Model 3 Letterpress

I have been trying to take a good photograph of this for a couple of days, the problem being that it is incredible heavy so very hard to move into a position where I can get a good shot.

This was my great grandfather, Arthur Stronach’s letterpress he used in his stationary and printing shop, Stronach’s in Eccles, Manchester. Later Stronach’s became much more of a printing firm moving to premises on Bright Road run by my grandfather, Archibald Henderson Hastie, then later my father Ian Stronach Hastie.

My sister and I used to go there during school holidays, sometimes we were given the task of painting glue along the edges of wads of offcuts to make pads. I remember the noise, the smell of ink and glue, the huge machines such as a great big electric guillotine and think what a health and safety nightmare it would be today to have a couple of little girls running around a place like that