Our final meeting of this season will be on Thursday 28 April at 1900.

You can now register for our next online lecture, In a change to the original programme, the lecture will be  “Drifty Days – The Climate Crisis of 1673/4” by John Harrison.
Before the lecture, we will hold our Annual General Meeting.
 
Please follow the link below to register for the Zoom meeting via Eventbrite.
Stirling Local History Society - The Climate Crisis 1673/4 Tickets, Thu 28 Apr 2022 at 19:00 | Eventbrite
 
You’ll be able to join the Zoom meeting at 7PM on the 28th April. We look forward to seeing you there.
 

This meeting wil take place via Zoom  at 19.00. You can find the link at
Stirling Local History Society - Back Stories of a Stirling Collection Tickets, Thu 31 Mar 2022 at 19:00 | Eventbrite


The speaker is Stuart Campbell and the topic is 'Back Stories of a Stirling Collection'.

SLHS March Meeting- Back stories of a Stirling Collection.
Stuart Campbell; A Son of the Rock, Allan’s Primary School, The High School of Stirling, a career in Civil Engineering for 15 years and then change of direction to become local antique dealer. Member of SLHS, volunteer tour guide and researcher at Bannockburn House, Deacon Convener of the Seven Incorporated Trades of Stirling and long time collector of almost anything to do with Stirling and surrounding area.
 
Our March Meeting is a series of back stories on some aspects of Stirling’s rich history. These stories are drawn from some of the objects that make up the “Stirling Collection” amassed over a 45 year period by our speaker. He will show how some simple items selected from this collection, such as photos, an etching, a watch, mauchline ware, a bottle and postcards etc can lead us into these back stories.

R.B. Cunningham Graham (1852-1936) was one of the most colourful and complex Scots of his day. Our zoom lecture on Thursday Thursday 24th February at 1900 hrs will be by Lachlan Munro, whose book about RB is to be published by Edinburgh University Press on the spring - so we are getting a sneak preview by the expert. His title, R.B. Cunningham Graham : “Party, prose and Political Aesthetic.” hints at the diversity of a life of adenture, literature and politics, apart from being a laird, an adveturer and a Member of Parliament.
The zoom link will shortly be sent to members and details will be posted here for non-members.

The Battle of Falkirk Muir was the largest of all the battles fought during the four Jacobite uprisings yet there is little public knowledge or recognition for this historic event. Our Trust aims to drive this awareness with our ultimate vision being to build a visitor centre in Falkirk to commemorate the Battle and drive tourism in the local area.
We are delighted to announce that tickets are now on sale for our first conference which will commemorate the Battle’s 276th anniversary.
Speakers include Jonathan Oates, Rosalind Anderson and Deborah Dennison who will examine the character and personalities of Bonnie Prince Charlie, The Murray’s of Atholl and General Hawley. Geoff Bailey and Arran Johnston will explore who won the Battle of Falkirk Muir. Guy Wedderburn, David Forsyth and Colin Fraser will discuss Callendar Estates, Museums and Jacobite Artefacts.
As you can see, we have a varied, exciting, and engaging line up. This event is a great opportunity for all interested to come together to find out facts surrounding the Battle of Falkirk Muir. We have event specific Covid-19 guidance which will be issued to all attendees in advance of the event.
Tickets are on sale via Eventbrite here: www.bit.ly/3FIolmQ
The Facebook event can be found here: www.fb.me/e/1f6xISFuf
Any profits from the event will go towards The Battle of Falkirk Muir (1746) Trust.This event is to be held at Falkirk Stadium on 22 Jan to highlight the battle and raise funds towards establishign a new visitor centre. The speakers, topics and details for booking are below.

Clish-Clash is the Newsletter of the Scottish Local History Forum. You can read or download the November 2021 edition here.

We have just had a 'comment' from Stewart Reynolds, one of the pupils in the procession, who writes:

Yes I was a pupil at the old high school in academy road and was part of the procession walking to Torbrex in 1962.I can also remember getting the strap from Mr Geddes outside the school entrance for being late.Charlie Ross taught “Classical Realion?”at the old school and he was the goalkeeper for Stenhousemuir at the same time .Charlie lived in Bannockburn as I did at the time and occasionally he would pick me up at the bus stop in his new mini when I was late (as usual) -I was also in the Army Cadet Force (Stirling high school) and would practice rifle shooting at Williamfield where Mr Geddes the headmaster was in charge.I went to Cultybraggan with the army cadets several times and still have a certificate signed by Mr Geddes after passing an army “test” .There was also a Russian teacher Mr Johnstone who taught at Stirling High School and was prominent in the cadets.My abiding memory of headmaster Geddes was in Orchard House old people’s hospital in a bed next to my grandfather( who fought in the first  world war)  and it saddens me to say that few if any former high school pupils visited him towards the end .

Stewart also comments on the transience of the 1963 site at Torbrex. It is ironic that the 18th century school is still in use as the Portcullis Hotel and the mid 19th century site is stil in use as the Highland Hotel. But the Torbrex site has been demolished and redeveloped, a telling comment on our throwaway society?



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We have had an enquiry about Andrew Hendry who is the second down on the steps in the attatched photo (not a very good one but what is available). He was living at 10 Union Street, Stirling when he married Mary McNaughton Kidd in Edinburgh on 28th August 1922, His Father named as Peter Hendry Coal Merchant his wife Margaret Hendry MS,Shannon. However, he was killed in a road accident in Edinburgh in October 1937.
Our enquirer wonders if anyone recognises the uniforms etc or can tell him more. He can be contacted directly at andyt46@hotmail.co.uk

One of Stirling's most interesting (and overlooked) buildings is Cowane's Hospital.

For some years it has been looking a bit sad and there has been a long-term project to restore it and make it suitable for modern use.

This project is now at an end and the building is open to the public for the first time for some years. It will offfer a special welcome on Doors Open Day. There is now an inter-active exhibition about the life of Cowane, function of the hospital and development of the Cowane's Trust over the last (almost) 400 years.
mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGljltFbKXtSFWmdMzNcxpVXHXq
There is a short introductory film and commentary about the Trust and about the restoration project itself (https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGljltFbKXtSFWmdMzNcxpVXHXq)

The building will be the subject of John Harrison's talk to Stirling Local History Society on 28 Oct 2021 when John will talk mainly about the building process and its documentation.

https://www.slhf.org/newsletterClish-Clash, the newsletter of the Scottish Local History Forum,  has just come out and provides news of recent and forthcoming events and other items of interest to those involved with Scottish Local History. You can access the September 2021 issue here . https://www.slhf.org/newsletterwww.slhf.org/newsletter