WW1 Exhibition

The aim of our exhibition is to give you the local context in the early part of the 20^th century and show you the impact of WW1 on the lives of those who lived in and around Portsoy.

Five display panels depict the story:

·      Portsoy 1914;

o   People in the town had been expecting war.  On August 2^nd the local naval reserve was asked to report. The 6^th Gordon Highlanders were immediately recalled from its summer camp. On November 10^th they left for France.

·      Portsoy soldiers at the western front;

o   The majority of recruits from Portsoy joined the 6^th Gordon Highlanders and fought on the Western Front.

·      Portsoy men in the Royal Flying Corps and Navy;

o   Some 85 people served in the Navy, some in the Navy proper, some in the royal Naval Reserve but most in the drifter service.

o   At least one was in the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service which in 1917 became the Royal Air Force.

·      The Homefront in and around Portsoy;

o   The Home Front was introduced in 1915 with the battle on to grow more food, both on farms and on allotments.

·      Last Days.

o   By the end of the war over 140,000 Scottish soldiers had lost their lives, more than a quarter of those who fought. There was not one place in Scotland where all the serving men returned.

The exhibition will be opened by Mrs Clare Russell, Lord Lieutenant of Banffshire at noon on Monday 4^th August, 2014.  The exhibition will remain open until 11 November, 2014, the same opening times as the Salmon Bothy museum – 2 -4 pm each day except Tuesday.  During the first week of the exhibition there will be an exhibition of memorabilia donated by members of the public and Portsoy Past and Present.