In true Scottish summer style, we have had a weird and wonderful week of weather in Dunkeld. From hailstones and thunder to glorious sunshine we’ve seen it all this week. Lucky for us we have plenty to do safely inside the archive here at The Cross.
Monday Memories joined us for a good chat and lots of tea at the start of the week, we had a look through more newspaper clippings and some postcard albums too. We had a lovely time looking for changes in the village from these old images and it was a great way to jog memories of who used to live in the village (and some who still do).
We’re embracing the FIFA world cup fever here in the Archive. We have had a look in our collection and will be posting some football themed photographs over the next few weeks. Our first post was a Scottish Horse football team photographed sometime around the 1930s. It’s wonderful to see the connection between people of the past and present through something as simple as a ballgame!
Our guided tours are well underway for the season; we have several guides leading the tours for us this season which provides a unique experience for each group. Some of our other volunteers have been hard at work on our Heritage Lottery Fund Project on shops and houses, we hope to have all of our research for this topic completed by the end of this month. The volunteers have utilised a variety of resources in this task including old copies of the Bridge Magazine on the hunt for old shop advertisements.
Some of our other volunteers have been digitising for us this week, we have now completed all the books of Caputh and Clunie Records and are digitising records of the Women’s Guild and receipts from Clunie and Caputh church business . Ian has been hard at work transcribing information from our Scottish Horse enlistment books to a database to create an easily searchable resource, this will save lots of time in the future when looking for soldiers. We are so thankful for all of our volunteers and their hard work, we couldn’t function without them.
Our development officer Liz has been up visiting this week; she has been very busy with meetings throughout the community in regard to our ongoing development project. Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming news about our public consultation opportunities.
Our first summer workshop will be taking place on the 28th of June. Join the Historical Herbalists to explore real herbal medicines and the ingredients, both strange and familiar, evoking the working world of an eighteenth-century Scottish healer. Drawing directly from surviving herbal receipt books, the display explores traditional Scots plant remedies for ailments of body and mind, from simples and syrups to poultices and distilled waters. Visitors can discover how remedies were prepared, stored and prescribed, and learn about the women and household practitioners who safeguarded this knowledge. An immersive, evidence-based interpretation of Scotland’s living medicinal heritage that survives in the herbal healing arts today. Refreshments, lunch and materials will be provided. Tickets are £80 plus booking fee.
