Heritage Group Meetings
Next Meeting
Tuesday March 30th 2010, 7.30 pm, Stratherrick Public Hall, Gorthleck
The next open meeting is at 7.30 pm on 30th March at Stratherrick Hall when the speaker will be Derek McGinn. His subject is "Scottish Flora and Fauna from the shores of the Moray Firth to the Cairngorm plateau". This meeting is unusual in that it involves the return of a speaker from our first year. Derek's talk was packed the first time round and several people have asked for him again so we expect a big turnout. With his deep understanding of his subject and his photographic skills, we can look forward to seeing his new material and another fascinating evening.
Previous Meetings
Thursday October 1st 2009, 7.30 pm, Stratherrick Public Hall, Gorthleck
Forestry Commission archaeologist Mathew Ritchie.
Thursday July 2nd 2009, 7.30 pm, Dores Parish Hall
Did you know that in World War 2 the local bus drivers were not allowed to tell potential passengers where their service was going? Can’t have that sort of information getting into jerry’s hands, can we!
The Heritage Group’s meeting in Dores on July 2nd was a fascinating trip back into the 1930s, 40s and 50s, through the eyes of two elders of the area who remember those times, Hugh Fraser and Alistair Mackintosh. As chairman of the meeting, introducing a new format without a speaker giving an illustrated presentation, I was concerned that there might be awkward silences, with not enough feedback from the audience, but of course I should not have worried. Hugh and Alistair took as through the years with humour and insight and, from time to time, with a thought-provoking show of respect for long-gone characters of the area, and for equally long-gone lifestyles.
In a single lifetime, huge changes have taken place, and not just in the obvious areas of technology, transport and employment, but also in the very basis of the community, which was then almost entirely centred around the farms and villages with little need, or opportunity, to look outside for entertainment or “social networking”. What a difference now, when neighbours may lead diverse and essentially separate lives, and only a handful actually work in the area where they live.
Many thanks to Hugh and Alistair for this enthralling evening, and lets hope that someone from the Stratherrick end of our area could do the same in Gorthleck sometime soon.
Tuesday March 31st 2009, 7.30 pm, Stratherrick Hall
An illustrated talk by Andrew Fraser entitled "Plants of the Scottish Hills". Andrew has had a lifelong interest in photographing the plants of our hills.
Tuesday December 2nd 2008, 7.30 pm, Dores Parish Hall
A talk by Sandy MacLure entitled "Recording Memories". Sandy is a retired Forestry Commission head forester. His talk was on the collection of oral history with particular reference to the Forestry Commission's Touchwood programme, collecting memories of forestry life and activities.
Tuesday September 30th 2008, 7.30 pm, Stratherrick Hall
A short A.G.M. followed by talks from Buddy MacDougall on the "History of the Foyers Hotel" followed by Alister Chisholm on "Shinty in the Area Up Until WW1".
On display were many of the photographs gathered by the Group over the last five years together with a new collection of material relating to the history of the Stratherrick Clay Target Club, one of the oldest groups in the area.
Thursday 3rd July 2008, 7.30 pm, Stratherrick Hall
Alex Sutherland, until recently Access Officer for the Highland Council, presented a talk about "Rights of Way and Access over Scotland". Alex explained the history of the road and path network back to the times of the "coffin trails" and earlier. He then brought us right up to date with the recent legislation on access and answered very many questions from the audience without once failing to come up with an answer.
Thursday March 27th 2008, 7.30 pm, Dores Parish Hall
The speaker was Andrew Ross of British Waterways who gave a talk entitled "The Caledonian Canal, Past, Present and Future. He explained how different our area would have turned out without this landmark of early 19th century engineering.
Thursday December 4th 2007, 7.30 pm, Stratherrick Public Hall, Gorthleck.
A commendable number of people braved a rough night to attend a talk by Katy Martin, Highland Council Ranger, entitled "Wildlife of Loch Ness". Katy is an enthusiastic and entertaining speaker, very good at communicating the broad knowledge that she has acquired over many years tramping the area. She was particularly interesting when talking about the importance of the "mini-beasts" flourishing in their billions, largely out of sight, beneath our feet and amongst the trees, providing the foundation upon which all our mammals and birds survive. We all know that if we lose squirrels or stags it would be a tragedy, but if we lose slugs or spiders it could well be an ecological catastrophe.
