Glenbranter Forestry Camp 1947/1948
Images are courtesy of Colin Lawson son of Wilfred Lawson, a forester who trained at Benmore Forester Training School 1948-1950 but was based at Glenbranter as a Trainee Forest Worker from February 1947.
This rare image shows a part of the Glenbranter camp that was believed to have been initially set up as a labour training camp for the unemployed in the 1930s. It may also have been used in the war as an internment camp. Any details or confirmation on these points would be very welcome. Note the mix of wooden huts (typical of the labour training camps) and rounded roof shapes of the row of Nissen type huts, the latter all with constructed wooden entrance porches. The large building in the foreground may well be used as a garage for the lorry to transport workers and goods. There appears to be a large supply of stacked wood in the yard and on the far side of which is the vague outline of stacked sawn material – posts? The huts would be heated by wood burning stoves and no doubt some of the timber would be used as fuel.
Wilfred Lawson was stationed here as a trainee forestry worker from Feb 1947 through to Oct 1948 before heading to Benmore Forester Training School at Benmore, Dunoon (Just a few miles down the road from Glenbranter).
Any details of the history of the Camp when it was built and all its uses until after the WWII war would be very welcome.
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Groups: Buildings in Forests, Forestry Areas