Retirement presentation to John Strachan
Photograph courtesy of John Strachan
Presentation to John Strachan, Cairnie of gifts and a long service certificate on his retirement from the Forestry Commission in 1988. With John from L-R are Chrystal Morrison and Jackie Sim, Office Staff; Ron Marnie, Buchan Forest District Manager; John Strachan; Roy Neish, Forestry Foreman; and Mrs Dorothy Strachan
John started working as a 14 year old boy in the Bin Forest in 1937 on the princely sum 15 shillings per week, actually very good wages for a boy in those days as Gangers at the time were only paid two pounds per week. John’s work consisted mainly of the seasonal round of planting, draining, weeding and brashing with some periods of felling with a cross cut saw. It was all manual work and he particularly remembers Jock Gray who all day carried large hessian bags full of soaking wet young trees on his back directly from the nursery at Ord Brae all the way up to the planting gangs at the top of the Bin Hill. At that time there were ten Forest Worker holdings in the Bin Forest area and in addition to the ten men from these, there were about another dozen forestry workers from Huntly and local farm areas. The all either walked or cycled to their reporting points in the morning and then walked or cycled again to and from the day’s work areas. The forester Willie Mackay travelled about on an old Post Office bike complete with is front carrier frame. In 1941 John volunteered as a member of an Auxiliary Unit patrol based in a secret underground bunker in the Bin Forest and trained with about 7 others to operate behind the lines in the event of an invasion by the enemy. On D Day in 1944, the patrol was demobilised and John was one of the Bevan Boys drafted to the coal mines (in his case at Methil, Fife) where he worked until 1947.
After leaving the mines John returned north and started his old job with the Forestry Commission again for a few months but seeing an opportunity for a change he took on a job as a lorry driver based in Aberdeen and after that, worked in a local garage near his home. In 1953 he rejoined the Forestry Commission at Bin Forest as a lorry driver carrying timber in a 5 ton Bedford from the forest to the local stations and sawmills. His second lorry made the large technological leap of having a Hiab Crane fitted and he was able to lift sling loads of wood on to and off the lorry. In time the lorry was taken away from the forest as transport of timber went private on more specialised equipment was developed. John returned to working with the forest gangs rising to become Ganger and worked entirely in the Bin Forest area until its amalgamation with Clashindarroch Forest in the 1970s. In 1988 John retired after a single span of 35 years with the Commission and a lifetimes work and national service of 51 years. In retirement John continued his DIY work, walks in the forest and with his great passion of gardening still maintaining a very immaculate garden to this day.
Groups: Forestry Areas, Groups of people, Northeast Scotland