18th April 2024

The Royal Scottish Geographical Society has created a unique tour around the beautiful Fair Maids House of Perth. The Fair Maids House contains exhibitions that explore the origins of the society, the history of Perth and the essence of geography (from the formation of our world to the social impact of disease). Throughout this exclusive tour you will see some extraordinary pieces of geographical and exploratory history, the remnants of the 600-year-old Black Friars Monastery and discover the work that the Royal Scottish Geographical Society has done and the global impact they have had. You will be guided through the building by volunteer public speaker Graham Ferguson who will discuss the history of the building and the society before taking you on a guided tour of our exhibitions, culminating in our spectacular Explorers Room. If geography, history or exploration inspires you, then this tour has an abundance of all three.



To book a ticket, please go here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fair-maids-house-tour-tickets-717134407317?aff=ebdsoporgprofile&fbclid=IwAR0dGyMQixpaHDk8nEDf3PIDZAiVT_47afvRswdBj6D2syyezkOrQO1vE9c

Crieff & Strathearn Museum are delighted to announce that they have now taken a lease on the old Crieff Town Hall in the High Street.

The aim is to to open, officially, next Spring but this weekend,we’ll be open as part of the Doors Open Day events across Perthshire:

On Saturday 16th between 10am – 4pm and Sunday 17th between 11am to 3pm.

Why not pop in to see us and have a chat about the new museum while you look around the Town Hall, including the basement with the Crieff Monuments, of the Crieff and Drummond Crosses, and the stocks.

Did you know that Crieff as we now know it, used to be split into 2 burghs?

Originally, Crieff was from the Town Hall east, towards Perth. It was owned by the Murray Family of Dollerie and had the Crieff Cross as their market cross. West of the Town Hall, towards James Square and down to Bridgend was owned by the Drummonds of Perth, who had their own Drummond Cross. (This burgh was not continued after 1690 as the Drummond’s supported King James VII and did not recognise William and Mary of Orange as their monarch.)

Unique in their design, the Stocks of Crieff could hold up to 4 convicts at a time to face public ridicule for their petty crimes, sometimes for hours, and sometimes even days!

We look forward to seeing you.

As some of you may have seen in the local press, there is an exciting project in prospect, being organised by The Crieff Highland Gathering for the Market Park, to create the Crieff International Highland Centre, which will function as a community hub. They are coming to the end of their feasibility study and want to talk to the people of Crieff about what they propose and to get people’s feedback, while showing everyone where they are up to.

During the feasibility exercise, The Crieff Highland Gathering were in touch with Crieff & Strathearn Museum to discuss ways in which they could develop a partnership, to facilitate a heritage element to the hub building. C&SM are pleased to be involved; it may provide good opportunities to focus on specific stories, some relevant to the highland games. Not least the important role the annual trysts played in the establishment of the games tradition.

There will be a presentation at Strathearn Arts at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday the 16th March and, on the following Saturday the 18th, there will be a Drop In Session at Strathearn Arts between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. We hope you will be able attend one or both of these, to lend your voice to the discussion and we look forward to seeing you there.

Crieff & Strathearn Museum has been approached by the Perth Museum, to ask us to assist with a project for the new Perth Museum which looks at 'Women at War' for which they are wanting to record the experiences of Perthshire women during the Second World War.

These could be from someone who had first hand experience of war, or from someone who has had stories passed down to them. For example: Providing wartime service, maybe as part of the Women's Land Army, working at some of the local aerodromes established during the war, as at Findo Gask, Methven or Scone, or perhaps someone who worked in Civil Defence, or working within factories and farms.

Memories of the "home-front" might include those of family life, rationing, transport, or stories of relatives and friends who served during the conflict. These are also of great interest and will help to help keep these memories alive.

The resulting collection of stories will support a project which is being planned for Perth’s new museum (due to open in 2024), offering inspiration to visitors for generations to come. They will also be held and valued by the new Crieff & Strathearn Museum in the C&SM collection and may feature in local exhibitions they may hold in the future.

Recording sessions will take place from Monday 6th March - Friday 24th March for individuals and groups at mutually convenient locations.

If you are interested in taking part, please download and fill out this form: https://forms.office.com/e/JuYNeZcBgk

To find out more, you can contact Robin Patel, Collections Officer, Perth Museum – 07815 312 562 / rmpatel@pkc.gov.uk"

Thanks to David Muir for gifting to the museum his family’s copy of the souvenir book of the 3rd World Rover Scout Moot at Monzie. The first large scale international Rover Scout gathering to be held in Scotland took place in 1939, when 42 countries were represented, many of whom would be fighting each other in the immediate years to follow. This hugely significant event is best described by quoting local historian Colin Mayall:

"Despite the rattles of the sabres and the distant sounds of war drums, Crieff (and specifically Monzie) were the focal point for some 3,500 Rover Scouts from all over the World . A “Moot“ was the [Old English] scouting term for a meeting or gathering and the Scouts had declared their internationalism by holding Moots, firstly in Kandersteg in Switzerland in 1931 and then in Ingaro, Sweden in 1935. Both these events attracted some 3,000 Rover Scouts from many countries. It was a great honour that Scotland was chosen, and indeed Strathearn and Monzie were to play host."

