A decade before Queen Victoria’s birth in 1819, a company called R Tullis & Co. Ltd was established in Fife by Robert Tullis.
No-one could have foreseen it at the time, but that company was to become an institution in the Kingdom.
For generation upon generation of Fifers, the mill operation that emerged from the acorn that Robert Tullis planted in 1809 would be their life.
It would not only be their first job but it often proved to be their last job too. Father worked alongside son, mother alongside daughter.
For more than two centuries – through homegrown and international economic crisis, through conflicts, World Wars and whilst other industry’s such as coal fell to the wayside – the company Robert Tullis built endured.
It was actually not until almost 100 years after its foundation in 1906 that the company became Tullis Russell.
Fast forward another 100-plus years and Tullis Russell Papermakers Limited, now a division of the Tullis Russell Group, has reached what appears to be the end of a long and winding road.
On Monday, administrators arrived at the plant after the directors concluded the papermaking subsidiary was no longer a viable business – even with slashed energy costs courtesy of the nwely commissioned £200 million biomass plant next door.
Sadly, it is not just the firm’s board that has come to that conclusion.
For months prior to administration – and the immediate 325 job losses that brought – the firm was hawked around more than 70 prospective buyers but no-one took the bait.
In the relatively small world of papermaking, that must represent a fairly comprehensive marketing exercise.
It is certainly not something I take any pleasure in saying, but I do now fear for the future of the 149 workers kept on at Markinch by the administrators to complete remaining orders.
The fact the mill buildings themselves do not sit within the administration hit company – they belong to the parent group which continues to trade – means any new owner would have to look to buy or rent new premises before taking the firm on as a going concern.
Unfortunately, that scenario – and the fact that a new owner would have TUPE responsibility for remanining staff – means the future of Tullis Russell is likely to depend on someone with deep pockets coming along who is willing to splash the cash and wait for a market recovery.
I genuinely hope I’m proved wrong but that seems unlikely at best to me.
But while the prognosis is undoubtedly grim, Tullis Russell and the people that have worked there have a huge amount of which to be proud
There are few businesses held in the affection or esteem Tullis Russell is and the move to employee-ownership was a genuinely progressive step.
Meanwhile, in difficult times such as these, I always find myself nervous when the politicians jump on the bandwagon and promise this, that and the next thing to those who find themselves unexpectedly out of work.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney yesterday rode into Markinch with a £6 million funding package in his hip pocket to provide opportunities for Tullis Russell workers and to give a more general skills development and training boost to the Fife economy.
On this occasion, the political interjection came with more than platitudes. Unusually, it came with a significant amount of cold hard cash.
For the hundreds of Tullis Russell employees that now find themselves on the dole queue, I hope that money is spent wisely, does provide the advice and assistance they need right now and does help them get back on their feet sooner rather than later.
That’s the least they deserve.