A cinema in Sheffield may seem a strange place to find an outlet for the Glasgow Style, but this wonderful little programme has a story to tell. I found it quite by chance on eBay, and it is now considered so important that it is in a major exhibition.
   Dated 19 February 1914, at first it seemed a simple item of ephemera from the days when a visit to the cinema was like going to the theatre, and a programme told you all you needed to know. There are seven films, including a short demonstration of the Kinetophone - Thomas Edison’s invention for speaking pictures - with a chorus of God Save the King to round off the night. Yet this is something special: the artwork is signed by Ann Macbeth, well-known as an embroiderer and artist, who also happens to be my great aunt. 
   That she designed a programme for a cinema in Sheffield was surprising, but it appeared at first glance to be a small commission. Yet there is much more than meets the eye, and a fascinating back story which has led to it being displayed in Charles Rennie Mackintosh: Making the Glasgow Style which is currently on at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Museum.

Two years earlier, Ann Macbeth had endured imprisonment, solitary confinement and force feeding in the name of the suffragette cause. We know this because of a letter from her in the Glasgow School of Art archives, in which she thanks John Groundwater, the Secretary of the School. It is dated 11 May 1912, thanks him for his ‘kind letter’, and tells him ‘I am still very much less vigorous than I anticipated after a fortnight’s solitary imprisonment with forcible feeding - I sleep very badly - but the doctor thinks this will improve when I get away.’
   There is no record of her arrest or sentencing, which indicates she used a false name, and she never told her family – in fact we only found out a few years ago when the School of Art wrote about that letter in a blog. Consequently nobody knows what her offence was, or even where she was held in prison.
   Ann Macbeth was a committed suffragette, and like many others at the School of Art she was a member of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). She had designed a banner for the 1909 Edinburgh women’s suffrage procession, and a linen quilt with the embroidered names of hunger strikers in 1910. Yet this is a long way from engaging in militant activity.
   However, we know from the diaries of Frances Parker, chief organiser of the WSPU’s activities in Glasgow and the west of Scotland, that a group journeyed from Scotland to participate in the Union’s window-smashing campaign in London in March 1912. Around 270 properties were damaged and some 220 suffragettes arrested. Was Ann Macbeth among them?
   It is clear that her health suffered greatly from the trauma and it took her a long time to recuperate. In June, her doctor told her that she needed at least five months’ care as a ‘semi-invalid’ and the School of Art – where she was Director of Studies in Needlework and Decorative Art – was magnanimous enough to give her up to a year off her teaching duties to recover. The academic year of 1912-13 must have been hard for her, with time on her hands as she recovered from her ordeal, and this seems to have inspired her to accept a major commission from Sheffield.

The Cinema House opened in May 1913 to great fanfare, riding on the wave of enthusiasm for cinemas. Built on a prominent city-centre site in Fargate, it was ‘a shrine of cinematography’ in an extravagant classical style, with a Hathernware white glazed tower above the entrance, and a dramatic façade in the same look. It was designed to stay white, quite a statement in a grimy industrial city.
   We have no colour photos of the interior, just some grainy newspaper adverts, but there are descriptions which give a flavour of the exuberant design which was heavily marketed as the last word in luxury. On passing the pay boxes you entered a hall with seating, leading to a grand double staircase built in white and green marble. It led to the first floor tea room, decorated in shades of blue and pink with tapestries hanging from the wall.
   The auditorium, which seated 800, was grander still. It had oak panelled walls with huge tapestry panels hanging from the ceiling, showing hunting scenes. The balcony fronts and the ceiling were heavily embossed in plaster, and above the screen was a mural depicting an Elizabethan seascape. There were dark blue drapes, oak seating with blue covers and matching Wedgwood blue carpets. Below the screen was a pit for a 12-piece orchestra (sound was not installed until 1930). The tower room was fitted up as a private club.

