Comrie Heritage Group has a total of 11 full members, 2 associate members and a number of wonderful individuals and groups who volunteer for events and guided tours. There are Heritage Group representatives on the CDT Board, Estate Management Working Group and the Heritage Self Catering Society
Our main focus this year has been:
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Guided Tours Developing guided tours at the Camp, with a promotional leaflet that is distributed throughout Perthshire. Continued success of the tours, over the last few years, has seen a marked increase in visitor numbers and we have had more requests for group tours including Bus Tours – we hope to promote this market further.
- Developing and providing talks on Cultybraggan to groups such as the WRI
- Hands on History workshops for schools. Unfortunately, due to lack of administrative resources, we have only managed to secure a few bookings this year. However the overwhelming response from the schools and children has been outstanding and we hope that resources may become available to promote this further.
- Helping CDT with the HLF bid for the Self Catering Hut project at the Camp and writing an Heritage Activity Plan to support this application. This plan involves various activities such as a phone app, storyboards, geophysical exploration for escape tunnels, and working with local schools.
- Collecting and archiving artefacts relating to Comrie and the camp to be displayed in a museum/visitor attraction. This is part of our long term vision for the Camp.
- Researching and collating information by interviewing and recording people’s memories of Comrie and Cultybraggan Camp. We intend to make these available to the public either online or as part of an interactive visitor experience.
- Events including the nationwide Doors Open Day weekend in September. Again this was very successful with large numbers of visitors attending. This event is supported by many volunteer groups and individuals from throughout Scotland with a passion for preserving Cultybraggan Camp.
- WW1 in Comrie. Throughout the 100th anniversary we have attended various meetings and talks with P&KC Perthshire Remembers. We are also very privileged to be organising the presentation to Comrie, in 2017, of a paving stone to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Victoria Cross awarded to Comrie’s son John Manson Craig.
Craig Family at Heritage Centre Opening
We are just a small group of volunteers who strive to maintain the heritage of Comrie and the Camp and in particular are committed to maintain the integrity of Cultybraggan Camp. At times we have found it difficult to justify its economic commercial development against the historic environment. Our hope is that more people will come to understand its national and international importance and to realise that in just over 20 years time there will be another World War centenary, that of WWII and we hope that this completely unique part of our history – Cultybraggan PoW Camp no 21 – will still be here for the generations to come.
Fiona Davidson, Comrie Heritage Group