Those who have not already done so should try and attend some of the Ranger Guided Walks that are scheduled in this area. You may find that your eyes are opened to new aspects of our countryside.
Thursday September 27th 2007, 7.30 pm, Stratherick Public Hall, Gorthleck.
The main business was the Group's Annual General Meeting to discuss the usual matters including the achievements for the year, the group's financial position, plus consideration for new projects and the general way forward for the group.
There were a number or retirements of committee members but all who stood for re-election were duly voted in. A new member, Shirley Hewitt from Lower Foyers, joined the committee and will have particular responsibility for publicity.
Our committee member, Bob Main, gave a most interesting and informative talk entitled "Aluminium – precious to common place. A history of aluminium production at Foyers."
Tuesday June 26th, 7.30 pm, Stratherrick Hall, Gorthleck.
We were hosts to a very interesting talk at Dores by Kirsty Cameron, Archeologist at the Planning and Development Department of the Highland Council. The title of her talk was "Recording and Protection: The Work of the Highland Council Archaeology Unit". Kirsty brought with her an extensive slide show of photographs to illustrate her talk showing heritage sites often discovered quite fortuitously during excavations for new buildings. She also gave us many tips on looking for sites which could be under our feet but not visible from that view point.
The Highland Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) is a publicly accessible record of all known archaeological and historical sites in Highland. The SMR is used by Highland Council staff to inform planning decisions, by professional archaeological units, by researchers and also by interested members of the public.
Kirsty advised us that, by the end of 2007 the SMR will have been upgraded to a Historic Environment Record (HER). New features will include an online live, interactive and searchable database, which will include a searchable mapping facility. Access to the HER will be through the Am Baile website (www.ambaile.org.uk) and the Archaeology pages of the Highland Council website.
Wednesday, March 28th, 7.30 pm, Dores Parish Hall.
A very well attended meeting at Dores heard an absorbing talk by Iain Cameron, our Chairman, entitled The Fraser-Tytlers of Aldourie. Liberally illustrated with photographs and paintings of people and buildings with quotes from letters and records of the time, the talk traced the Frasers and the Tytlers from the 16th Century to the present day. The informative story followed the individual families until they came together in the 18th Century when Ann Fraser from Stratherrick married Alexander Tytler from Edinburgh. Together they made their mark on Aldourie, Dores and the northern end of Stratherrick.
Iain drew on his personal knowledge of Aldourie and the family archives of photographs and documents to bring the story and characters to life.
This meeting also gave us our first opportunity to use our new audio system which successfully addressed the previous problems of carrying the sound to the extremities of the hall.
Tuesday December 12th, 7.30 pm, Stratherrick Hall, Gorthleck.
Those of you would didn't make it to Stratherrick Hall on the 12th missed an enchanting evening with Margaret Bennett. She speaks in a natural, conversational style, which had the audience of nearly 60 enthralled for around an hour and a half. Based on her book "Highland Customs from the Cradle to the Grave", the talk covered exactly that, starting with the customs surrounding the birth of a child, through the rituals of hen parties and courtship, and ending with wakes. The origins of most of these customs are rapidly vanishing into the mists of time, and we are lucky to have people like Margaret to research them, and explain them to us in such an entertaining manner. (She is also a talented singer, and broke into song a couple of times!)
It was clear from the reaction of the audience that this subject really struck a chord. "Customs" were the framework of the community, and as such are the very basis of "heritage". It is sad, but perhaps inevitable, that they have mostly disappeared, to be replaced with ….what?
Tuesday September 12th, 7.30 pm, Stratherrick Hall, Gorthleck.
Tuesday 12th of September proved to be a pleasant evening for the South Loch Ness Heritage Group. It was the Annual General Meeting discussing the usual business, including the achievements for the year, the group's financial position, plus consideration for any new projects and the general way forward for the group.
The South Loch Ness Heritage Group is compiling an e-mail address list to publicise forthcoming meetings and other activities. If you would like to be on the list, or know anyone else who would like to be, please let us know.
Published on: 24/08/2006 10:47:19 A
