Benmore Forester School students 1950 -52 & 51-53
Photograph courtesy of Mike Phillips, Newton, Elgin.
Benmore forestry students mainly from the 1950 -52 class out on site but the group includes some of the following year intake.
1. Ian Morrison (older from Aberdeenshire)
2. Jimmy Young
3. Walter Scott? (Instructor – but hat makes identification difficult)
4. Matt Hannah
5. John Boustead
6. Eddie Kay(e)
7. Mervyn Hay
8. A Scott
9. Mike Phillips
10. Junior student (David Waugh?)
11. Junior student (
Syd Wray (Inverness) goes on to say ‘Seniors missing from this picture are Jim Anderson who went to The Hirsel (Alex Douglas-Home’s place), Bill Bollard who came up from Gwyddr (as I and Tony Archer did from Glentress) to keep the senior numbers at the correct level.
The picture may have been taken by Tony Archer who was quite a hill walker and climber (mother was Swiss I recall). I think I may have been on one of my regular visits to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.’
Syd also recounts ‘While perusing those photographs last night I was reminded of the arrival of the new junior year at Benmore during my sojourn there.
The new arrivals were making some pithy comments as the current incumbents were in the middle of coaling up the premises for the coming year and all of us, who were quite unrecognisable, were apprising them that they’d be doing it next year. As you can imagine, there were some pretty ribald remarks from us who were at the bottom of the coal chute.
The coal came in annually and two squads were required to do the unloading of the coal from the puffer and receiving it from the lorry at Benmore where it was shovelled into the basement. The puffer was beached at the head of the Holy Loch and lorries ran the coal up. There were several arguments as to which squad had the worst job, but having been a basement shoveller, I think that was the worst. Those down at the puffer at least had some air blowing about’.
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