Groups attending had to provide details on their port of entry, and were directed to find their way to Crieff by rail, where they would be bussed to site. Scottish Rovers served as guides, security, and 'uncles' for the duration. The camp fee was £4 which covered all train travel within the UK to Crieff, and food, firewood and some excursions.

The focus at Monzie was on international friendship, ahead of what must have been increasingly apparent to these young men was looming on the horizon. At the end of the camp, the entire camp re-located to Edinburgh for three days of activity.
The official record of the camp was published afterwards and provides a detailed account of life at the camp.

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVAE5NIRV0892UMQNETLAO9ENRK5-INTERNATIONAL-SCOUT-MOOT-IN-SCOTLAND/query/Scouts

Crieff & Strathearn Museum (C&SM) held their 5th Annual General Meeting in the Old School-room at Innerpeffray on a very blustery 29th September.

At the meeting, David Ferguson, Chairman, related to the small audience the various ongoings of the group over the past year. Due to previous covid restrictions, the year in question runs from 1st March 2021 to end of February 2022, so the year has still been fairly difficult initially as meetings had to be held via Zoom, although latterly face to face meetings were once again possible.

C&SM have carried on working behind the scenes applying for grants, planning future events, consulting with the Scottish Civic Trust (SCT), and carrying out on-line training, while also discussing with Perth & Kinross Council (PKC) over a hopeful future base in the Old Crieff Town Hall(OTH), in the town’s High Street.

Over this year C&SM have applied successfully to a number of bodies for funding, including The Gannochy Trust and the William Syson Foundation.

Our discussions with the SCT have highlighted that C&SM should try and recruit more volunteers, members and Trustees to help spread the workload and carry the Museum forward, and with this in mind have recruited and welcome 2 new Trustees, Neil Rodan and John Cowie, but also bid farewell to another Trustee, Louise Hall.

If you would like to join C&SM in whichever capacity, then please contact us through the contact link below, via our Facebook page or telephone our Secretary on 01764 686980.

A Business Case for C&SM has been written up and this will help us going forward.

Under the auspices of Crieff Business Improvement District (BID), C&SM met in the OTH, and discussions had been ongoing with PKC, with the view that when BID moved out of the OTH, C&SM would be looked on favourably as the successors to move in.

Unfortunately BID were voted out by Crieff businesses in August 2021, which resulted in C&SM also being evicted from OTH. C&SM owe a debt of gratitude to BID for their support which helped and encouraged us by allowing us to hold our meetings in the OTH and to have exhibitions there. In particular we had a small museum running throughout the summer organised and overseen by Marnie Gauld, a Trustee. This gave C&SM a semi-permanent physical presence on Crieff High Street for the first time, and so gave an insight to the role we could hopefully provide in the future.

Fairly regular meetings have been held – mostly via Teams - with PKC to continue dialogue over a possible lease of OTH.

It was decided that C&SM should start looking for a lawyer to represent them when the time comes that PKC have a draft lease drawn up for them.

Over the year C&SM have continued to hold various events and exhibitions, including -

• A ‘Heritage Walk’ around Crieff, looking at various historical sites in the town, run in conjunction with the Drover’s Tryst.

• C&SM participated in Perthshire’s Doors Open Day events by staging 3 different events with a common theme of ‘Romans in Strathearn’.

• The main event was held at Innerpeffray, based in the old School-room.

• A guided walk was held travelling along part of an old Roman road on the Gask Ridge.

• In conjunction with Edinburgh University, C&SM was involved in 2 projects; one was the creation of an online interactive map for cyclists (and others) to navigate the length and breadth of Strathearn to visit all of the known Roman sites - currently available on the C&SM website.The other project was the creation of turf structures at Comrie Croft.

• A collaboration between a young local photographer, Blanche Haddow, and C&SM was organised, with a theme of ‘Strathearn Through the Seasons’ as its title.

• A talk on C&SM was provided for the Crieff Macular Support Group.

• Friends of MacRosty Park planned to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee by holding a ‘Party in the Park’ event on 5th June 2022, at which C&SM wish to attend.

C&SM have acquired a collection of 426 glass plate negatives taken by a Muthill-based photographer, called John McGregor, from around 1920 to 1930, which show a number of views in and around Strathearn, plus many social scenes. This was enabled by a large donation to C&SM last year.

The plates require significant conservation work and a workshop training course was held for C&SM by the Scottish Conservation Studios, based at Hopetoun House, where experts in their field, showed what chemicals and materials to use, how to clean the plates and suggestions on how to store them, as well providing useful contacts for C&SM to acquire the necessary items.

