1962-1993: The Broadsheet: A Unique Institution
The Broadsheet was a “newspaper” that was published in Kilquhanity School
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1992 Broadsheet
1962 Cover of the first Broadsheet
The Kilquhanity Broadsheet had been preceded by The Blarney and The Gargoyle, two occasional ‘papers’ that were not printed for distribution but appeared on the wall of the main entrance to Kilquhanity House. They were hand-written and illustrated and left on the wall before being taken down and another ‘edition’ put in place.
The Daily Blether, The Weekly Thingmy and the Killie Rag that appear on the cover of the first Broadsheet, are possibly fictitios as I have no records or any having existed.
The first edition of the Broadsheet prompted the following letter from a once upon a time Blarney editor.
I am sure John would have agreed - Anybody who manages to use the word “disinterested” correctly deserves to have been the editor of the “Blarney”.
Over the 31 years that the Broadsheet was issued, production was on occasion sporadic. Nevertheless, between October 1962 and July 1993, 482 editions were printed – averaging one edition per month.
The Broadsheet Office was located, eventually, in one of the loft rooms above the Stable, a cramped and difficult space where it was easy to bang your head on the roof beams. The room would only really accommodate two or maximum four people. Nevertheless, between October 1962 and July 1993, 482 editions were printed – averaging one edition per month.
The "Office"" in the Stable Loft"
I didn't know we had the luxury of owning two typwriters
The printing machine seen in the above photo was a Gestetner. The typewriter, also shown, was probably purchased with the Broadsheet stencils in mind, was an Olivetti
Olivetti M44 Office Typewriter
The Gestetner was a hand cranked machine which held a stencil through which ink passed onto paper. Each stencil had to be typed on a typewriter and illustrations drawn with a metal stylus which rather limited design and art-work.
Enthusiasm for the task of typing several pages of stencils or hand-cranking the machine hundreds of times to print the number of copies required, were not what one might call fun. Dealing with mechanical mishaps and paper jamming issues also required a considerable level of commitment.
The Office will surely have also stocked another Gestetner product known as Correcting Ink or Fluid, which was supposed to do what it said on the bottle but only did so very reluctantly. It was supposed to correct mistakes made with the stylus or the typewriter but on the whole irritatingly failed to do so.
Perhaps the bright pink correcting fluid used at the time
It smelt strongly of acetone, or nail varnish, and was almost guaranteed to give you a small high - or a headache if you sniffed it for long enough.
Using a stylus on a stencil to be used by a Gestetner machine to produce a Broadsheet page
published in the Stable Loft at Kilquhanity. around 1968
Several letters of support for the new Broadsheet, were received, which are noteworthy:
I am sure that the Broadsheet was a great pride for John Aitkenhead who promoted the publication consistently with the ‘kids’. It was a pride which was about sharing the day-to-day goings on of Kilquhanity as well as the creative writing of the pupils for the school community and for subscribers to share.
From 1962 the Kilquhanity Broadsheet has been published without a break several times a term and this is, amongst other things, a kind of unofficial history of the school. It also contains many editorials, articles and poems by John A. which together express a coherent educational philosophy.’John Aitkenhead 1990
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