A full page advertising feature in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, published on 3 May 1913, gushed with pride: ‘The architectural treatment of hall and foyer is Jacobean; the beautiful woven carpets and silk tapestry hangings have been designed by Miss Ann Macbeth.’
   The stained and leaded glass work was described as ‘notable for its brilliancy and clarity of tone, and the lines of the design and variety of colour schemes have given ample scope for the characteristic qualities of the material. The leaded work throughout has all been executed by the same hands from designs by Miss Ann Macbeth and Mr HE Farmer.’ The glass was made by Robertson and Russell in their Sheffield studios.
   The staircase windows had compositions of birds and flowers, while the three main windows had top sashes which showed allegorical figures: Jupiter as God of Thunder, about to cast his thunderbolt, with vipers entwined round his wrist; Ceres, as Goddess of Plenty, holding a basket of fruits; and Vulcan with hammer, anvil and arrows, symbolising the God of Fire.
   The printed matter for the cinema, including programmes, menu cards etc is ‘most artistic in design, in keeping with Miss Ann Macbeth’s design and colour scheme throughout the theatre’.
   She is not mentioned as attending the official opening of the cinema, but she would have had an opportunity to see her work when she came to Sheffield in November 1914 to deliver a lecture. The newspaper article about her talk mentioned that ‘her design may also be seen in the carpets and china of one of Sheffield’s picture houses.’
   How long Ann Macbeth’s interior designs stayed in place is hard to say, but they appear to have gone in 1928 when the cinema closed for three weeks for a complete refurbishment, with the manager quoted as saying ‘We have devised a new colour scheme in which decorations, carpeting and lighting will tastefully blend.’ He added that the directors had this ‘very necessary expenditure in view for several years’, indicating that the tapestries may well have suffered from the inevitable smoking damage, even with the cinema’s bespoke ventilation system.
   No doubt the stained glass windows survived longer, perhaps right to the end. The Cinema House had its final showing in 1961 before being demolished and the site is now occupied by offices and shops.
   I have yet to find any other examples of Ann Macbeth’s work for the Cinema House, but feel sure that there must be something out there – perhaps some ephemera, china or even a photo. In the meantime, I would encourage everyone to get along to Kelvingrove to see their great celebration of the Glasgow Style; the exhibition runs until 14 August.

Today is St Blane's Day, but don't worry, this isn't about a religious pilgrimage. Being interested in the history of Dunblane I was intrigued recently to find two fascinating links to St Blane, founder of the town, while on holiday on the west coast of Scotland.
   At the south end of the island of Bute at Kingarth is the original church of St Blane, with origins which go back over a thousand years. Tradition says that St Catan founded a monastery here in the late 6th century, and when his sister Ertha became pregnant by an unknown man, she and her newborn child, Blane, were cast adrift in a boat by the enraged Catan. They ended up in Ulster where Blane spent his first seven years before he eventually returned to Bute to be reunited with his uncle. In time, he succeeded Catan as abbot of the monastery and bishop of the surrounding area. As an adult, Blane set off for the Pictish mainland, travelling east untll he settled on a small hill next the Allan Water. Here he introduced Christianity and laid the foundations of what became Dunblane (Dun = hill). The religious community grew and the oldest parts of what is now Dunblane Cathedral were built in the 12th or 13th century.
   After the Scottish Reformation of 1560, when the Church of Scotland reformed and became Protestant, the cathedral was drastically altered and the congregation met in the smaller part, the Choir. The Nave was neglected, the roof fell in, and it remained roofless for three hundred years until a great restoration project began in 1889.  And that is where the next Dunblane connection comes in.

At the end of the Kintyre peninsula, just south of Campbeltown, is Oatfield House, a lovely old Victorian country house which is now run as a B&B. I stayed a couple of nights there. Oatfield has a wealth of history, but most unusually in the garden it has a little folly formed from a 13th century Gothic stone arch, which was installed here at the end of the 19th century.
   The then owner of Oatfield, Alexander Fleming, was somehow involved in the restoration of Dunblane Cathedral. He was a philanthropist so may have made a donation, although a likelier connection was through his work: he was a partner in the firm of William Baird & Co, as was David Wallace of Glassingall, whose widow Janet was the major benefactor of the restoration project. Anyway, the story goes that he took the arch as a souvenir after it was removed. It was not a theft, but an enterprising move as the medieval arches were so weathered that they could not be fitted with windows, and new stone arches were carved in the same style - as can be seen high up on the Cathedral today. The old arches were disposed of, and very likely they were broken up except for this one. Transporting the stone must have been quite a challenge but somehow, Fleming had it brought by land and sea to his home in Kintyre. He rebuilt the arch in his garden, where it has remained ever since.

This week I took delivery of my latest book, a history of Dunblane Football Club. I've got no illusions about it hitting the best-seller list, but I think it will be well received locally in the town. What I can be sure of is that it won't bankrupt me. Niche publications with a small print run are affordable and achievable by almost anyone these days thanks to online publishing services.
   In fact, this is the fifth book I have produced through Createspace, all pictured above. Three were my own sports history titles while the other two were for family members who had written biographies of their ancestors for private circulation.
   If you are considering something similar, perhaps a book about your town, a history of your local club, a biography or even a novel, this is my quick guide to the process. You probably won't find it easy, but the great advantage of this approach is that you are in complete control of the whole process. There are no set-up costs, you can publish quickly or at your own pace, there is no minimum order and the cost per book is low. 
 
