Forestry Memories

Clearing up after the Queen of the Bin blew down

Clearing up after the Queen of the Bin blew down

Date Added: 07 July 2011 Contributor: Norman Davidson Year of Photo: 1953 Picture No: 968

Photograph courtesy of Ron Bowie, Huntly.

This photograph was taken in the winter of 1953, shortly after the major wind storm that devastated the Northeast of Scotland in January of that year. A large fir tree (likely to have been European Silver Fir – Abies alba) a survivor from the initial planting of the Bin Forest in 1840 and named as the Queen of the Bin, fell victim to the storm which broke the trunk a short distance above the ground. Local people say that it took three men with outstretched arms to circle the stem. Jimmy Strachan remembers the first part of the butt being loaded onto his lorry with some great difficulty and had to be barrelled on from a platform of logs. At the Huntly railway yard it was sent down to a saw mill and he later heard that the mill could not find a profitable use for the timber (soft and lacks strength) and wanted no more.

Some of the Bin squad are here seen cutting up the top of the broken ‘Queen’ as she lies in the snow or it is more likely by the dimensions and growth rate to be surrounding trees which were broken and damaged when the large ‘Queen’ fell.

The names of the men are not known except for possibly Jimmy Chisholm:

At tip of tree – ?
Second down standing – ?
On saw in front – Jimmy Chisholm
On saw at back - ?

Further names and confirmation of names would be very welcome

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Groups: Forestry Areas, Forestry in Action, Gale 1953, Groups of people, Northeast Scotland , Tools, equipment and clothing

3 Comments

Just spoken to my dad and he thinks:
Tip of tree - Sandy Gault
Second down standing - Jimmy Strachan,
On saw at front -Jimmy Chisholm
On saw at back - Jock Gault
Hope this helps. Comment left on 01 October 2011 at 11:07 by Andy Christie
Jock Galt was my father and I don't think that is him in the picture - on saw at back.
Sandy Galt - both my grandfather and uncle were called Sandy Galt, but the picture is too indistinct for me to know if it was either of them at the tip of the tree. Comment left on 15 August 2019 at 14:08 by Annabella Galt
Thank you for your valuable comment Annabella. Unfortunately as you say the quality of the photograph is not good and in spite of a bit of work on the image this was the best that I could do from the very small and indistinct photograph. For what it is worth I believe the man at the tip of the trees looks a little similar but older that the man on the left side of the saw.

I have just noticed the double bit axe (a blade on either side) which is most unusual in and could well be a carry over from Canadians and Newfoundlander wartime camps.

More comments welcome. Comment left on 15 August 2019 at 18:17 by Norman Davidson
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