Duncan McAra,
BA Publishing, 1971
“I found the pioneering publishing diploma course enjoyable, demanding, broad in
subjects covered and immensely useful.
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“My career in publishing as an Editorial Consultant, I believe can be likened to a low-tech
midwife. As a Literary Agent I enjoy assisting authors, particularly first-time authors, and negotiating on
their behalf with publishers.
“The key skills and responsibilities in my role have meant that I have an eye for detail and am able to meet
publishers’ deadlines; I have gained expertise in selecting professional authors who will write on a regular basis.
“My greatest personal achievement, however, is being a loving husband and father for over thirty years.”
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Ken Macleod,
City & Guilds Carpentry and Joinery, 1972
“As an apprentice carpenter and joiner, Napier Technical College was the only place I
wanted to study, and whilst my career moved on from carpentry and joinery, I still have great memories
from my time at Napier.
“I went from attending night school at Tynecastle High School, to daytime classes at College. This was a
revelation for me – the facilities were all new, workshops, tools, the canteen and lecture rooms. We had
dedicated full-time teaching staff, with resources, and a planned course of learning.
“I remember the new workshops on the ground floor at Merchiston, all the floors were newly polished and
had a nice clean shine. This caused a problem if you were using a wood plane to shape a bit of timber – if
the plane wouldn’t move over the wood, you would end up sliding backwards on the polished floor!
“A lecturer I had always used Log tables (a nod to the College’s namesake!), then out came the slide rules.
I was amongst the first in my class to get hold of a calculator. The lecturer in question noted its presence
and asked me to perform a series of calculations. I got them wrong and needless to say the class kept using
slide rules!
“Exam time was always interesting as it could last up to eight hours. Once I had to make a scale model of
a section of a gate with a “gun stock mitre”