Orkney Archive Advent Calendar - Heat Charity

John Balfour to his sister, Margaret Balfour, September 1792:

' It occurs to me that a small supply of coals about Christmas to the poor on my lands would be a well applied charity.'


Orkney Archive reference D2/19/13

Going... going...scone!

There has just been a booksale at Orkney Auction Mart and our assistant archivist has made her usual visit both to obtain new stock for the Archive and, more importantly, to wink at farmers over a mince roll in the cafe.

The bidding process is quite stressful and so she is always rolled and tied into an old duvet beforehand to soak up all the sweat and we tuck several twixes beneath the twine so that she can keep up her strength. This means that some chocolate always gets onto her David Dickinson-esque pin-striped suit but there's usually a bit of fake tan on there already. There is always quite a lot of competition over the best stuff and A.A. had to punch three other bidders to the ground, but we ended up with three boxes of haul.

 These include Stromness Shopping Week programmes, an admiralty map and this brilliant 1952 book of recipes which was made to raise money for the St Andrews Church repair fund:

Mmmmmmmmm oatmeal buns...

Recipes include those for various cakes, mmmmmm... cakes..., a fruity filling for pies, mmmmmm...pies..., Magic macaroons,Treacles Scones, Creamed Potatoes and Lemonade. It also contains a little rhyme telling how to brew the perfect cup of tea:

That Cup Of Tea.

Be sure to heat the earthen pot

And have your water boiling hot.

Put in a teaspoonful per cup

That each of you intend to sup.

Allow to stand for minutes four,

Then off the leaves be sure to pour.

When serving put the milk in first,

Add sugar and allay your thirst.

With this delightful, fragrant brew

You'll be refreshed and live anew.

There are also some useful household hints at the back as well as a pressed plant:

There is no indication as to the contributors of the recipes. Can anybody enlighten us?

Totaliser

Our happy customers have exited the building with chocolate-smeared faces and considerably lighter purses.

Our grand charity total for today is £210, which is fantastic. Thank you to everyone who made a contribution. The serving wenches are all wrung out and are sitting in a row in the staff room, their feet in buckets and cold compresses on their foreheads.

A Closer Look At The Delights For All Who Were Undecided.

It's Homebakes Time Again...

Hey, coooo-eee, lookey lookey what we have here for you! Yet more lovely homebaking... This time the worthy cause is Children In Need, so bring your money and your fat jeans to the library foyer from 10.30am - 3.30pm.

Totaliser Update

The final sum from Stromness is now in and our grand, final Jeans for Genes day total is:

£205.35

That is £80.17 more than last year.

Well done cake-bakers and cake-munchers both

Totaliser 2010

Our Jeans for Genes fundraising on Friday brought in £180.48, which is fantastic. It is £55.20 more than our efforts last year.

This result is particularly impressive when you take Friday's weather into account. Gales and rain did not stop our eager, cake-seeking visitors and we are very grateful to everyone who took part and gave generously.

Thank you!

Come in, Look what we have for you!

Jeans For Genes

Tomorrow it will be that special day again:  a fundraiser for Jeans For Genes, which provides care and support for children with genetic disorders.

Each year, Orkney Library and Archive staff slave over hot ovens on the last evening of September and festoon the staff room with delicious homebakes of great variety and deliciousness. These tasty treats are then grudgingly sold on to the library and archive visitors to raise money for the charity.

mmmmmmmmm.....

But wait, there's more. Not only will you have the opportunity to be served tea and cake if you visit us tommorrow, but you shall be served by staff wearing stylish, tight-fitting denim trousers which shall display the enviable figures that we keep under wraps all the rest of the year for fear of driving readers mad with lust.

Double mmmm.....

It's because 'jeans' sounds like 'genes' you see? We all pay £2 to wear our jeans and then that raises further funds.

So come along! Eat cake, drink tea, leer at library staff! It's all for a great cause...

Let's All Have A Tea Party

If you happen to be in the wild, wild West (mainland) today, then make sure you pop into Stromness library's Blooming Great Tea Party in aid of  Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Sadly, those of us working at Kirkwall cannot go through and sample the many delights which are surely being laid out on plates as I type. Apparently, a Stromness member of staff makes fabulously crispy-yet-soft  meringues which are sure to make a showing today. In my dreams, they look something like this:

...and sometimes they look like this:

...although at this precise moment I am imagining them thus:

Sadly, imagining how they taste is all we shall do today in Kirkwall. Don't sit at your desks, crying whilst drooling and alarming customers like us, take a trip to the Stromness library, have a cuppa and a homebake and feel smugly charitable at the same time.

There is a light and it never goes out...

