Bennachie Forest Office Closure 2015
The 'new' Bennachie Forest Office may have been built around 1980 or shortly prior to that when the administrative centre moved from the old original office base and forester’s house at Don View. The building featured a larger store and workshop/garage. A deer larder was also located there and upgraded several times from the original wooden walls and concrete floor. At the time the Bennachie Forest Unit would have covered the old original forests of Corrennie, Pifichie, Whitehaugh, Knockespock, Kemnay and Kintore Forestry Commission units along with Bennachie.
The Don View office was converted into a small visitor centre with photographic displays and forest information.
The new management sytem of Forest Districts kicked off around 1983-85 and the central office for the former forests of Clashindarroch, Bennachie, Tornashean and Forest of Deer was built (1987) near Huntly on the edge of the Bin Forest (Portsoy Road). This was the main office for Buchan Forest District eventually also when amalagamated with Kincardine Forest District (the combination renamed Aberdeenshire Forest District)in 2005. The Bennachie and Durris Offices continued as outstation bases for local staff. The Huntly office was enlarged and modernised in 2007 to 2008 some time after which it was the central office for the amalagamated Morayshire and Aberdeenshire Forest Districts.
The people featured in the photograph are some of the last Forest Enterprise staff (Moray and Aberdeenshire Forest District) who used this building as a base and are named as follows from the left:
Brian Stacey (Estate Forester)
Frank Tomlinson (Harvesting Forester)
Mick Bestwick (Former Forest Craftsman)
Louise Simpson (Environment Ranger)
Norman Davidson (Former Aberdeenshire Forest District Manager)
Jackie Cumberbirch (Environment Ranger)
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Groups: Buildings in Forests, Forestry Areas, Groups of people, Northeast Scotland