Banff Preservation and Heritage Society celebrates 60th anniversary
A community group which was formed to protect historic buildings in a town has celebrated its 60th anniversary.
Banff Preservation and Heritage Society marked the milestone at its recent AGM held in Banff Castle.
The occasion saw members and friends gather to exchange memories of the work done and the continuing success of the society.
Secretary Mhairi McKean said: “In honour of our 60 years, we appointed Patricia Seligman MBE as honorary president of Banff Preservation and Heritage Society.
“Patricia has been a past chair and devoted supporter since the 1970s. Patricia gave an excellent talk about her time with the society.”
The group’s roots go back to 1901, when a letter to the Banffshire Journal, protested the demolition of the turrets. This was demolished to make way for the new library and museum.
The writer went on to describe how one of “the principle features of Banff is its buildings of antiquity”, but that these were one by one disappearing.
In 1955, letters appeared in The Scotsman in reply to an article about Banff Town Council's desire to demolish old buildings in the community, despite the fact that at least one seventh of the buildings in Banff were of special historic or architectural interest.
They were accused of “merrily” demolishing houses. Local architects were of the opinion that the old houses could be brought up to modern standards and become a real asset for the Royal Burgh of Banff.
However, the demolitions continued until in 1964 when Mrs Urquhart of Craigston Castle gathered a group of people who were interested in saving the built heritage of the town.
On February 6 1965, a meeting was held at the castle to form the society and so Banff Preservation Society came in to being and immediately went to work restoring buildings.
The first one was 12 Deveronside, followed a few years later by 1 and 3 High Shore and 9 to 11 Carmelite Street. The model was to restore a building, sell it and use the money to buy the next building.
Over the years this was repeated with an example being the Shoemakers' Building on High Street.
With these examples of newly restored buildings, many private individuals invested in other old properties and gradually they were renovated.
The society continues to save and restore buildings but has also supported many other projects in the town.
This includes restoring the gates from the bridge entrance to Duff House which are now hanging at Banff Castle; restoring the Duff House gates at the entrance to the Wrack woodlands; and providing a donation for the restoration of the Temple of Venus, which had fallen in to disrepair and had been struck by lightning during World War Two.
When the museum came under threat, Banff Preservation Society, along with Banffshire Maritime Heritage Association, took over the running of the Museum of Banff.
Banff Preservation and Heritage Society continues to run it in partnership with Aberdeenshire Council. The museum is open four days a week in the summer and on Saturdays only in the winter.
Mhairi added: “Volunteers are happy to open out of hours for groups and individuals.
“Visitors to the museum are fascinated by the town's rich history and many descendants of Banffers return to the town to investigate their roots.
“Who knew that former Banff residents became publishers in London, the Prime Minister of Tasmania, famous naturalists and authors to mention but a few.
“Banff is a town with a rich history and heritage both built and within its museum. Banff Preservation and Heritage Society works to celebrate both.
“Banff Museum is the oldest north of Perth, established in 1828 by the Banff Institute of Science, Literature and the Arts.
“The Banff Collection was amassed by Banffshire people gifting articles to the museum for the education of the local people and some collections, such as that of James Ferguson, were bought by public subscription.
“For a strong tourist industry to flourish, we need the fabric of our town to be properly maintained, including our beautiful historic buildings so that we no longer have visitors saying ‘Banff is a beautiful town. It maybe needs a bit of TLC though’.
“We need to protect the assets we have, namely our historical objects and these need to be cherished in Banff and exhibited so that our visitor numbers can grow and the tourism offering grows.
“Banff Preservation and Heritage Society welcomes new members and volunteers at the museum. If you have a few hours to spare, come along and join us.
“The role of volunteer is a very satisfying one, meeting new people with stories of the town and its history and being given the chance to work as part of a team within the museum.
“We also work with local groups across the community on all sorts of events and activities.”