In 2006, Orkney appeared on the BBC series Restoration. The North Ronaldsay 'Old Beacon' lighthouse was featured alongside several other old, derelict buildings which required titivation.

A public vote relegated the Old Beacon to third place. There would be no restoration.

Orkney was awash with grief. Citizens sank to their knees in the streets; tearing their hair out, beating their breasts and shouting 'Why, British public, WHY?' The mere mention or sight of Griff Rhys Jones made grown men weep.

We all feel a bit silly now as it has just been announced that the winning building did not need all the money that was raised and that North Ronaldsay's entry shall receive £50,000 pounds. Hooray!

The image shown above is a plan of the proposed site for the lighthouse which replaced the Old Beacon when it was discovered that it ...er... didn't work.

Archive reference: D34/E/5/7

And the winners are...

Discovery Week is officially over. The balloons are down, the banner will soon follow suit and there is no baking or cooking going on anywhere in the building. We are a little morose. Prizes have been won, however, so let's look at the winners:

The winner of the Photo quiz and recipient of a year's worth of free DVD and CD loans is: Steven Smith!!!

The winner of the Archive World Traill (Traveller level) and recipient of 'The Seventy Great Journeys in History' and a year's worth of free DVD and CD loans is: Fran Flett Hollinrake!!!

And the joint winners of the Archive World Traill (Explorer level) and therefore winning a book each are: Chloe Barclay!!! and Kirsty Melrose!!!

Well done everyone and thank you for taking part. Chloe and Kirsty are pictured above with Michael Forsyth, who won the library cooks quiz, Chloe Rosie, the winner of the library scavenger hunt and our manager, Gary.

Other great news is that the wonderful soup for Haiti event raised over £360 pounds and the Coffee morning raised £125 for the same cause. Hooray!!!

Everyone agrees that Janice and Sandra did a fantastic job yesterday and thanks is due to our lovely volunteers for helping out at both events.

Mmmm, what are THESE delights???

The Archive department is just down the corridor from the Macgillivray room where our 'Broth and Breid' lunch is taking place. The delicious smells are making it very hard to concentrate on work.

Above you can see the array of fancy treats that are on offer along with the four soups and breads. Serving started at 12 and will continue for the next 2 hours. Hurry!

There is a scone...

There is a scone. A cheese scone to be exact. It appears at the library at irregular intervals but its approach is often suspected and the entire body of staff seem to know that a batch is here five seconds after they enter the building. I have never known one to be consumed cold.

These wonderful, buttery, crumbly and RIDICULOUSLY DELICIOUS scones are the tasty produce of the mother of a member of staff. We love them and they fill our hearts with joy.

Tommorrow, their recipe shall be revealed to the public as part of our 'Broth and Breid' day in the MacGillivray room. You're welcome Orkney. Staff shall prepare four different soups along with bread and crostini to raise money for the Haiti Earthquake Fund.

At the top of this post you can see the collection of tried and tested recipes that have been contributed by staff members and will be free to take away tommorrow. Recipes include a fail-safe chocolate cake, Honey and Soy salmon and Chocolate wedges which all sound delicious. BUT THE SCONE ONE IS THE BEST ONE; DON'T FORGET THE SCONE ONE. (It's the pink one on the right. Mmmmmmmmmm)

Mmmmmm, what delights are these?

Above you can see the wonderful selection of home bakes that is currently available in the MacGillivray Room and below you can see our beautiful new reference room being opened by Liam McArthur.

Totaliser

The grand Jeans for Genes day total was £125.28. Jeans were worn and cakes were scoffed; all for a good cause.

Jeans for Genes

This Friday (2nd October) is jeans for genes day. This is a fund raising day to benefit pioneering research and vital support services for children affected by some of the most serious genetic disorders: http://www.jeansforgenes.com/

We will we be providing teas, coffees and delicious homebakes for a donation in the foyer that afternoon. And not only that; lucky visitors will have the treat of seeing library and archive staff modelling denim trews all day long. Irresistible, I know.

29th June 2009 - Povertee day

Last Friday was a fund-raising day in the library. Members of staff made donations for wearing T-shirts to work and sold home bakes in the foyer to raise money for action aid Povertee day.

http://www.actionaid.org.uk/poverteeday/

It was a great day; sunny and warm to make us very glad to not be in our usual work wear and lots of delightful cakes everywhere. Splendid.

Today we were told that the grand total raised was £167 which is brilliant. There was also plenty of cake left over for our tea-breaks this morning which is the main thing.

One of my enquiries today is about telephone numbers. The customer wishes to know what Orkney telephone numbers looked like in 1940.