A son and daughter of an Arbroath man whose painting of the town Abbey was uncovered on a living room wall have made an emotional trip back to their family home of 75 years ago.
And they say Charles Buick Milne would have been thrilled his amateur art is being saved for posterity by the couple who made the amazing discovery.
On Friday, the remarkable trip down memory lane brought tears for 86-year-old John Milne and his younger sister, Nancy Cargill.
They were invited back to the Hepburn Crescent house by Kayleigh Ross and her partner, Liam Smith.
Because it was their discovery of the Abbey mural by the siblings’ late father that sparked a tale stretching across the globe.
Surprise find
Kayleigh and Liam were re-decorating their living room when they stripped back the wallpaper to reveal the unmistakeable image of the ancient landmark.
The find set social media alight when Kayleigh posted a photo of the painting on Arbroath Online Facebook page.
The trail led to Glenrothes, where 77-year-old Nancy now lives.
She has been able to reveal the full story behind the painting – as well as another her father did in the same room.
And it’s a story which has travelled to New Zealand, where Nancy and John’s brother, Alec, has been for around 50 years.
Nancy said: “It is absolutely amazing what has happened.
“We were buzzing when we found out about it – thrilled to bits.
“We moved up to that house when it was built by the council in 1948 and were the first family in it.
“My dad was a painter and decorator, not an artist, but he liked doing paintings.
“The first one he did was one of the Arbroath water tower.
“It was beside the fireplace and done in alabaster.”
But that artwork seems to be long gone.
Childhood memories
However, Nancy’s memory of the Abbey painting remains vivid.
“It was there my whole life growing up there from the age of three until I got married when I was 20.
“My dad did the water tower one first.
“He had to get up very early one morning for something and didn’t want to sleep in, so he stayed up all night and did it.
“In those days people didn’t have a lot of pictures on the wall like they do now.
“The only one we had was a picture of the Abbey so he did a copy of that direct onto the living room wall.
“All my school friends would come in to the house and they still remember it.”
Sadly, Charles died in 1954 when he was only 42.
But it remained a feature and his widow, Jeananne, lived there until the 1980s.
Painstakingly protected
Nancy added: “My husband used to go in and decorate for mum and I remember he had to cut round it with a razor blade when he was papering the wall.”
But at some point it was covered over by new owners of the house – until its recent re-emergence from years of hiding.
Kayleigh and Liam plan to varnish the painting and putting a protective layer of lining paper over it before re-decorating.
“It’s not something that fits our taste but is such a lovely thing we didn’t just want to damage it,” said Kayleigh.
“It’s so exciting to meet Nancy and John and hear all about it.
“We got them to sign and date it in memory of their dad.”
Nancy said: “It’s been very emotional for us to come back, a real trip down memory lane to come back to the house.
“Lots will have been done to the house down the years, so it’s amazing it has survived.
“My brother in New Zealand has the original painting of the Abbey and everyone we’ve spoken to just thinks what a story it is.”
Conversation