What are the main challenges?
Researching and writing the text of your book might seem like the biggest challenge for an author. But when it comes to self-publishing you have to be proficient in MS Word to create the content of your book: this includes all sorts of fiddly things like formatting text and pictures, page numbering, chapter breaks, etc. When choosing a size for your book (eg 6x9) make sure your text is formatted at the correct size, not in the usual A4.
   You also have to design a cover, and a good cover definitely helps to boost sales. Createspace provide some fairly humdrum design templates, which are free, but if you want a quality cover you may need a tame designer. 
 
Selling your book
As Createspace is owned by Amazon, your book will automatically become available on Amazon (who will pay you royalties), which may or may not be a good thing for you. A big plus is that they provide a free ISBN and barcode. .
   Of course, you may want to sell the book directly, which makes more sense financially, but if you want people to buy from you, you need to make it easy for them. That means setting up your own website, able to accept Paypal payments. If you sell through shops, be wary of their commission charges. Whatever you do, make sure you publicise the book in any way you can!
 
A few tips
Think ahead as to what postage price band your size of book will fit in. A paperback up to about 140 pages will weigh under 250 grams, costing £1.19 to post as a 'large letter'. A little bit bigger and postage will be £1.51, but if it is much more than 200 pages, it will jump up to a 'small parcel' costing £2.80. If you are going to send out a lot of copies, buy padded envelopes in bulk – you can cut the cost dramatically.
   Printing in black and white is much much cheaper than colour. So if most of your images are mono, be aware that your costs will rise considerably if you include a few colour photos.
   As the book is published electronically, you can continue to make changes after it comes out, such as correcting a typo or adding updated information, and even change the price or the cover. Hence it is a good idea to print, say, 30 copies initially, for review and immediate contacts and see how they go; you don’t have to find storage for thousands of copies like in the old days.
   Finally, although I use Createspace, it is not for everyone, so check out other self-publishing companies such as Lulu or Lightning Source. They offer different features and your costs may be lower.

Can I help?
I know the publishing process is daunting, but the rewards are immense and I strongly recommend giving it a go. If you think you need professional help, I can offer expert advice at any stage, from commissioning an entire book or managing a specific part of the job. Just get in touch for a chat! 

As someone who travels abroad on a regular basis for work, the glamour of air travel has long since dissipated. I've got no illusions about sitting back and relaxing while cabin crew attend to my every need - all I want is my flight to run smoothly and get there on time.
   Everything else is just a process, and the whole rigmarole of getting to and from the aeroplane seems to be more and more of a challenge. I accept that security is a necessary evil, and it is hard to get too worked up about putting liquids in a clear plastic bag and emptying my pockets, although it would be nice if Edinburgh Airport could get their act together and cut the queues.
   What really annoys me these days is airport buses. It is not just the trip from the car park to the terminal, but more importantly from the boarding gate to the aircraft (or the reverse journey). These buses across the tarmac to and from the aircraft are the complete antithesis of relaxed travel: they rattle and shake, they have hardly any seats, and by the time every single person on the flight has boarded they can be more cramped than a tube train at rush hour.    Not only that, in poor weather - such as in the photo at Amsterdam above - you have to wait in the rain on the steps, cursing the people ahead of you who take an age to find their seat and carefully fold their coats before finally sitting down to let other passengers pass by.
   It can also really add to the time of the flight: for example, flights from Edinburgh to Paris land at the far side of Charles de Gaulle, take 10-15 minutes to taxi to the stance, where a bus awaits. Eventually everyone decants onto the bus, and you find that this airport has a strict rule that buses must come to a complete stop at every white line on the road; so the passengers stumble and hang on as the bus negotiates junctions, u-turns and roundabouts on the ten minute trip to the terminal, where they are discharged to passport control and the arrivals hall.
   I know, I know. It has to be this way to keep costs down and cope with the huge volume of passengers. But would it really be too much to ask for airlines to take an interest in the comfort of their customers for the whole journey, not just their time in the air?

I spent yesterday afternoon enjoying the atmosphere on the opening Sunday of the Edinburgh Festival. It's always one of my favourite times of year as there is such a feelgood factor in the city (unless you are trying to negotiate the traffic).
   The Festival is renowned as a launch pad for aspiring actors and comedians, but it was also the starting point for my own career in the media. In the late 1970s I spent my summer holidays writing reviews for publications like City Lynx and Festival Times, not only enjoying myself immensely but also providing an education in print production and a vital stash of cuttings, both of which helped me no end when it came to applying for 'real' jobs - hence my start as a graduate trainee reporter on the Scotsman.

