THE FRIENDS OF BRECHIN TOWN HOUSE MUSEUM

                          CHAIRMAN'S REPORT TO THE SECOND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING      September 2006

 

   The Friends have had a successful year continuing current activity and also developing new projects. The membership is 63 including a member from Australia. The first stage of the Townscape Heritage Initiative was successful and the second stage application has held their first public consultation meeting. We very much hope that this will be successful because it will provide funds to fully restore the Town House. One of Angus Council's architects has started to prepare more detailed, costed drawings for the full restoration of the Town House.

   

   We held two lectures evenings during the past year. We decided to work in partnership with the Civic Trust for this activity. In October, Mr Peter Grace gave an excellent  talk on Robert Watson -Watt - the radar man,  with video and models of the radio towers. This was followed by George Mitchell who talked of his work experience in a jute factory. In April, John Smart talked about the work of the weaver with reference to Smarts factory in Brechin. He was followed by Rachel Benvie who spoke about Archeology inAngus with slides. We were very encouraged by the attendances to these events. The initial part of the oral history project was completed and 6 compact discs werehanded over to the Town House Museum. Subjects include, social history 1920s to 1960s, farming 1930s-1960s, wartime and post-war memories. Following on the success of this project we decided to undertake a larger oral history project and we have applied to the Heritage Lottery Fund. The project will preserve details of domestic and working lifin the Brechin area. The memories will be stored on digital discs and will be freely available to the public.

 

   A photograph archive is to be developed at the museum. A scanner has been ordered and once the system has been set up, we will encourage the people of Brechin and district to bring their photographs along to be scanned.

 

   A grand visual arts competition has been arranged with the Civic Trust and Brechin Photographic Society. The purpose is to celebrate the built heritage of Brechin. This will run in the Mechanics during the art festival and so far there are 36 participants. Works of art will be on sale.

 

   The friends hope to produce Christmas cards and a winter scene by David Waterson has been chosen for this. Angus Council has created a new electronic catalogue of David Waterson's works which are in the council's collection of 77 framed works. During the year the Watson-Watt society of Brechin was formed to encourage more information on his work and to raise a permanent memorial in Brechin. It was decided that this society would be best stand alone than be affiliated to the Friends.

 

   The Museum continues with their excellent seasonal displays. I would like to thank Norman Atkinson and Willie Milne from Angus Coucil for their very helpful support.

                                      

 

 Dr. Robert Martin, Chairman

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT 2007

The Friends have had a successful year and have continued current activity and also are developing new projects. The membership is 63 including a member from Australia. We are hoping that the Townscape  Heritage Initiative will be successful and that work on the complete renovation of the Brechin Town House will start this winter This will mean that the museum will be closed for 6-9 months. The Council is looking at temporary accommodation for the museum. When it is re-opened, there will be an exhibition of the Waterson pictures that are in the care of Angus Council. Some of these pictures need restoration work and funds will be needed.

          We held a well attended lecture evening in March in partnership with the Civic Trust .The lecture was given by Professor Charles McKean who gave an illustrated talk on-The Guthries, an Edwardian family in Brechin. George Mitchell arranged a successful raffle and David Adam kindly donated a picture. The Annual Civic Trust wine and cheese night was held in April .The Civic Trust agreed to share the proceeds with the Friends.We were very fortunate that Andrea Brymer agreed to open the event and to help The Watson-Watt Society of Brechin launch their leaflet. We have arranged a talk on October 25th by Mary Brownley on the House of Dun and Andrew Kennedy and we plan to hold a talk by Trevor Royal in February 2008.

          The Friends produced a card with a snow scene picture of Brechin Cathedral by Moonlight by David Waterson. This was done with the help of Angus Council and thanks to Norman Atkinson and Jim Boon for their work. The picture is one of the Watersons in the care of Angus Council. Cultural services received 500 cards and The Friends also have 500 cards, and we are very pleased that 200 have been sold to date. They are available from the Office bearers at 90 pence each or £6.00 for 10 for members and retailers. It is a very attractive card and we would like to encourage members to obtain it.

