29178: Dairy Classes in Balallan
This article was written by Margaret A Macleod, Balallan and was published in the 2004 Dioghlum (Kinloch Historical Society).
It is interesting to note that in The Highland News of 1900, an Archdeacon in an address on training of girls observed that one of the features of the times was the lack of domestic servants and good cooks in particular. He stated that a good cook ranked equal to a good mistress (wife) and that cooks had the advantage in the ‘marriage market’. "When a prudent young man found a nice young woman who could make a good meal, he should be thoroughly satisfied. Those homes were most comfortable where an ex-cook reigned as wife", so he observed.
Perhaps this was in mind when Miss Mackinnon undertook a night class for young women. Annie Mackinnon, Halfway House, Balallan was the youngest daughter of Kenneth and Augusta Mackinnon. Her father Kenneth was an elder in Kinloch Free Church for 40 years, served on the Lochs School Board and later the Education Authority, in which capacity he inspected Balallan School regularly as is evident from the School Log Book. Annie was a monitor at Balallan School, along with Miss Maggie Martin who was a Pupil teacher and Mr Peter Clemenson, Headmaster who had come from Greenock to take charge of the school.
By 1908, having been a pupil teacher for eight years, not only was Annie teaching the 3Rs to the youngest children but she was also taking a Domestic Science course with the older girls. In 2004, nearly a hundred years later, when Halfway House was being renovated and an old wall cupboard was being dismantled, two of Miss Mackinnon’s hand written notebooks were found containing her cookery notes and recipes dated 1908 and also notes on dairy making dated June 1914. An entry in the School Log Book for 25 June 1914 reads; "Miss Bannatyne, NDU has arranged to have a class in Dairying and Cheese making for young women. The class which is to receive 12 lessons meets four nights weekly at 8pm".
An entry dated 29 August 1911 was on the subject of Cleaning the Range, a most important chore of most households, although in Kinloch the arrival of the range was still to come. These were written in the neat copperplate writing of the time; every page numbered and the contents indexed. The lessons continued on subjects including "How to boil, poach and scramble eggs". Way before her time – Annie was a veritable Delia Smith!
As was the custom, the headmaster supervised her training and Annie eventually gained the status of Assistant Teacher. She continued teaching in Balallan until her retirement in the early 1950s.
Details
- Record Type:
- Story, Report or Tradition
- Record Maintained by:
- CECL
Related Media
Balallan Dairy Class, 1914
Old wooden butter churn