C&SM also invested in a new professional scanner to commence scanning of the plates once they’ve been cleaned. It should be noted that this is a time-consuming process, but will be processed as quickly as possible, when the plates will then be made available online.

Board members attended various other training sessions over the year.

It is pleasing to note that the accounts are in a stronger position than last year.

Looking over the past year, it has been satisfying to see C&SM begin to develop more and work with a wide cross-section of people and groups, showing C&SM is being seen as a serious and committed, mature body looking to safeguard Crieff and Strathearn’s history and heritage, and striving to meet the Museums Association's definition: "A museum enables people to explore collections for inspiration, learning, and enjoyment. It is an institution that collects, safeguards and makes accessible artefacts and specimens, which it holds in trust for society".

C&SM’s commitment to setting up a local museum is not being taken lightly and we look forward to the challenges ahead.

C&SM are negotiating with Perth and Kinross Council and Culture Perth and Kinross to re-occupy the old Town Hall where we hope to have a permanent presence and a variety of exhibitions and events. We are not yet in a position to provide firm dates for when this will happen but will keep you updated on progress.

We plan to be a presence at these events either with a stall or temporarily opening up Crieff Town Hall.

Crieff & Strathearn Museum were given first option on an important collection of photographs by John McGregor, a Strathearn photographer, based in Muthill at the beginning of the 20th century. There are 426 glass half plates in the collection which feature local people and scenes in images of a very high standard and we think it is vitally important we do all we can to preserve the collection, intact, in the area where they originated. We are therefore delighted to tell you that, due to one kind and generous donor who gave us the whole purchase price of £750, we have been able to secure the collection ahead of the deadline and it will be coming to Strathearn.

We feel very fortunate to have been given this opportunity on behalf of the Strathearn community but this is only the first stage of the process. The next appeal target is for the cost of conserving the collection (cleaning, repair etc.) which is estimated at £2000. We also intend, over time, to try to locate and acquire the missing pictures from the collection, so do please consider donating to this appeal; any amount will help secure them for the future.

To see more information about the appeal and to see how to make a donation, please go here:

The BBC Landward team enjoyed the brilliant sunshine and spectacular scenery of Strathearn the other week to film their latest rural and current affairs programme. The episode focuses on beef, its origins, processing and packaging and the implications arising from Brexit. So where better to start the enquiry than the ancient cattle droving ‘capital’ of Crieff, the culmination of the highland drove roads and the tryst held in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Gil Martin from the Crieff & Strathearn Drovers’ Tryst was on location with presenter Dougie Vipond and the BBC Landward team in and around Crieff and the Sma’ Glen. ‘It was great to help out with the shoot, advise on locations of drove roads and Wade’s military road north, and contribute to the programme with a discussion on drove roads and the Crieff tryst with Dougie Vipond.’ Gil commented. ‘There has been no Drovers’ Tryst festival this year so it was good to get out albeit only locally and have an opportunity to promote Crieff and the Tryst’.

For those interested, the Landward programme will be aired on BBC Scotland channel on Thursday 8th at 8pm and on BBC 1 Scotland on Friday 9th Oct at 7.35pm. For those of you who are interested in Crieff history and heritage or have participated on walks in the vicinity of Crieff look out for the feature on drovers and see if you can spot the film locations. For anyone ‘south of the border’ the programme can be accessed through BBC iPlayer.

It is estimated that over 50 million people in the world have Scottish ancestry. This link can be an important motivating factor for tourists to visit Scotland to both undertake family history research and to ‘walk in the footsteps’ of their ancestors. Ancestral tourists tend to stay longer, visit outside of the peak tourist season, visit areas across Scotland and are more likely to develop a connection that results in repeat visits. Ancestral tourism makes a significant contribution to the economy of Scotland and there remains a great deal of potential and opportunity to expand this growth.

Archive services are a unique and incredibly fruitful part of this growing industry, which help to enhance and enrich the experiences of many tourists. The Scottish Council on Archives wish to support archives in the industry to tap into its financial and cultural potential with useful resources including a press contact database, useful links, and case studies demonstrating effective engagement.

Scottish Council on Archives

https://www.scottisharchives.org.uk/explore/ancestral-tourism/

With many people celebrating Victory in Europe (VE) Day, which marks the end of the World War 2 conflict in Europe, David Ferguson thought it would be interesting to have a look at the role the local railways played. Click HERE to see the article, which is also available on the Crieff Lines Page on FaceBook

During the Strathearn's Railways exhibition, we received a number of donations of artefacts. The Midland Railway Company circular was kindly left by, we think, a Mrs Mather or Mailer; the writing is difficult to read. We would like to give the donation proper attribution, so if she could confirm her name for us we would be even more grateful. Especially if there is a story attached to how she came by it.