East Woodlands House near Aberdeen
The image is courtesy of Dave Stewart, Dufftown, from a collection belonging to his father George Stewart.
Dave comments:
‘1963 to 1966 – My father took on the role as the first person to do Tools Instruction, travelling around the North East Conservancy in a Bedford Van, training forestry workers in the use of hand tools, saw sharpening and chainsaws. Dad was very good with hand tools so this was right up his street and would have liked to have continued with this but you were only allowed to specialise for 3 years.
We move to East Woodlands near Dyce to be more central for this job. East Woodlands was a large house gifted to the Forestry Commission along with a small Estate, there was a small burial area nearby in the wood, which had to be maintained by the FC where the Owner and his wife were laid to rest as well as a memorial to their son who had been killed in the war hence with no heirs for handover’.
Any more details of what happened to the house and other forestry occupants would be very welcome.
Below are some details and comments by Colin Johnston on the memorial at East Woodlands. Colin has carried out some very extensive and lengthy investigations into this particular First World War casualty and provides details of the family and their loss with a description of the personal memorial that was erected on the former Estate. Colin also introduces us to a remarkable gentleman, George Sutherland, who has looked after the war graves for 42 years. Images are in the PDF below this text.
Colin comments:
“It was over 20 years ago when a friend first pointed out the memorial to the Hay family in the grounds of East Woodlands. I was, more recently, compiling info and photos for a presentation on how the Great War is remembered in Aberdeen and NE Scotland. I eventually found the memorial, a difficult task given how much the trees and undergrowth had grown in the intervening years.
When I read the details on the Death Penny, I was amazed to find that, of the 500 000 burials on the Western Front, William Hay was buried in Lijssenthoek CWGC Cemetery, where my pal George Sutherland was a gardener for 42 years. I attach some more info that I've gathered including pictures of Wm Hay's grave in L'hoek.
The photos of his grave include one with George Sutherland behind. George will be 100 not out on December 21st this year. Still visiting pals in nearby Ieper / Ypres - still driving his car! The last picture shows a wider view of L'hoek cemetery. It is a huge cemetery, with 10 900 burials, second in size only to Tyne Cot.
My old teaching colleague and friend, Kate Hay, was married to a William Hay, which makes the connection between myself and the wee memorial all the more personal. I have taken Kate's granddaughter (9) to visit the memorial, which she thought was magical, though she thought the horses were even more so!”
See PDF link below.
Groups: Buildings in Forests, Northeast Scotland