Me and Davie Guthrie are Sons of the Rock – the proud title given to anyone born within the old burgh boundaries of Stirling. We were both brought up in Raploch, at the foot of the great volcanic plug on which the castle stands, and my earliest memory of him is having our photos taken, age five, when we started school. We’ve led parallel lives ever since.

We were in the same class throughout Raploch Primary, skidding about on the icy playground in winter, and remained together at Riverside Secondary – looking forward to leaving at 15. After that it was a matter of looking for jobs. If you could get a trade you were quids in, so that was what we were all after. I nearly ended up as a monumental stonemason, carving gravestones. But then I heard that there were a couple of apprenticeships going at the castle – and if you worked up there you were the bee’s knees. Davie had heard about it too. We both got interviews and had to dress up in our best clothes to go to Edinburgh.

Afterwards we heard nothing. I ended up as a ‘nipper’, running messages from a building site, then working in a butchery. Davie went to the egg factory. Then, nine months later, we were told we’d got the posts and became the first ever apprentice stonemasons for Historic Scotland – not that it was called that then. So for the next four years we learned our trade together, then worked as part of the same team doing the restoration work that has made the castle the international visitor attraction it is today. Nowadays Davie is the District Works Manager, in charge of keeping the castle in perfect condition for present and future generations, while I work on the visitor side. We’re probably the longest serving members of staff.

And in an era where moving around from one town and employer to the next is the norm, it’s unusual that the two of us should have followed such similar paths for the entire 52 years since that first school photo. And what’s more we can look over the parapets and see the spot where it was taken.

Willie McEwan, Visitor Services Manager

You see some unusual sights working here – I did a bit of a double take one day. I thought I saw Joan Rivers arm-in-arm with one of the stewards. It turned out I was right, she’d arrived in high heels and needed a little help across the cobbles. That and the fact that Stirling Castle is the most amazing place to have as your office, means it’s a popular place to work. We’ve just recruited 11 extra staff to help serve in the shops and sell tickets over the busy summer period, and we had 10 applications for every post. People apply from as far away as Canada.

I was raised not many miles from here before going into the tourism industry and moving round Scotland. It’s certainly given me a fair few anecdotes and has been more exciting than the main options girls in the mid-1970s were encouraged to take up – like a job in the mills. The week I spent in 1976, while training at the Turnberry Hotel, helping look after the Bayern Munich football team (after their European Cup win) and the Rolling Stones was memorable. But eventually I got drawn back here and have now been at the castle for a decade.

It’s a great group of people here, there’s a real sense of belonging to a team. It’s also nice to be dealing with customers who are happy because they are on holiday. In the shops they are generally looking for little mementoes of their visit, and in the last few weeks our specially-made replicas of the Orkney Venus, which was being exhibited in the Chapel Royal, just flew off the shelves.

Even during the quieter winter months there’s normally something going on. A few weeks ago we had John Landis, Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis and Ronnie Corbett here filming for Burke and Hare, a comedy thriller. What amused me though was the sight of a steward exclaiming: “look what they’ve done to my castle” and pointing at the dung left on the cobbles by a couple of Highland cows being used in the movie. Luckily there was no one trying to walk across them in high heels just then.

Christine Brownlee, Stirling Castle Retail Manager

After 25 years in the catering industry I sat on the side of my bed one morning and realised I didn’t want to do it any more. In my time I’d served royalty and all sorts of celebrities, but I’d had enough. When I told my wife I wanted to give up my job as a catering manager she paused for a moment, then said “good” as I’d been grumpy for months. Aged 44, with no clear idea of what I wanted to do, I took a college course then went to St Andrews University to study Scottish history. I loved it. To support myself I worked part time for Historic Scotland as a steward, and loved that too.
 
Eventually everything came together and I got a full-time post at Stirling Castle, showing families round somewhere I remembered so well from my childhood. When the family came to visit relatives in Stirling, dad would take me up to see the castle. There were still soldiers here back then, but what I really remember is that it seemed so huge and magnificent.

Nowadays my job is to make sure families have an enjoyable visit. I meet people from all over the world, which I really enjoy. Occasionally we can make someone’s day very special indeed. An Australian gentleman arrived a while ago whose grandfather had been a soldier in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He didn’t know this had been their HQ, so we pointed him to the museum. When he came back he was overjoyed. He’d found out all about his granddad, the places he had been and the campaigns he was involved with. That was great. I’ve been here five years now, and I’ve got to say, I couldn’t be happier.

Sandy Easson, Stirling Castle Steward