Newsletter 2014
Welcome to the museum
newsletter, bringing you up to date
on museum activities and plans.
volunteers who have made
everything happen, and I feel that I
have simply supported them to
create all that we have achieved!
And what great achievements we
have made this year. The first of
these was completing the
Herculean task of reinstalling the
exhibitions and displays into the
museum after the restoration last
year.
Ullapool Museum 2014
Curator’s Reasons to be Cheerful
– a report by Helen Avenell
2014 has been a whirlwind year at
the museum. After coming back on
board as Curatorial Advisor this
time last year, it’s been a busy year.
Firstly, I really want to say a huge
thank you to all the volunteers who
have supported and assisted me in
all the tasks I’ve undertaken. In
fact, being such a ‘part-time’
presence, and only working
effectively one day a week (and
mostly at a distance) it’s the
The interior of the building looks
wonderful and enables us to be
better able to tell the important
story of the church and of Thomas
Telford.
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We opened with the addition of a
new permanent display on crofting.
This is a theme that has been that
have not previously been on
display. With Ian Rettie, Don
Macleod, and Richard Rafe’s help,
we have also been able to display
some of the larger crofting
implements, including a chas chrom
and peat cutting tools. We hope to
add some audio to the display as
we have some nice recordings of
local folk talking about pre-war
crofting life in Lochbroom.
research and was so well received
by both visitors and local
audiences.
The second temporary exhibition
this year was ‘A Community at Sea
– Working on the Yachts’. Robbie
Mackenzie conceived this project
through her research of the people
of the Lochside, and again worked
with Veronica on exhibition design.
“I first became interested in the yachting life
while researching my husband Murdo
MacKenzie’s family from Letters on the
Lochside. His grandfather Allan Mackenzie
(Allan Mor) served as cook on several yachts
including the Jeano. Allan Mor also had
several MacRae ancestors sailing on various
yachts including the Oceana. His Uncle
Kenneth MacRae sailed as far as the Baltic
on the yacht Gleniffer.
In April we launched ‘Full Circle’, an
exhibition curated by Pauline Ward
and designed by Veronica Vossen
Wood. Full Circle explored the idea
of home and homecoming. It told
that stories of the people of
Lochbroom both today and in times
past, including those of the
‘Coigach Cowboys’, local men who
travelled to the American Midwest
in the late nineteenth century up
until the interwar years, to work on
the sheep ranches. The exhibition
was a great success and even
featured on Radio Scotland’s Out of
Doors. The exhibition was a
testament to Pauline’s wonderful
It is not known how the men from this
particular area were first offered this kind of
work but the census show that they were
employed as yachtsman from 1881. The
descendants of many of the men illustrated in
the exhibition can still be found in the
Lochbroom area and still go by the same
bynames as their ancestors.”
Launching in August, it has been
wonderful to tell this previously
untold story. We hope you will all
get an opportunity to view both
these exhibitions at other venues
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Ullapool Harbour Trust. Celebrating
the arrival of the Tall Ship Staatsrad
Lehmkuhl, we led a day of
workshops around the theme of
the sea, and of leaving on a
journey. This work continues with
young people from Ullapool High
School, who will be helping us to
develop our Hector display further.
The panels returned to the
Macphail Centre in October for Feis
Rois and performance of the
commissioned music Voyage of the
Hector by John Somerville. From
April 2015, the Hector panels will
be onsite in the museum.
around the parish if you haven’t
already.
We also hosted another fantastic
exhibition this year, Littoral Art
Future Fossils by Julia Barton. Julia
is a sculptor and artist who
examined the litter that collects on
our beaches to raise awareness of
environmental issues. She has
engaged lots of young people in the
area, and here at the museum, we
have been pleased to have been
able to support her work.
In July, supported by Creative
Ullapool, *see detail later in newsletter
we produced five new panels for
our permanent display on the
Hector. This is the remarkable story
of the men, women and children
who left Lochbroom on board the
Hector for a new life in Nova Scotia
in 1773. Whilst we have always had
a display on the Hector, the panels
were somewhat dated, and we
have few objects or stories of the
people themselves. The panels
have travelled locally throughout
the summer following events that
were linked with Creative Ullapool
and Scotland’s Year of
Homecoming. In August they were
on display on the pier when we
teamed up with An Talla Solais and
There is much activity planned for
the winter. I have been working
with our volunteer Ellie on
reorganizing the stores after the
upheaval from the building
restoration project. We hope by
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next year to have one or two open
days where people can come and
see our collections and get involved
in our collections care work. Watch
this space!
face lots of challenges, financial
being the most pressing in these
tough economic times. We really
do value your support as members
in helping us to keep running and
being able to tell the stories of the
people of Lochbroom. We also
always welcome anyone who
would like to get involved in any
aspect of museum work; there
really is something for everyone’s
interest. Being such a ‘longdistance curator’, it is wonderful to
have volunteers who want to work
on exhibitions, object research,
collections care and supporting
work with young people… please
do get in touch with me at
[email protected]
Our primary exhibition for 2015 is
going to be about Klondyking in
Lochbroom. Many of you will
remember this time as quite a
remarkable period of our history.
