16th October 2025

Kathleen Anderson

Kathleen Anderson gave a well researched talk on the subject of the Balmoral Cairns. These are sixteen stone cairns on the Balmoral and Birkhall Estates. The context was explained of Victoria and Albert buying the Estates and in doing so having a long lasting impact on Upper Deeside, and a continuing Royal connection to the area. It was pointed out that the first cairn commemorated Prince Albert, whose early death devasted the Queen. Thereafter Victoria commissioned cairns, largely to mark the weddings of her nine children. It was fascinating to learn how through the marriage of her children, ties were made and strenghened with Royal families in Prussia, Russia and Spain; and finally we learnt of more recent cairns to mark milestones in Queen Elizabeth II’s life.

Cairns Smith

18th September 2025

Professor Cairns Smith gave a fascinating talk on two eminent North East of Scotland doctors who made a major contribution to our understanding of tropical diseases and their treatment. Patrick Manson from Old Meldrum graduated from the University of Aberdeen and had a medical career in Britain and China, founding the College of Medicine in Hong Kong. The talk explained his discovery of the connection between Malaria and the Mosquito. James Cantlie was another North East doctor featured in the talk. Like Manson his career took him to China and he co-founded the Hong Kong College of Medicine. He also played a role in helping to save Sun Yat Sen from kidnapping in London, thereby enabling Sun Yat Sen to later be instrumental in overthrowing the Manchu Chinese Empire. Professor Smith through his own wide knowledge of medicine was able to combine erudition with insights into the impact of these and other Scottish doctors.

Thursday 10th April 2025

Alan Holmes – Deeside Field Club

This meeting was hosted by Cromar History Group at the McRobert Hall in Tarland

For the first time, the Society held a joint meeting with Cromar History Group. Alan Holmes gave a fascinating talk on the Deeside Field Club. This Club was formed in 1920 and only ended its activities in 2004. It’s aim was to learn about Desside through winter talks and summer outings. The Club had a wide interest in both the human history of Deeside and it’s geology and natural history. It’s membership included the notable local writer Nan Sheperd. The presentation saw examples of the journal of the Club which are now held in the University of Aberdeen library. We also learnt about the work of the Club in funding monuments to commemorate significant local historical events.

20th March 2025

The Society broke fresh ground at its March meeting with a Quiz night for members, family and friends. Our Chairman set the questions, which tested how well people knew their local Heritage. And a music round was held just before the interval, with the Ukele Group Dee Cantus playing introductory fragments of songs. They then entertained the room with revealing and playing the full songs. A final round of questions rounded off the evening. The general feeling was that this format was a good combination of Fun and Learning more about our rich Heritage.

John Henderson

20th February 2025

(This month’s talk was scheduled as “Thomas Glover and Japan” to be presentd by Stephen Thompson. Unfortunately Stephen was unwell and our President John Henderson stepped in at very short notice, to give the excellent talk as below.)

John Henderson gave a talk on the History of Men’s Clothing. He explained that much of what men wear is of relatively modern times, often dating back only to the end of the 19^th Century or the beginning of the 20^th century. He gave the shirt as an example. Although it has a long history, its modern form can be traced to 1871 when Brown and Davis registered the first shirt with buttons all the way down. Before then shirts had been regarded as underwear. As modern shirts became more popular, a distinction developed with office workers wearing white shirts and manual workers blue shirts, hence the way such workers are often described today. The colour of a shirt was at times used by political movements such as the red shirts of followers of Garibaldi in Italy; and today T shirts often have slogans on them. 

The role of Aberdeen was touched on. In particular the Grandholm Mills of the Crombie company which made the iconic Crombie woollen coat bearing that name. A key market which helped the company develop, was for clothes for the military and royalty, including Queen Victoria. Another Aberdeen based company was Harrott and Co., based in Rose Street, who up until 1977 made gloves and woollens, being at one time the largest glove maker in Britain. 

Marcus Humphrey

16th January 2025

Marcus Humphrey, who has held high office in Freemasonry in Scotland, gave a fascinating talk on the history of Freemasons and their current activities and organisation. He explained that the historical roots lay with the guilds of stone masons. By the 18th Century the movement had widened to include a cross section of society, and a more formal national structure developed in Scotland. Then, as now, the aims were to give members a fellowship with each other, to support the members to lead ethical lives and through charitable funds help their communities. He mapped out the local lodges in Deeside,including in Aboyne, which were part of an extensive Scotland and global network.