The aim of our exhibition is to give you
the local context in the early part of the 20th 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 2nd
the local naval reserve was asked to report. The 6th Gordon
Highlanders were immediately recalled from its summer camp. On November 10th
they left for France.
·
Portsoy soldiers at the western
front;
o
The majority of recruits from
Portsoy joined the 6th 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 4th 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.
