Cabrach Rose Bowl sporting trophy makes remarkable return to Moray
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A heart-warming coincidence has seen the return of a sporting trophy to a rural community in Moray following an absence of nearly 100 years.
Back in the day Charlie Taylor was an outstanding athlete who competed in the strongman events at the Cabrach Highland Games.
In 1929, after he won for the event for a third time, the organisers decided he should be allowed to keep its top prize – the Cabrach Rose Bowl – on a permanent basis.
Charlie's home was tied to his job as a gamekeeper, so following retirement he moved away, taking his trophy with him.
Meanwhile, the Cabrach's dwindling population saw the games come to an end in 1935.
However, two summers ago, they were resurrected as part of the wide-ranging efforts now taking place to revitalise the area.
On the back of the relaunched event's success, the Cabrach Trust then began a nationwide hunt to see if the rose bowl could be traced.
And this is where the story moves 650 miles away to completely the other end of the UK.
Adrian Taylor, a musician who lives in Devon, is the grandson of Charlie.
By complete chance, he'd independently come up with the idea of returning the rose bowl, but wasn't sure who might want it.
Adrian and his wife Angela were at a special handover ceremony earlier today, having flown up to Moray with the trophy.
He said: "The Cabrach Rose Bowl had been in a display cabinet at our home ever since the late 1990s.
"It was something that had belonged to both my grandfather, and then my dad.
"Angela and myself had come up to Scotland a few times over the years, most recently in 2007, when we visited Glenlivet distillery.
"I remembered it had a museum section so, earlier this year, I went online with the original intention of getting the distillery's contact details.
"And that's when I happened to come across a newspaper report about the Cabrach Trust's search for the rose bowl. It couldn't have worked out better."
Adrian added: "There's a small part of me that's a little bit sad because it's been in my family a long time, but the overwhelming feeling is of great happiness that it's going to a very good home."
The Cabrach Rose Bowl will now be put up as a prize at the next Cabrach Picnic and Games on Sunday, July 28.
Charlie Murray, who leads the Royal Scottish Highland Games Association, and Andy Simspon, the Lord Lieutenant of Banffshire, were amongst those present at today's handover.
Both offered warm thanks to Adrian and Angela for having travelled so far.
Also at the ceremony was Jonathan Christie, who's been the head of the Cabrach Trust since April 2021.
The trust is currently on schedule to open the Cabrach distillery later this year, which will be the first time that whisky has been produced in the area for many decades.
Jonathan said: "The Cabrach Rose Bowl meant a lot to the people who originally competed for it, so there's a wonderful symbolism in it coming back here again now.
"The distillery is a bit like the lungs of what we're trying to do to revitalise the area economically, but community events such as the Cabrach Picnic and Games are the heart.
"The area is on the up and people are wanting to come live here."
Jonathan continued: "The Cabrach is a special place which, because of its history, has an air of mystery about it.
"Once it was on the main road between Inverness and Aberdeen before the era of depopulation came along.
"But even though many inhabitants were forced to move away for economic reasons they still kept up a real affection for the area.
"The Cabrach diaspora means we have supporters in Canada, Australia, America and all over the world."
When it opens the distillery will employ production methods as similar as possible to those of the early 1800s, when the trade was against the law and the Cabrach was the epicentre for illicit stills and smuggling.
