April 2018 – The Shed gets title to the Skeoch

On 7 th March Geoff Allison & Alan Mazza travelled to the home of Archie & Betty Sinclair (the daughter & son-in-law of James Skeoch) in Helensburgh where they were met by Fiona Sinclair who handed over the letter transferring title of the whole Skeoch project to Dalbeattie Men’s Shed, at the same time parts of a 1928 Riley 9 car were donated to the Shed for fundraising purposes.

On Tuesday 27 th March Geoff Allison & Fiona Sinclair made a joint presentation on the Skeoch Project to the STICK SSN (Scottish Technology & Industry Conservation & Knowledge Specialist Subject Network) in the Greenock Heritage Centre in the hopes that the network members (who are largely professional conservators, archivists and museum managers) could provide some support to the project. At this meeting Fiona Sinclair handed over .pdf files of the original Skeoch drawings and an original Skeoch radiator badge.

On 20th April, a visit to Beamish Museum (near Stanley, Co Durham) by Shed Members and Dalbeattie Museum to view their Black Prince cycle car did not yield any significant data for the Skeoch project despite the otherwise informative and pleasant trip.

On 25th April Dr Laura Jones attended the Shed for a visit and to interview Officers about the Shed in general and the Skeoch project in particular (see July report for her article).

Cash donations to the project were made by T. Olley (in recognition of a Skeoch radiator badge gifted to him by Fiona Sinclair), and by Legion Scotland (Dalbeattie Branch).