On Saturday, the Crieff Museum group ran an open event at the Strathearn Artspace. I could only be there in the morning but here is Ann's report of the day:

This was our day for which people were asked to bring their family treasures along. Not all that many people did but there were enough to make it an interesting and informative day. We had a selection of things which were surprising and unusual, from early Victorian stained glass (very beautiful) to 20th century cinema fumigators!

Artspace gave Crieff Museum a warm welcome, having cleared up from a successful film evening the night before, and they had set up lines of tables with green clothes in readiness for us. We set out our treasures which consist of several books of old photographs, maps and old town plans, as well as leaflets from the long gone cinema, posters of old post cards which show Crieff though the ages from the 1880s to the present day. Also little china souvenirs with the Arms of Crieff printed on them, and some glass bottles which at one time were from factories in Crieff which were making soft drinks such as Ginger Beer.

How exciting when residents brought us their treasures! A match box revealed a beautiful little gold cross embellished with a spray across it containing various semi precious stones, along with a family photograph showing a Victorian lady wearing the very same cross. A heavy piece of stained glass set in lead, which when held to the light, the colours became vibrant. The aforementioned cinema fumigator was a heavy rather Heath Robinson affair which still smelt of insecticide. An inscription stated that it was made in the USA - which shows that they must have had flea-pits over there too!

About 30 people entered our competition. What was the mystery object? The expert from the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow said it was most probably a ‘stoup’, or a holy water container, which would have been by the door outside a chapel at a monastery or abbey. There is evidence that it came from Inchaffray Abbey, which was built about 800 years ago. It weighs 12lbs 8ozs or 5kilos 7grms. A total of 5 people guessed that it was a stoup, and the other answers about its weight and age gave us our winner.

Our thanks all those who came, to June McEwan for her support, and to David Campbell at Artspace for his help and endless patience.

AM

The purpose of the event was to encourage people to have a rummage in their sheds and lofts and to turn out drawers to find interesting things to bring in to our community “Show & Tell” and there were some fascinating items brought in throughout the day. We also ran a "mystery object" competition using a holy water stoup, allegedly salvaged from Inchaffray Abbey ruins, on loan from Ann McIntosh for the day. The winner of the competition was Elspeth Wright and the winner of the junior competition was Luke Murphy (11), well done both for guessing correctly. Each winner was presented with a Crieff Gift Card to the value of £50, one of which was very kindly donated by Crieff Succeeds B.I.D.

Some images from the day can be seen here on the Display Board <— Click on this link