Newton Nursery 1936
Images courtesy of Alan Duncan, Nursery Manager, Newton Nursery from a small collection of around 20 6x4 inch glass negatives that are stored at the nursery office and date from 1936. The land for the nursery was purchased by the forestry Commission in 1931 and the nursery formed very shortly after.
The glass plate of this image was not seen but an image was recovered from an attached CD and as the backgrounds are similar it is assumed that it came from a 1936 glass plate. The time of year is a little difficult to ascertain as the trees are in full leaf, ground is being ploughed, an unknown nursery worker is tilthing some areas of rough soil and in other photographs there are numerous straw stacks built in the farm yards. Could it be a warm late October day? The worker houses are again in the background.
Can anyone name the worker and the type of cultivator he is using?
A note in the Forestry Commission newsletter The Slasher No 309 in 1981 clarifies the name - 'Sandy Rose also had memories of the nursery and was the first tenant to “flit” into the newly built FC house at Newton, being transferred from Monaughty Forest. Mr Rose also mentions the man operating the rotovator in the 1930s photograph was the late Willie Gerrard, RSM of the 6th Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders.'
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Groups: Forest Nurseries, Forestry Areas, Forestry in Action