Death of Huntly stalwart
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A WELL-known Huntly stalwart with a passion for traditional music, gardening and the Huntly community has died.
Keith Cockburn died at home on Monday morning, aged 71, with his wife Pam and his loyal dog Suzy by his side. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in October last year.
Keith had a passion for Huntly and was a proud ambassador for the town, promoting it wherever he went. His love of Huntly was reciprocated by the community when last year, together with wife Pam, he was voted as the town’s Citizen of the Year.
His involvement in many local groups gave him great enjoyment and made him a key figure in the community.
Together with artist-in-residence, Emily White, Keith and Pam were instrumental in establishing the annual Huntly Summer Music School. The first summer school was held in 2008 and each year the number of students attending and the range of instruments on offer has grown.
Deveron Arts and Keith had a long association, with Pam and Keith opening up their home to many of the artists in residence who came to work in the area.
In 2014, Keith led the band Kutumba, an instrumental folk ensemble from Nepal, in a Nepal-Scot ceilidh in Gartly’s Tin Hut.
Keith was a fantastic compere and enjoyed Huntly’s regular tea dances, and could be seen addressing the haggis at many local Burns Suppers.
As a team, Keith and Pam ran the Strathbogie Fiddlers. For five years Pam has led the group and Keith would organise events and compere for the concert party which travels around the north east providing traditional musical entertainment.
As well as music, the couple shared a love for gardening and they were the guerilla gardeners of Deveron Street. Their home overlooked a neglected area in the street which was the catalyst for projects which led to the area twice winning a community garden award. The project received overwhelming support from residents in the street and Keith made hundreds of window boxes.
From school Keith went to work with his father in Cockburns shoe shop in Mid Street, Keith. The family business was first established on Huntly’s Gordon Street and the premises now forms part of the Stewart’s Hall. He went on to work in Glasgow for Bayne and Duckett before being appointed shoe buyer for Scotland for House of Fraser.
Keith met his first wife Catherine and the couple moved back to the family business in Keith before returning to Huntly. Sadly Catherine (Rena) died in 1998.
It was a mutual love of music that brought Keith and Pam together in 2001. They met at the Orkney Folk Festival and were married in Dunblane in 2006.
Keith had four daughters, Annie, Jane, Morag and Katie and three grand-daughters. The funeral ceremony will take place on Tuesday, July 26, at Moray Crematorium, Buckie, at 2.30pm.
