It’s funny how some things change and others stay the same – even with the passing of centuries. As PA to the castle manager I’ve got a lot in common with the scribes who worked for the medieval governors. They did similar admin – ordering things in, making payments, sending letters, keeping records. It really came home to me a few years ago when I was ordering materials for the repair and conservation of the castle. I thought how back in the 16th century someone pretty much like me would have been arranging to get the stone and timber to build the new royal palace.
Then there’s the changes. I picture those scribes sitting at wooden benches, scratching everything out on parchment with big quill pens. I wonder what they’d think if they were transported to my office today, with a computer and ergonomic office chair. Mind you, I couldn’t get on with computers when they first came in – that was before moving to Historic Scotland, when I worked for the prison service. No emails, internet, or electronic records and ordering, just typewriters, carbon paper and Gestetners.
But it’s not just technology that’s changed in my career. It’s been a bit a switch going from being secretary to a prison governor, whose job was to stop people getting out, to working for visitor services at the castle and trying to pull visitors in. But again, not everything is different, my office at the castle is in a very old building and oddly enough there are bars on the windows.
Val Neill, PA to the castle manager.