Events in Grampian: Cabrach Games return after nearly a century

Showing how the area is bouncing back the Cabrach Picnic and Games returned at the weekend after a gap of 87 years.

This past Sunday saw about 200 people enjoying food and drink plus Highland dancing and sports.

The Cabrach Trust has resurrected the popular event as part of its efforts to help revitalise the area after decades of depopulation.

Jonathan Christie, the trust's CEO, said: "We were delighted with the turnout – the feelgood factor was so strong.

"The Cabrach Picnic and Games ran annually from 1877 to 1935, except for a short break during World War I.

"It's a key part of the Cabrach’s fascinating history.

"So it's rewarding to pay homage and to start a new tradition that we hope will endure."

The Cabrach was once home to a thriving community of more than a thousand residents.

However, a series of bad harvests and the loss of working-age men to the First World War began a spiral of decline. Today fewer than a hundred people reside there.

Late last year the trust announced it had secured £3.5million to build a whisky distillery and a heritage centre at Inverharroch Farm.

The latter will relate the Cabrach's central role in the whisky smuggling trade.

Meanwhile, the distillery will use production methods and equipment similar to those employed in the early 19th Century – the illicit trade's heyday.

The trust has also created a new walking trail along the banks of the River Deveron which attracted two hundred people to its opening in April,

In addition, it also runs a rural skills hub, anchored from a recently restored farm building affectionately known locally as the 'Old Smiddy'.

This focuses on the preservation of crafts traditionally practiced throughout Moray, such as basket-weaving, dry stone dyking and foraging.

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