Staff Stories
To celebrate our 90th birthday we want to talk about some of the amazing people who have helped us get to where we are now. You can read our staff stories below which stretch all the way back to 1933.
If you have a story to share or any information at all, then please click the button below to get in touch.
- James Turnbull (affectionately known as Jimmy) was a foreman at Melrose and Sons – another engineering firm in Hawick - before starting Turnbull & Aitken with Adam Aitken in 1933.
- Former apprentice Robert Cairns described this as, “... a bold step considering the country was in a state of depression.”
- When James Turnbull and Adam Aitken started the company in 1933, a large purpose-built engineering works was opened on commercial Road. The premises consisted of two overhead cranes, 10 units of heavy and light machinery, a forge, a millwright station and its own electric power plant.
- Turnbull put £790 of his own money into the business when it was formed.
- Adam Aitken worked for Melrose and Sons, an engineering works in Hawick, before leaving to create Turnbull & Aitken with his colleague James Turnbull in 1933.
- When James Turnbull and Adam Aitken started the company in 1933, a large purpose-built engineering works was opened on commercial Road. The premises consisted of two overhead cranes, 10 units of heavy and light machinery, a forge, a millwright station and its own electric power plant.
- Aitken put £200 into the business when it was first formed.
- He was thought to be involved with the admin side of the business before leaving around 1955 under mysterious circumstances. At this point the name was changed to Turnbull & Scott.
- Turnbull & Aitken was officially formed in 1933 thanks to the two founders and other people who backed the inception of the business with their own money. One of these backers was a man called Charlie Scott.
- Scott invested £550 into the business when first formed.
- In 1955 amid controversial circumstances, Adam Aitken resigned from his position and financial backer Charlie Scott took over. This led to the name becoming the iconic Turnbull & Scott.
- Former apprentice Robert Cairns was able to speak about how Turnbull & Scott, then Turnbull & Aitken, started and share exceptional details which tell us more about our origins.
- Robert recalls that when James Turnbull and Adam Aitken started the company in 1933, a large purpose-built engineering works was opened on commercial Road. The premises consisted of two overhead cranes, 10 units of heavy and light machinery, a forge, a millwright station and its own electric power plant.
- After the Hawick floods in 1938, Turnbull & Aitken were given the contract to replace the damaged Victoria and Mansfield Bridges. Mr. Cairns was so proud of his work that during construction in 1939, he concealed a written record in the metal work. 53 years later when the regional council in Hawick learned of the note, they invited Robert to the final stages of the bridge’s demolition where the note was revealed.
- Even as far back as the 1930s we were committed to the development and learning of our staff. Robert Cairns cites that, “After a period of time, if a lad appeared to realise what it was all about and takes an interest, they were encouraged and given the opportunity to use his initiative and accept responsibility. The result… a well-rounded young engineer familiar with the elements of practical engineering and able to meet any challenge.” This appetite for learning and development is one of our key values today.
- When Robert left Turnbull & Aitken, he went on to work in the marine industry. He proudly told Hawick News that he was able to use his practical grounding and skills which he learned as an apprentice, throughout his career.
- Started engineering apprenticeship at Turnbull & Aitken in 1951. He used to cycle over 5 miles to get to work.
- Mike tells us that James Turnbull (affectionately known as Jimmy) was a foreman at Melrose and sons – another engineering firm in Hawick before starting Turnbull & Aitken
- Mike recalls that Adam Aitken was involved with the admin side of the business before leaving around 1955 under mysterious circumstances. At this point the name was changed to Turnbull & Scott.
- A big part of the role for Mike and the other engineers was looking after boilers and steam engines which drove the machinery in mills such as Watsons.
- While reminiscing about past projects, Mike stated “We built a pedestrian bridge over the river at Burnfoot and T&S would take on almost anything”.
- Mike went on to praise the expansive training and development which engineers got. He commented, “there was a blacksmith shop, carpenters and we also did welding. We had a very broad education!”
- After five years at Turnbull & Scott, Mike moved on and became a marine engineer at the Navy. He served all over the world before retiring in 1997.
- Started as an apprentice straight from school at the age of 15 years old.
- When we reached out to Tom, he hadn't realised Turnbull & Scott were still around! Since then he has reached out to former employee Jim Scott to catch-up.
- Tom fondly recalls having very varied work and projects while at Turnbull & Scott and praised the "all-round training" which the apprentices got.
