Clyne Heritage Society
About this Organisation
Clyne Heritage Society, based in the village of Brora (in the parish of Clyne) in East Sutherland, Scotland, was established in 1998. It is a local members’ charitable organisation that actively pursues and encourages participation in a wide range of heritage-related activities in and around the village and the wider parish.
The Society’s over-arching charitable purpose is: 'to advance the education of the public about, to stimulate public interest in and to care for the beauty, history and character of the Parish of Clyne, by any means that is now, or hereafter may be, charitable in law.'
The Society is incorporated as a Private Limited Company with Charitable Status. It is registered with OSCR (Charity Number SC028193) and is managed by a Board of eight directors. Hitherto, it has relied heavily on volunteer effort to run its varied and extensive, high quality heritage activities.
Since its formation, CHS’s annually growing membership has risen to over 200 (equating to c20% of the population of Brora – although not all are from the local area). CHS is possibly the largest heritage group in the Highlands.
The Society’s activities have become highly regarded both locally and from far afield, the most prominent of which has been the nationally acclaimed and award-winning Brora Salt Pans archaeological excavation. The Association for Industrial Archaeology awarded its ‘Main Volunteer Award for Fieldwork and Recording’ in 2010 to the Society. In the same year, the Society was invited, as one of three community groups, to give a paper at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh as part of Scottish Environment Week.
Other, more regular activities include:
• a winter series of 8 lectures (the average attendance for the last 10 years – 49, with a maximum single attendance of 92);
• guided walks during Highland Archaeology Festival and Brora Carnival Week;
• publications (including its annual magazine, ‘The Clyne Chronicle’ – now requested annually by the National Library of Scotland to be added to its collection);
• annual exhibitions;
• genealogical and historical research enquiry service;
• trips, eg a 45-member trip to the WW1 Battlefields, including laying wreath at the Menin Gate, Ypres;
• monthly maintenance sessions at the local, historic disused graveyard, acting as its ‘friends’;
• occasional social events, eg 10, 15 and 20-year anniversary ceilidhs.
In May 2016, CHS began operating the existing, Highland Council-owned, Brora Heritage Centre at Fascally, Brora, on behalf of High Life Highland, the Council’s arms-length charity tasked with managing its cultural and leisure services. This opportunity has given CHS the opportunity to manage successfully a heritage facility as well as developing knowledge pertinent to the evolving design for the Society's next main project, the renovation of the Old Clyne School building for the Society's use as a community heritage hub, from which it will operate all of it's heritage activities.
Links
Contacts
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Dr Nick Lindsay
Chairman
nicklindsay@btinternet.com
Tel: 01408621338
Organisation Type
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