A NEW weapon telling young people of the role played in war by The Black Watch was handed over in Angus yesterday.

CD ROMs produced by the regimental museum in Perth, giving an insight into both world wars, were delivered to Forfar Academy.

They were presented by Major Ronnie Proctor, Angus Black Watch Association chairman and curator of the museum at Balhousie Castle, and Fraser Brown, the museum’s educational representative.

The duo, who served together with the regiment in Germany visit schools and welcome pupils to the museum, highlighting all aspects of life in the regiment during wartime.

“We are very conscious we have to get out to young people in schools to let them know what happened during the wars and to make history come alive,” Major Proctor explained.

“We can bring young people into the museum and we can go out to schools, but this CD ROM means they have access to Black Watch history all the time.”

Mr Brown, a retired school deputy head, devoted much of his time delving into the archives to create the guide, funded by the museum and supported by lottery money.

Each one contains teaching materials to back up visits by primary or secondary schools to Balhousie Castle.

A secondary school version contains material from the first world war which, said Mr Brown, teachers and pupils are unlikely to have seen before.

The aim is to have the CD Roms in schools across the traditional recruiting area of Angus, Fife, Perthshire and Dundee.