I was working away at my desk the other day when the screen froze on my desktop PC. It was a minor annoyance, happened before, so I forced a quit and logged off. Trouble was, when I tried to log back on, I was denied access. Log-in not recognised, the message said. 
   Suddenly I had no means of accessing my work. Usually when this kind of thing happens, you can simply switch off and on, but that didn't make any difference. As the sole user of the PC, there was no alternative log-in, just a blank refusal to let me in.  My PC, my friend, had disowned me.
   A few moments of panic ensued. Was this the sudden, unexpected crash that would destroy all my work? Why hadn't I backed up any files in the past six months?  Surely there must be a way in?
   There was a way back - otherwise I might not be typing this now - but it was not easy. Using a laptop I searched for the solution, to find that this is a 'common' problem with Windows. News to me! The most popular solution involved starting the PC in Safe mode and then altering a Registry setting. It took at least ten attempts even to get Safe mode, before I found the precise time to press F8 during the reboot. I delved deep into the Registry, found the relevant box, and set it to zero. I rebooted. It didn't work.
   Another suggestion was to reset the computer to a previous time, also from Safe mode, and restore the system to how it had been 24 hours earlier. To my enormous relief, the PC whirred a lot, sprang into life and suddenly my home screen appeared. It had done the trick. I was back in business.
   If this strikes a chord with you, I can strongly recommend the series of articles on keeping your writing safe which is on the Edinburgh Non-Fiction Writers' Group website.  The 'Stranger than Fiction' group, which I have enjoyed attending from time to time, is a mightily useful forum for peer review and for exchanging exactly this kind of advice for writers, many of whom are self-employed and don't have access to corporate IT departments to fix things.
   The lesson, of course, is never to take your computer for granted. They can get sick, just like us humans, and they can die. It was a lesson well learned for me. 

When I decided to set up this website, one of the first decisions to make was what to call it. It may appear to be a no-brainer, after all my name is Andy Mitchell and my work is in Media - but a quick google threw up a wealth of potential competitors.
   Among the host of other successful Andy (or Andrew) Mitchells working in media-related roles, in football and in business there is the director of news and global media partnerships at Facebook, the news editor at Radio Wave in Blackpool, and the managing director of video advertising platform BrightRoll, or a product designer. Outside the media sector, I have to fight for online presence with a former Rangers footballer, the head physiotherapist at Wigan Athletic, and a singer/songwriter. In politics, I definitely don't want to be associated with my namesake the Tory and his 'Plebgate' shenanigans, while there is also a former Minister of Agriculture in the Canadian government. The list goes on! Several of them have their own websites.
   Undaunted, I checked out some URLs. The simple andymitchell.com is owned by a consultant cardiologist in Jersey, while mitchellmedia.com is a software developer in Texas, but to my surprise andymitchellmedia.com was available. I snapped it up, and for those who have never bought a domain name, it may come as a revelation that the cost can be tiny - under a fiver in this case.
   So here I am with a permanent online presence. And as I raise a glass to all the other Andy Mitchells out there in media world, can I also say: sorry, you'll just have to forge your own identity.

I've just been watching a parade of World War Two veterans, marking the 70th anniversary of VE Day in 1945. My own parents - both in their nineties - have been interviewed in the Sunday Herald today about their own recollections of VE Day. There are links to the past all around us, and historians would do well to take advantage before it is too late.
   One of the key aspects to writing about history is to find eye-witness accounts of major events, rather than depending on newspaper reports and official reports. This can take you back further than you might expect. For example, in a football context, there are still people alive today who met the players in the first international of 1872. I wrote about one of them, Walter Fergusson, in the Herald a couple of years ago; he could remember meeting his great-uncle William Mackinnon who had played for Scotland in that match.
   Of course, this is not always possible and the next best thing is to have access to a primary source such as a scrapbook. The Victorians, in particular, were great ones for sticking things in books and I have seen some wonderful artefacts and ephemera that have survived in this way.
   Sometimes, however, the amount of material can be overwhelming. I recently inherited a large chest, pictured above, which contains the scrapbooks and picture albums of two grandparents. They both led interesting lives, covering (in his case) a Glasgow upbringing, a career in the British Raj, and a lengthy retirement in Edinburgh; and (in her case) a childhood in Lancashire as part of a large Scottish family, service as a nurse in WW1 that included being sunk on a hospital ship, and an MBE for services to genealogy. They lived to 97 and 103 respectively.
   It will take me years to go through all the books. However, if I have inherited their longevity genes I should manage to find the time. I suspect it will be an intensely rewarding experience.

Thank you for visiting the Andy Mitchell Media site. It is always exciting to launch a new website and this one is no different!
   In the pic above I am holding a copy of my first venture into self-publishing, a biography of Arthur Kinnaird, one of the great sporting figures of the Victorian era (available to purchase here). The book was well received and the initial print run soon sold out, but one of the major attractions of self-publishing is that ordering further copies is easy and cheap, even for small numbers. I have since produced several books, not just my own work but also a couple of short biographies of family history for private circulation. I am currently working on a couple more.
   If you are considering going down this route for your own non-fiction book, please feel free to get in touch as I may be able to help, whether guiding you through the process or proofing and editing your text.