Glentress Forestry School – First Forestry Student intake by Tom Johnstone
The pages are courtesy of Shona Marshall daughter of Alex Grossert who attended Glentress Forester Training School from Oct 1948 to Jul 1950.
This account by Tom Johnstone who attended Glentress from 1947-1949 was initially sent to Henry Smith who compiled a booklet on accounts from students at all the Forester Training Schools in GB. The details of Glentress are on Forestry Memories No 671. Alex appears to have requested a copy of Tom’s story directly from Henry Smith.
Tom describes the hutted accommodation at Glentress, names the instructors (Tom Robbie, John McKay Bill Stoddart and Norman Tulloch) and mentions the student squad system that was employed. Darcy Black was the gold medal student in his year. On his exchange period Tom was sent to Benmore, headed by Harry Watson who managed a less liberal regime than that at Glentress. Walter Scott was one of the instructors. Tom recalls the lower quality food, cooked by Mrs Watson, which had a large component of venison and resulted in deterring him for life of that meat.
Tom mentions a few students at Glentress – Alex Piper, Bob Hart, Joe Metcalfe, David Bridges and Don Slater.
See the PDF link below for a view of the three pages.
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Groups: Forester Training Schools and Universities, Forestry Records, Booklets and Reports