We hope to have lots of objects
and stories and would welcome any
memories you have of this time.
Anyone who would like to get
involved in helping to create and
curate this exhibition is also very
welcome, just get in touch.
As you can hopefully see, there has
been so much happening in the
museum this year, we haven’t yet
paused for breath! As always, we
One of the images from our Photo
Archive showing Loch Broom full of
factory ships during the klondyking
era
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*** Fabulous fundraising ***
As always the museum relies on
constant fundraising to make up a
shortfall between income from
entrance fees, memberships and
the ever-reducing Highland Council
grant, and our annual operating
costs. With the increased costs for
the refurbishment meaning that we
had to eat into our small
investment
fund
last
year,
fundraising was even more
essential than ever. The board set
the fundraising committee an
increased target, and what did they
do? They exceeded it! The Vintage
Machinery day was one brilliant
example, to add to Open Gardens,
grand sale, book sales, great
lunches, summer stalls, bric-a-brac
sales, raffles and tombola, home
baking, soup and sandwiches and
donations boxes. This year they
produced a calendar from photos in
our collection with excellent sales
leading to an extra print run.
This year has seen co-operation
between local cultural
organisations in the Creative
Ullapool Consortium – the
museum, Ullapool Book Festival, An
Talla Solais, Macphail Centre and
Feis Rois. We were finalists for
Creative Scotland’s Creative Places
award in February, but missed out
to Helmsdale. Our work has not
gone unrecognised however, and
Highlands and Islands Enterprise is
supporting the consortium’s
exciting programme.
In May we showed an exhibition on
the voyage of the Hector at
Ullapool Book Festival. This was
expanded through HIE funding for
display at the Macphail Centre in
the showcase week of 21-25 July.
At the museum during the week,
there were two guided history
walks, and a story-telling session,
all led by volunteer Joan Michael,
plus two showings, courtesy of
Ullapool Entertainments, of the
film The Big Catch (1968) filmed
around Ullapool. The museum’s
activities for the week culminated
in a wonderful display of Vintage
Machinery at the Ullapool Village
Hall.
We are fortunate to have such a
dedicated, hard-working team of
fundraisers, and to live in such a
generous community. Well done!
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Some images from the Vintage Machinery Day and Open Gardens.
You can also see these and many more on our Pinterest site
http://www.pinterest.com/ullapoolmuseum/
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Full Circle – a world beyond
Lochbroom
The Project is a mix of contemporary
oral and documentary history tracing the
unique life journeys of some of the
people of Lochbroom.
The Montana Historical Society was very
interested in the oral history recordings
for Full Circle: they knew about the men
who settled, but had no feedback from
those who returned. The Museum
prepared a Lochbroom Life portfolio of
images and recordings for the MHS.
For Highland Archaeology Festival
we enjoyed a fascinating talk on
the Men of Lochbroom, and a walk
Community at Sea – an image from
the
exhibition
showing
to the site of the WW1 Canadian
Willie
logging camp and German POW
Macgregor on board the Roska.
compound, led by Cathy Dagg. The
photo shows some of the group
examining the remains of the pier.
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MuseumMachine
All summer the Museum
Machine has been parked in
West Argyle St with exhibition
panels, first on the Voyage of
the Hector, and related
creative writing pieces from the
NW Writers. Later with panels
from our previous exhibition
Gale Warning. At the same
time, it was open for book sales
with a donations honesty box.
We reckon that we had an
average of 20 visitors a day to
see the exhibits and buy books
– a regular source of donations.
New publicity material –flyer,
boards
Those of you in the Ullapool
area will have seen our new
advertising boards. We’re
rather pleased with them,
designed by volunteer Veronica
and made in Achiltibuie. The
old ones were getting rather
tired with missing letters etc,
and specified actual opening
hours. Funding cuts will
inevitably lead to some
reduction in hours.
We also have a great new flyer
designed by another designer
volunteer.
Stores
Volunteers have been really
busy sorting the stores after
they got rather disorganised
during the refurbishment.
Ellie is helping Helen in the
Curator store, while the
Three Musketeers, Don,
Richard and Ian have got
stuck in to the large “book
store” and the new portable
cabin that houses amongst
other things, museum
paperwork and past
exhibition panels.
Help Wanted
At present we do not have a
membership secretary to keep
our records up to date and to
send reminders and issue
cards. I know that some
people like to have an annual
reminder, and so without that
some regular memberships
have lapsed. Any volunteers to
take this on?
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From the archives Anderson’s Guide to the Highland & Islands 1850
- a taster of what you can read about in the museum
“The population of Ullapool is between 700 and 800 inhabitants. They held their
tenements, till lately, of the Fishery Society, who feued the ground from the
superiors, the Cromarty family, and sub-feued it again at one penny for every
foot in front, and sixty feet back, the arable land behind which is .... subdivided as
the area of the town, being let at ... per acre. James Matheson, Esq. of Achany
and Lewis, Ross-shire, has recently purchased the village, and ... fostering care
the inns, and every other accommodation in and about the place have already
been immensely improved. [We understand that Mr. Matheson is about to have
a mail gig .... shed between Dingwall and Ullapool, and a mail packet dispatched
from Ullapool to Stornoway.]
