo sound. Colour television was commonplace by the late 1960s, although you had to purchase (or rent) a new set in order to upgrade. Interestingly, cheap black & white portables were still popular in the 80s. I had one in my bedroom and was still using it as late as 1996 in my student teacher digs. The mid-70s saw the emergence of local commercial radio channels and teletext information systems.
Home video recorders became affordable to the masses in the early 1980s and I vividly recall racing home from primary school to see our Betamax machine in action. This format lost the war with VHS, which went on to dominate personal recording for the next couple of decades. Eventually the digital age arrived, meaning programmes could be saved to DVD and hard disk. As always, there was a transition period and I was still using VHS tapes alongside my first DVD player, which was incapable of recording. Satellite TV dramatically increased the number of available channels and "council telly" also offered way more choice as the Freeview digital platform was rolled out. Nowadays we are rapidly growing accustomed to watching shows and movies on demand via the multitude of streaming services that compete for our cash. Indeed, the concept of scheduled broadcasting is largely alien to today's teenager. Although the BBC has always moved with the times, the funding model is firmly wedded to the past. I can't see how the licence fee can continue in its present form beyond the next major review in 2027. The average age of a regular BBC One viewer is now over 60. Even the BBC Three channel - conceived with the intention of attracting a younger crowd - is predominately patronised by 40-somethings. Radio remains strong and the internet age has connected broadcasters to the whole world. The museum galleries also showcased other forms of communication, such as record players, manual telephone switchboards and Morse code equipment. A veritable treasure trove of machinery with something for everyone. We did encounter a volunteer guide was was rather overbearing, but he meant well. Nine out of ten for this place. Free admission (with donations welcome).
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