CHS Annual Report for 2023‐24

We’ve endeavoured to present a varied programme of talks again this year. To summarise

• We’ve heard about some archaeology at the west end of the Black Isle, around Tarradale and Muir of Ord
• We were introduced to the life and travels of a 17C Scottish Episcopalian minister (James Fraser from Kirkhill) and the legacy he left through his writings, which gave a slightly different viewpoint of the Highlands at that time
• We were told about map-making in 17thC — in particular how maps became an essential part of running an estate. There was even some hands‐on experience with a specialist tool used to produce these accurate and informative maps
• We delved into some local family history, with a tale of two shopkeepers ‐ a father and son, who exerted their influence on this town
• We were invited to reflect on another side of Macbeth, Thane of Cromarty ‐ his local associations and how he has been unfairly portrayed in folklore and history
• We were entertained to an amusing talk about milestones that ran into many other topics …

There are 2 further lectures we are looking forward to — tonight’s on sources for information on Cromarty and the locality in some of the larger archives and next month — to our postponed talk on Black Isle place names.

As a Friends Group of the Courthouse, we aim to help the museum financially, or give assistance in kind. Last July, we arranged for local Tain author, Philip Paris, to deliver a talk about the witchcraft trials in Scotland. Entry was by donation and the event attracted a large audience; as a result we were able to raise funds of £300 for the museum. Earlier this month we hosted, together with the Courthouse, another talk, this time by Kate Forbes (our local MSP) on emigration from Isle of Lewis to French speaking Canada. This raised a further £150. To conclude my report, you are all aware that we have an exodus of committee members at this AGM. These are all people who have given time and enthusiasm to keep the society running successfully for a long time and particularly to survive those “pandemic years”. In fact together they’ve totalled up nearly 50 years’ service as committee members.

I’m referring to:

• Gillian Jones — joined committee in 2011, she has been our very competent secretary for nearly all that time and is always busy on the refreshment front
• Paul Monk — joined in 2012 as the Courthouse representative and has shared his knowledge of various historical subjects in talks to society and also in answering queries coming through our website
• Brenda Monk — joined in 2016 to become our treasurer, she has been keeping track of our finances and communicating with members since then
• Sheila Currie — joined in 2016 bringing both enthusiasm and ideas and has also shared some of her research in talks to the society
• Gordon Haynes — joined in 2018 and has acted as our diligent programme secretary for the last 5 years and delivered talks to us referencing town planning

I want to thank you all sincerely, for your longstanding commitment to the society and in particular for the support you have given me as convenor during that time. It’s also a farewell to the artistic talents of John McNaught, who has provided us with such brilliant posters every month since September 2011. We have an archive of all these posters for posterity! Gillian, please pass our heartfelt thanks to John — and tell him he’s been a real star. Thanks also to Roger Young, who keeps our website up‐to‐date (since 2015) with news and reports and happily will continue to do this for us. I don’t want to miss out mentioning Ross Couper, who joined the committee at the same time as Gillian in 2011 and has taken sole responsibility for getting the tech we have used, both in the East Church Hall and now the Victoria Hall, ready and functioning for our meetings. He also exerts his energy every meeting putting out all the chairs. Ross is happy to continue in these roles. Refreshments and the social time at the end of our meetings is a key to success, so again that’s due to the efforts of the committee! Finally thank you, our audience, for continuing to show your support through attending our meetings.

Mary Bowers
April 2024