Table of Contents

CONTENTSIntroduction and Acknowledgements 1PART 11.Kirkcaldy: A Cradle of Scottish Engineering 112.William Main Melville 233.Robert Burt Brodie 28PART 21.Apprenticeships in the Thirties and Forties 452.The Wartime Years, 1939-1945 543.Apprenticeships in the Fifties and Sixties 604.Health and Safety 875.Machines and Tools of the Trade 916.Sport, Leisure and Social Life. 1077.Unity is Strength 1158.The National Apprentices' Strike 1179.Another Eventful Year 12710.High days, Holidays and Seein in the Bells 13011.Ringing the Changes at Melville-Brodie Engineering Company 13512.Job Satisfaction 143viiiAppendix 1 Timeline 147Appendix 2 Newspaper Clips 148Appendix 3 Summary of Holdings of Melville-Brodie 158Appendix 4 Indenture: James Bayne,20 September 1926 161Appendix 5 Indenture: Robert Thomson,14 January 1935165Appendix 6 Owners, Engineers and Employees 167Photographic Acknowledgements 169References 175

About the Author

MARGARET BENNETTprize-winning author, well known singer and broadcaster. She has written extensively about Scottish folklore and culture at home and abroad and her eleven books include Scottish Customs from the Cradle to the Grave. She is the recipient of several honours including The Celtic Women International Award (2003), Honorary Life Fellow of the Association of Scottish Literary Studies (2010), Honorary Doctor of Music (2010, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow), le 'Prix du Quebec' (2011) and the Royal Scottish Academy has recently appointed her Honorary Professor Antiquities (2012).