- Joined us 6 months after leaving school in 1952.
- From a young age, Jim had an interest in metal and mechanical work. He would help make horse shoes with a local blacksmith.
- Jim found his time with T&S taught him a wide variety of skills and experiences which included working on steam engines, boilers, generator engine servicing and more.
- In his time with the company, Jim worked with one of the founders James Turnbull and called him a "brilliant man" and is glad his legacy lives on through the company today.
- In his time with the company, Jim recalls working alongside former rugby player, George Stevenson.
- Jim left in 1958 to do national service duty which was common at the time. To this day, Jim speaks fondly of his time with Turnbull & Scott.
- After leaving the company Jim worked in leather factories in places across the world such as Uganda, Bangladesh, Kenya and Tanzania. Despite this, Jim actually returned to T&S briefly for six months in 1968 to help with re-tubing boilers. In this time he worked with apprentice Pat Gary.
- Pat joined in January 1967. He never had a formal interview as such but instead recalls an informal chat with Charlie Scott and Robbie Rae who said that Pat was the right size to fit in a boiler!
- Pat remembers there were 5 tradesmen and 7 apprentices at this time.
- His memorable jobs were shafts/rollers and painting the inside of a boiler with Geordie Johnstone.
- When Adam Aitken left the company, Pat remembers one of our vans being taken away for paintwork and coming back with Charlie Scott’s name on it!
- Pat fondly remembers being supplied with plenty of sweets from R. T. Smith/Sugar Mountain next door! This was the sweet factory that invented the Hawick Ball, a sweet made famous by the late Bill McLaren.
- John joined Turnbull & Scott from Cochran’s, Annan
- He brought 6 or 7 men with him and 2 vans as well. These additions to the workforce were responsible for installation throughout the country for T&S.
- Pat Gary & Ian Tinlin describe John as a very kind, thoughtful man who had the full respect of the workforce. Frances, his wife, was a director and had responsibility for publicity and Quality Assurance manuals.
- Ian joined Turnbull & Scott in January 1971 after being interviewed by John Scott, son of Charlie Scott.
- At the time there were 40 in the workforce.
- Ian recalls working on many jobs and projects which include: Scotland Yard, Science Museum, Didcot/Sellafield, many distilleries, and repeatedly having to go into the bell tower at St. Cuthbert’s church!
- Cliff Rowe already knew John Wallace when he joined Turnbull & Scott
- T&S were stockists of the now iconic Thermolier.
- During a challenging period when the company went into administration, Cliff got in touch with John and that was when John bought the Thermolier completely, keeping Cliff on as a Sales Director.
- Jim started in August 1983 with a “youth training scheme” placement, shortly before his 17th birthday. In Christmas 1983 he was offered an apprenticeship and started a full-time engineering course at college thereafter.
- Showing an aptitude for technical drawing, he began helping in the drawing office during busy periods in 1986, mainly working on heat exchanger drawings.
- The first big project which Jim worked on was a mezzanine floor in the warehouse at Langholm Dyers, where he surveyed, drew, fabricated and put up the steel on the project.
- Most of his apprenticeship was spent working alongside Pat Garry who had a wealth of engineering knowledge, not just machining but fabrication and installation also. The mezzanine floor job at Langholm led to further projects in the dyehouse. This included the installation of batch dye pots and replacing 4” hot and cold-water lines amongst others which lasted over 2 years. Jim commented on this time saying, “I never thought I was going to get out of Langholm!”.
- During the late 1980’s Jim started learning to estimate, as well as drawing, which ended his “shop floor” career. Turnbull & Scott attained ISO9000 registration during this time which became Jim’s responsibility.
- Jim has travelled all over the country on projects in paper mills, salt plants, aircraft companies and of course nuclear plants. He stated, “It’s the variety of what we do and manufacture which keeps the interest”.
- Our current Managing Director led the buyout of the business from Cliff Rowe and John Rafferty.
- The deal included making a number of staff shareholders and later he introduced a trust to hold shares on behalf of employees.
- Originally from Ireland where he trained in finance Peter has lived in Scotland since 1995 when his manufacturing experience started.
- Peter is still the current MD so we wont say much more until the next update...
If anyone has any information about the man on the left then please click here.
We found a picture of him but would love to know his story and history with Turnbull & Scott.
Questions? Please call +44 (0)1450 372053 or send us an enquiry.