The further bank of the river beyond Ullapool is occupied by a line of straggling
ugly huts, forming the fishing hamlet of Kinachryne. We trust the example set of
spirited improvements on Mr. Matheson's estate may soon reach it; and to
quicken the land, the people have close at hand inexhaustible beds of limestone.
Coigach, as the district to the northward as far as the boundary of Sutherland is
called, is an exceedingly wild and uninteresting district; but it has several very
valuable pasture straths, which are largely stocked with the very best description
of Cheviot sheep.”
Visitor numbers and comments, School visits
This has been an exceptionally good year in the museum for school visits. We are
delighted to have made more new connections with schools in the area, and to
welcome school groups over the academic year for project work and activities.
We’ve had a busy year with healthy visitor numbers – around 7000 visitors through the
till, plus nearly 1000 more at events off site. Visitors have been very appreciative of the
work done and of the season’s exhibitions. Some of the visitor comments are
reproduced here:
“Really excellent. The most detailed museum on local history we have ever seen”
“Superb! Amazing amount of documentation”
“Fabulous exhibition! So much detailed local knowledge. Wonderful to learn of this
beautiful area’s history”
“Wonderful restoration of the church. Museum very interesting, thank you”
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Forthcoming events
 Soup and sandwiches Ullapool Village Hall 25 Nov, 16 Dec, 13 Jan, 27
Jan, 10 Feb, 24 Feb, 10 Mar, 24 Mar
 Focus on Finds course 1st and 2nd December at the Macphail Centre.
The museum has organised this course to be led by experienced trainer
Susan Kruse from Archaeology for Communities in the Highlands.
The first day will provide an overview of heritage in the Highlands from earliest settlers to
recent times, with the emphasis on typical finds through to the medieval period. A
practical session on using the Heritage Environment Record and other major sources of
information on the web. For the second day, participants will be asked to bring an object
or picture of a find from their collection dating up to the medieval period. We will
research the object, create a short description which could be used for a label,
photograph the object, and then submit an entry to the HER.

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

Museum AGM 4 Dec
Family Fun Day Ullapool Village Hall 6 Dec
Annual sale with mince and tattie lunch 17 Jan 2015
Museum re-opens 1 April 2015
 No dates are fixed yet, but we hope to arrange another showing of the
film The Big Catch and to show this year’s exhibitions in Braemore Hall
and elsewhere.
 Volunteer Alice is planning some Saturday activity days for young
people
 We look forward to a visit from the Family History Centre in Inverness
in the new year, and we will continue our programme of activities for
volunteers including introduction to our genealogy records, tour of the
stores, and more.
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Board matters
 We have retained our accreditation with Museums Galleries Scotland,
and our 3 star rating with Visit Scotland. In the summer, we had our
check on our Service Delivery Agreement with Highland Council.
Museums Office Lorna Cruikshank continues to be very supportive.
 Of considerable concern to us currently is the proposed radical
reduction in funding from Highland Council. This will inevitably have
serious repercussions on what we can do.
 We have operated for the last year without a treasurer but hope that
following the AGM this will change
 We would welcome further interest in and representation on the
board, particularly from the rest of the parish, outside of Ullapool, and
someone to take on the role of Volunteer co-ordinator following the
retirement from of the board of Marney Dumughn, although we are
really glad she is continuing as a museum volunteer
 Do you have an email address? Do we have it? It would be very helpful
if we could send out regular updates to members by email
 Keeping in Touch
Many of you will have noticed that our webpage is horribly out of date - technical
difficulties and change in host have caused us endless problems. We are actively
working on possible solutions and cannot apologise enough for the problem it causes
our users.
There are now lots of other ways to keep in touch with what’s happening at the
museum:
Our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UllapoolMuseum,
Twitter @UllapoolMuseum
and Pinterest :http://pinterest.com/ullapoolmuseum/
Why don’t you have a look and let us know what you like and don’t like, and what else
you’d like to see on the Facebook page and Twitter (@UllapoolMuseum) feed to spread
information.
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One last thing:
If you are moving house or know a UMT member who has moved, we’d be
grateful if you’d let us know at the Museum so we can update our records.
Many thanks.
The Ullapool Museum Trust Board is keen to recruit new Board members
who could offer skills which would contribute towards its valuable work
Ullapool Museum Trust
7 & 8 West Argyle Street,
Ullapool
IV26 2TY
01854n612987
Registered charity no SCO 18225
www.ullapoolmuseum.co.uk
UMT – Board Members
 Catriona Martin (chair)
 Cathy Dagg
 Marney Dumughn (standing down)
 Flora Florence (standing down)
 Councillor Iain Cockburn
 Moira McBeath
 Richard Rafe (vice chair and secretary)
 Ian Rettie
 Ann Urquhart
 Pauline Ward
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