Insch Hospital to be supported by vintage vehicle rally in Aberdeenshire
The ongoing fight to reopen a community hospital will continue this Sunday when a vintage vehicle rally tours the region.
Friends of Insch Hospital have confirmed that 42 classic cars, 26 tractors and eight motorbikes will be taking part.
The event will kick of at 11am in the field next to the hospital where all the vintage vehicles will be on display before they set off on a tour of the area.
Allison Grant, the vice chair of the Friends Group, said: “At this year’s vintage vehicle event we have decided to do something a bit different.
“We’ve extended this year’s run to include Insch, Leslie, and Premnay where a tractor and cart will pull a display to honour the fallen soldiers from the six parishes – Insch, Leslie, Premnay, Oyne, Culsamond and Chapel of Garioch.
“It should be a wonderful day for all the family who will be able to enjoy seeing the vehicles close up at the hospital or look out for them as they go around Insch, Premnay and Leslie.”
Insch War Memorial Hospital, to give it its full name, was opened in the aftermath of the 1914-18 due to the desire of local people to remember those who had given their lives.
Music will be provided on Sunday at the hospital by Dufftown Pipe Band.
Other attractions on site will include a demonstration by the fire service, as well as a barbecue, a raffle, mini steam engines, Cycling without Age, plus Farming Bygones, which is a display of agricultural tools and equipment from long ago.
The hospital opened in August 1922. The site had been gifted and £7500 was raised to build it, with the bulk donated by public subscription.
It closed in March 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, and has remained shut ever since. However a pledge was made during the following year’s election campaign by Nicola Sturgeon that it would reopen.
