Pitlochry’s local history volunteers have thrown open the doors to their new summer home, right in the middle of the town.
The team behind the Pitlochry and Moulin Heritage Centre announced in March that it wouldn’t be opening for the 2024 visitor season because its long-time base, in Moulin Kirk, is in need of repairs.
But bosses at Fisher’s Hotel stepped in and offered the group a space in their Gladstone Room.
Volunteers have spent the last few weeks moving as much of their collection as they can to the new location.
And this week the centre welcomed the first visitors to its temporary home.
The big move was second nature for at least one of the crew.
Volunteer secretary Phil Vivian helped put Pitlochry on the map last year when he and his wife found a new home in the town after appearing on the TV show Escape to the Country.
Trustee Marigold Massie said the group couldn’t praise their friends at Fisher’s Hotel highly enough.
“This would have been the first year apart from Covid that we haven’t been able to open,” she said.
“We appealed to a few of the businesses in the town and the team at Fisher’s came straight back that same day and offered us this space.”
She added: “They’ve gone out of their way to help us, and it’s going to be great being right in the middle of the town.
“We may find we see passing visitors who wouldn’t have come to see us at the kirk.”
Heritage centre treasures tell story of Pitlochry area
Marigold reckons the volunteers have managed to squeeze in about a quarter of the Pitlochry and Moulin Heritage Centre collection at Fisher’s Hotel.
That still amounts to a hefty chunk of local history.
Visitors can browse items that tell the story of the area from Pictish times up until very recently.
There are treasures from Pitlochry’s Victorian heyday, when the Perthshire town became a popular tourist destination.
There are also mementoes from the local estates, the schools, the pipe band, the flax industry, Pitlochry in World War II… the list goes on.
Visitors will be welcome every day from noon-4pm in the Gladstone room, just past reception, at Fisher’s Hotel.
Visitors’ stories are important too
The Pitlochry and Moulin Heritage Centre was launched in 2005.
The aim was to preserve the history of Moulin Kirk and to tell the stories of local people.
However, it has also become a place for people who want to play a part in the community’s future.
Escape to the Country star Phil Vivian joined as a volunteer shortly after he moved to Pitlochry last year.
He quickly became the membership secretary, and is hoping to persuade others to join the team.
Phil said the group had been a great way to get involved in local life.
“It’s a lot of fun,” he said.
“If you enjoy learning about local history and meeting people, you’ll enjoy being a volunteer.
“Often visitors have family connections to the area, or their families have been coming here for decades. They all have stories to tell.”
Volunteers are needed to greet visitors and answer queries in two-hour shifts – noon-2pm and 2-4pm – daily.
Drop in and meet the team if you’d like to help out.
Conversation