          The major project for the Friends over the past year has been Oral History. The Heritage lottery awarded £11,800 towards this. The contribution from the friends is £1,608.The sub-group is Brian Mitchell, Robert Martin, George Mitchell, Ann Mitchell, Brian Stephen and James Snedden who are giving their time to the project. Two members of the group attended a course for one day on oral history at Dundee University led by D.Murray Watson. The title is Home and Working Life in Brechin and District in the 20th Century. The recordings are made at the Angus Digital Media Centre which is at the Industrial Estate in Brechin. We have recorded 30 individuals and 20 hours of recording so far. The recordings will be edited and transferred to digital discs and held as a primary source of living history for the present and future generations. Presentation packs will be produced for use in schools and with adults to promote an interest in the heritage of the Brechin area. We plan to produce 9 discs and 2 presentation packs. We are collecting photographs from the interviewees to use with the discs. The group has aimed to interview a good cross-section of people from different backgrounds. We have given presentations to the Dalhousie Day Centre and residential homes and recruited some people from there.

         The museum continues with their excellent seasonal displays and a recent interesting display of the secret war. The committee are concerned at the external appearance of the museum, the blinds give it a closed look and this has been noted by many people. We have made representation to museum services that this must be improved. We also hope that the photograph archive will be further developed. I would like to thank Norman Atkinson and Willie Milne from Angus Council for their excellent support. All being well with the THI we are looking forward to the complete restoration of the Town House next year.

 Dr. Robert Martin, Chairman

Highlights from Chairman’s Report 2008

  • The Friends have had a successful year and have continued current activity
    and also are developing new projects.
  • The Townscape Heritage Initiative Bid for Brechin was successful and we expect that work to complete the renovation of the Brechin Town House will start in September 2008.
  • There was an exhibition of the Waterson pictures in the Town House. During the latter part of the Exhibition there was a very successful talk by George Mitchell on the landscapes of Waterson’s artwork.
  • We held a lecture evening in October in partnership with the Civic Trust
    The lectures were by Mary Brownlow, Angus Area Manager of the House of Dun and Andrew Kennedy, founder member of the Brechin Railway
    Preservation Society
  • The major project for the Friends over the past year has been to continue
    the Oral History project.

The title is Memories of Home and Working life in Brechin and District in the 20th Century. Presentation packs have been produced for use in schools
and with adults to promote an interest in the heritage of the Brechin area.
We have produced 10 separate discs and 2 power point presentation packs

The recordings are now attractively finished in 50 packs of 10 discs which
 will be widely distributed to the Scottish Museum, Museums in Angus, the Brechin Town House and library. We plan to have a presentation of the oral history when the Town House is restored.
The photograph archive was started and about 500 photographs have been brought in. Many have been on show.

  • The museum continues with their excellent and varied displays

        Dr. Robert Martin, Chairman

Dear Member

Friends of BrechinTown HouseMuseum

Subscription Renewal 2008

Exciting times are ahead for the Town House Museum now that the restoration and upgrading of the Town House Museum is underway. This means it is even more important for the Friends of the Town House Museum to retain the support of existing members and also to increase the membership.  Member subscriptions help fund special events and provide additional extras for the Museum which would not otherwise be possible. The enclosed list of highlights from Chairman’s report shows the variety of activities undertaken in 2008

The Memories of Home and Working life in Brechin and District in the 20th Century pack are available for sale (£40 to members, £45 to non-members) and would make an ideal  present for friends and family at home or abroad. 

An annual subscription to the Friends would be an ideal gift for the birthdays, anniversaries, a thank you or just to say hello to friends and family during 2009.  Should you wish any membership application forms for friends or relative please let me know.

Please complete the enclosed subscription renewal form and return it to me.  We  hope you will renew your membership as your continued support is greatly appreciated. Apologies for the lateness of the 2008 subscription request.

I look forward to hearing from you

Yours sincerely

Anne Mitchell

Treasurer

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