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New lifeboat at Whitehills





Party-goers at a dinner dance in the Banff Springs Hotel in 1982.
Party-goers at a dinner dance in the Banff Springs Hotel in 1982.

100 Years Ago

Damage by lightning – The most severe and destructive thunderstorm we have had for many years was experienced at Forglen last week. Distant rumblings were heard towards the west in the morning, and at about 2pm the storm broke and lasted about two hours. The lightning was very vivid, and strike after strike followed each other in quick succession. Three young bulls belonging to Piper Findlater, V.C., Cairnhill, and a five-year-old horse belonging to Mr Still, Meikle Ribrae, were killed.

At the Post Office, the telephone instrument was damaged and the lid of the fuse-box blown open. There was a heavy downpour of rain, which was very unequally distributed. In the upper end and towards the west side of the parish there was only a gentle shower, but in the middle of the parish it was very heavy, and at the lower end there was a waterspout accompanied with hail. Mr Cameron, Kirkton, had his whole steading flooded to the depth of several feet, torrents of water pouring down upon his steading from all the surrounding slopes.

Fifty chickens, several hens and turkeys were drowned. In the same end of the parish, turnip and potato fields suffered considerable damage.

50 Years Ago

Lifeboat arrives at Whitehills – A large crowd of fishermen and villagers watched the new Whitehills lifeboat arrive in the village harbour on Friday afternoon. As the vessel entered the outer basin, school children lining the harbour wall cheered enthusiastically. On board the vessel, as well as one or two lifeboat officials, were four of the Whitehills lifeboat crew. They were the coxswain, William Pirie, 30 Knock Street; the mechanic, John Ritchie, 1 Harbour Place; and crew members, William Lovie, sen., 14 Loch Street, and William Lovie, jr., 42 Wilson Crescent.

The new lifeboat, which is not a self-righter, is 47ft long and has an enclosed wheelhouse. She is fitted with an echo-sounder and is powered by twin sixty horse power Gardner diesel engines. The boat was built at Cowes in the Isle of Wight and was taken all the way to Whitehills by sea.

Accompanying her on the way was the new Buckie lifeboat commander L. Hill, area inspector, who was in charge of the boat on the way up. He told a “Banffshire Journal” reporter: “The lads are very pleased with her. We had a head wind part of the way and she averaged nine knots. She manoeuvred very well.”

Shortly after the vessel arrived the crew took the lifeboat out for a trial run.

25 Years Ago

Moira takes a bow round Europe – A 15-year-old Macduff Girl Guide is leaving next month for a trip of a lifetime – and taking part in a musical tour of Europe. For Moira McCaig, of the 1st Macduff Girl Guides, is one of only eight Scottish members of the national Scout and Guide Orchestra which leaves on Sunday, July 27, on a musical journey which will take them to London, Cologne, Munich, Vienna, Bonn and back to London in a trip lasting almost three weeks. Moira, a pupil at Banff Academy, plays the cello. She will travel with the orchestra members to Gillwell Park, the nationally known scout and guide camping centre, where they will be given tuition by professional music teachers as well as enter into the many activities at the centre. On the following Thursday they start their tour of Europe.

During their visits, the orchestra will give two concerts in Vienna and one in Bonn before returning to London to stage another concert. Prior to the European trip, Moira will be taking part in the Grampian schools orchestra course at Aberdeen and Stonehaven which ends with a concert in Aberdeen. Auditions for this course took place in November. To be chosen for this prestigious tour of Europe as part of the national orchestra is quite a feather in the cap for Moira, her music teacher, Mr Gareth John, and for her family.

Her parents, Mr and Mrs George McCaig, 68 Gellymill Street, Macduff, are well known in music circles in the Banff and Macduff area and Moira’s older sister, Irene, is a music teacher at Turriff Academy. Her sister, Alison, is meantime studying at an Aberdeen college and hopes to become a primary teacher while her brother, Andrew, is an apprentice marine engineer.


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