Duncan Harley

The editions of both the Aberdeen Free Press and the Aberdeen Daily Journal for Thursday May 4 1916 carried the news the war had finally arrived on Aberdeenshire’s doorstep in the form of aerial bombing by a German Zeppelin on the night of May 2nd. Headlines screamed “Terrific Noise of Crashing Bombs” and “Zeppelin at Rattray Head” alongside descriptions of up to 17 bombs having been dropped over the North-east in the course of the attack. Zeppelin raids were common over Southern England and the Continent but it had been assumed that North-east Scotland was well out of range of raiders, whose bases were around 12 hours’ flying time away in Germany. The usual targets for the German crews were naval and military bases, but in 1916, the art of night time bombing was uncertain at best, with many bombs falling on civilian areas. The airships mainly relied on navigation based on ground observation and bombs were often dropped by hand. There had been a raid on Scotland on 2 April ...

The Garioch town of Insch somehow managed to retain its railway station despite the re-shaping of the railway system following the Beeching Reports of the 1960’s and today provides rural commuters with fast access to the oil capital of Europe and in addition hosts a community run museum in the former ticket office. Insch Connection Museum, a Registered Scottish Charity, hold an extensive archive relating to Insch’s past.  The museum’s focus for 2016 was “Souters of Insch”, a family business once central to Insch’s economy. Trading in everything from fencing supplies to wedding presents, the Souter brand was instrumental in bringing both electricity and employment to the village and for over 90 years operated a popular general goods store on Commercial Road. The town today boasts an aerodrome, a manufacturer of landmine clearance machines plus a good selection of archaeology. It can also claim the distinction of being one of only a very few places in Scotland bombed by the Germa...

Writing the back-page fluff for a new book is both a pain and a pleasure. The publishers generally put out a pre-publication questionnaire some months before even a single word is placed on the final page. Well, not that final really since drafts more drafts and final drafts are likely to supersede the early content. So, ideas change and the final fluff might not resemble the initial hopeful words. Then of course there is the difficult issue of the title. Should it be ironic, reflective of some pun or simply be a play on some clever words such as ‘Here be dragons’ or ‘You should read this since it will make you cleverer than you were before’? I don’t really know. But what I do know is that the joy of holding the print in your grubby hand makes up for the hassle of getting into print and the lack of monetary rewards. Not many folks know this, but most books fail to make more than the cost of printing and sell just a few thousand copies or even less. At last week’s Ab...

When Aberdeenshire Council Landscape Services Officer Ken Regan realised that he had a dead elm tree on his hands he decided to approach Chainsaw Sculptor Gary Shand in the hope of persuading him to transform the 25ft high stump into a piece of public art. “I had seen carved tree stumps in the parks of Barcelona … the notion that folk could almost randomly stumble upon them appealed and when this opportunity arose it seemed appropriate to create one for Inverurie” said Ken. Sited in parkland on George Square beside St Andrews School, the sculpting process immediately drew comments from local residents. Carving a tree trunk with a power-saw is after all a very public process. Said Gary “It was really interesting overhearing the comments. At the beginning folk were mainly asking what it was for and what did it mean. Towards the end of the week I detected a sense of ownership. Folk had literally adopted the piece as a part of their local environment.” The design stage in...

In the aftermath of the 1914-18 conflict, large swathes of Europe lay in ruins and the detritus of war littered the fields of France and Belgium. There was no longer much demand for tin helmets or barbed wire but battlefield tourism became popular just as it had after Waterloo and Culloden. Early visitors to the likes of Waterloo and Culloden were of course after second hand memories - photography had not yet been invented but battlefield tourists included Lord Byron, Sir Walter Scott and Victor Hugo who no doubt visited in hope of inspiration for their drawing or writing. Even Thomas Hardy got in in the act. In a more modern day, folk buy guided tours to the D-Day beaches and gloat upon Hitler's west-wall and those preserved Berlin ruins. I came across The Michelin Guide to Ypres  recently. It’s just one of a series published by the tyre company just a year after cessation of hostilities. A friend has an original copy dating from not long after the conflict. Published...

When I first moved to the capital of the Garioch I was warned by a Tesco checkout operative that George Square was a noisy place to be. Backing on to the Academy playing-fields the AB51 post-code seemingly attracted screaming lunchtime children and lost cricket balls into the adjoining gardens. I recall saying something like “I really like the sound of children enjoying themselves, after all I was once one myself.” The till operative seemed bemused at my reply and has since been retired – or so I am led to believe. I did enjoy the daily spectre of lost balls and, on occasion even got to throw them back into the field at the bottom of my garden. In fact, on one occasion, a trio of enthusiastic cricketers rang the front door-bell intent on retrieving the object of their desire. “Is it ok if we go into your garden to look for our ball” they asked. “Of course, go for it!” came the reply. I have not seen the lads since and hope that they both found the ball and made it...

That’s the new school building at the foot of my garden finally taking shape. I blogged the destruction of the hallowed sports ground some months ago and the digging up of the turf finally ended when the steel-erectors moved in a few weeks ago. From grass to mud the project took around 16 weeks and from mud to steel a further 6 weeks has elapsed although it will be a year or so until the splendid complex is finally completed. Hopefully some royal or other will arrive to open the place as that would be fitting probably. Prince Charles would be nice, or maybe if the project is delayed for a bit, or goes over budget, then maybe Prince Louis might unveil the inevitable shiny plaque. As an aside, despite the forward planning and the public consultations, I suspect that the solar panels on the structure's roof face somewhat to the North instead of facing the more conventional South, where – given that we inhabit the Northern Hemisphere, they might just receive the most sunl...