The general and the artist

Jul 16 2010 by Alison Lowson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

THINK of a country that is racing to become a major power in the new globalised economy.

Men, women and children are forced off their small farms to work as cheap labour in new factories where safety standards are low, leading to serious accidents.

Many workers don’t even know the language spoken by the people giving the orders, but are banned from speaking their own tongue during their 5.30am to 7pm shifts.

The country is Scotland, the forbidden language is Gaelic, the place is Stanley Mills near Perth, and the year is 1786.

The story of the early days of Stanley, and of how Highlanders dispossessed in the Clearances were recruited to run the new water-powered cotton mills on the Tay, is a gripping one.

But more than 200 years later it can be hard to imagine what it was like for the people going through it all.

However the award-winning Walking Theatre Company will soon be taking us back to the 18th Century with a specially-written play by Sadie Dixon-Spain called Whispers in the Water.

Visitors to our visitor centre are put in the place of a party of fresh recruits, meeting bosses and workers, who tell them everything that’s going on – in English and some Gaelic.

One of the great things about the play is that it’s not all goodies and baddies.

Some of the bosses believe wholeheartedly that industrialisation, progress and international trade will bring real benefits for all – they want to sweep aside what they see as primitive old ways.

Similarly, while many workers faced a future of hard grind, low pay, disease and cultural destruction, there were a few who found new opportunities and thrived.

The play is just one of many activities and tours taking place over the summer, and which offer families a welcome opportunity for a good-value day out in the summer holidays.

And they are all included in the standard ticket price.

Whispers in the Water is performed at 2pm on July 31, August 11 and 28, September 8, 16 and 24.

Then there are costumed tours where you can meet Colonel Frank Stewart Sandeman, a passionate innovator who used the latest technology to make Stanley Mills a profitable enterprise, and Janet Scott, a mill worker of 1838.

Welcome news for parents is that there are School’s Out activities throughout the long vacation.

Mondays are for arts, Tuesdays for building water wheels and machines, Thursdays for toys and games and Fridays are nature days.

On top of all this we’ll be running guided tours, including the chance to look round our artefact stores which are packed with machinery and equipment from the mills’ past.

Give us a call on 01738 828268 to find out more.