Epic Awards - Thank You!

Fantastic news! Last Monday we learned that thanks to your help and support, Castletown Heritage Society won the 'People's Choice' Award and came runner up in the Scottish national Award!

As reported on the Epic Awards website, Muriel Murray tells us how happy the Society is to not only win the runner-up award, but also the People’s Choice Award, voted for by the public . . .

“We as a society were delighted that the Edwardian Concert project brought us success in the first ever Scottish Epic Awards. It was gratifying to have had recognition for the months of planning, researching, practising and performing and back stage help from a huge number of people. But above all the event was such fun and captured the interest of the community. We like to think that the judges also gave consideration to the on-going work that we do in the community in many different ways. Taking part in the People’s Choice was a great experience. So many people showed their support by voting for Castletown Heritage Society, not only society members their friends and families and those resident in our village but also participants in our skills workshops and other activities, off-shore workers, ex-pats, showing us what a broad base of support we have for our efforts at Castlehill Heritage Centre.

The news is getting round the community and people are talking about the results in the street! We applied with every confidence in ourselves, but were humbled by the variety and quality of the projects undertaken by the other contenders. The committee of Castletown Heritage Society, who helped draft our submission, is thrilled to have featured among the winners. Committee members are particularly pleased to see that the prize includes access to training and advice programmes on running community groups. We are very keen on training but our remote location can make attending training events just a little more difficult. Having on-line access to this will be of great benefit to us.”

CHS 'Thank You' Dinner

It was very much come in, relax and chill as committee members, supporters and their spouses gathered at Castlehill for an informal evening and buffet dinner, which was organised by way of appreciation of all their hard work undertaken during the year in support of the Society. Muriel and John had laid on a marvellous spread which was much appreciated and enjoyed by everyone.

A big surprise was the showing of a recently commissioned video depicting Caithness Heritage, featuring our very own Hugh Crowden, who happened to be in the right place at the right time when the camera crew arrived unannounced at Castlehill one day! Completely unfazed, Hugh had done a cracking job taking the camera crew on a tour of the Heritage Garden and Centre, explaining about the history of the flagstone industry. A born natural in front of the camera if ever there was one!

Overall a thoroughly enjoyable evening for which many thanks must go to Muriel and her team.

Epic Awards - We've been shortlisted!!

Last year we organised the re-enactment of an Edwardian Concert held exactly 100 years ago in the local village hall. To do this we engaged the support of the local community, from school children to more 'senior' performers, for what turned out to be a highly successful evening - click here to see the news report for further details.

We have been delighted to learn that the Society has been shortlisted for an 'Epic Award', which are intended to shine a spotlight on the excellent work of voluntary and amateur arts groups across the UK and Republic of Ireland. We are currently one of six organisations in Scotland shortlisted in the 'People's Choice' category, where members of the public are invited to vote for what they believe would be the most deserving winner!

This is where you could help! It would be very much appreciated if you could review our entry, and if you feel it appropriate, please vote for Castletown Heritage Society.

To review the shortlisted entries, follow this link: http://www.epicawards.co.uk/shortlist/

To vote for Castletown Heritage Society, click on the green square with the 'thumbs up' symbol immediately below our entry, which can be identified by the photograph below:

Many thanks! Voting closes at 9am on Monday 16 January, so fingers crossed!!

2012 Programme Launch

The committee of Castletown Heritage Society extends our very best wishes for 2012 to all the Society's friends, supporters and well wishers.

As the cold, wet and windy weather over the festive holiday period shows no sign of abating, what better than to make a visit to the warm and welcoming atmosphere at Castlehill Heritage Centre. Our Winter Exhibition featuring Castletown in Uniform is now well underway (see below) and we have been delighted to receive much positive feedback.

The forward programme of events for 2012 is coming together nicely, with some events and dates already confirmed - click here to see the new programme of events on offer from Castletown Heritage Society for the 2012 season.

Whether it be attending our workshop on basket making or volunteering to take part in the restoration of an iconic workers residence at the Backies, we would be delighted to hear from you. Click here to book a place or send us your thoughts on the forward programme. Feedback on past events or ideas for future events or workshops would also be most welcome.

To see the archive news from 2011, click here

To find out more about the activities of Castletown Heritage Society, click HERE

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Traditional Boxing Day Opening - a great launch for the Winter Exhibition - Castletown in Uniform

As is now traditional, Castlehill Heritage Centre opened its doors on Boxing Day afternoon, where a large crowd of friends, visitors and supporters were warmly welcomed and treated to hot mince meat pies and mulled wine.

This year there was an added bonus as Boxing Day was the launch of our new Winter Exhibition, which features a variety of themed displays and artefacts depicting the lives of local people past and present through their uniforms - school children, postmen, bus drivers, nurses, armed forces, policemen, Girl Guides and more!

The exhibition proved to be a great success, generating much discussion and interest among the visitors - as always, we gleaned a lot of interesting 'personal experience' information from these conversations, which we will use to supplement and enrich all the hard research work done by Muriel and her team!

The exhibition will be open every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday afternoon, from 2pm to 4pm.

Tradional Boxing Day opening - a great chance to meet up with old friends for a good 'blether'	Within minutes of opening, a good crowd of visitors were welcomed to the Centre	The hot mulled wine was much appreciated, especially by those who had included a visit as part of their traditional Boxing Day walk round the village	Div ye mind....?
Part of the display depicting the life and times of local policemen, nurses and postmen	Past regalia and ephemera from the local John O'Groat Lodge of Freemasons in the village	Atrefacts from the times when Castletown played host to the RAF during the second world war. Complete with genuine RAF issue potty!	More memories from RAF Castletown
Helmet belonging to Lieutenant William Keith, of the First Caithness Artillery Volunteers	Close-up of the helmet insignia	Thankfully, war-time essentials such as these are consigned to the past	Hugh providing detailed local insight
The display relating to local people involved in early military conflict proved very popular	Alistair and Morris - each a fantastic fount of local knowledge	Hiding the empty case behind the biscuit tin won't work Keith - I know that was your third mince-meat pie!	A most unseasonal daffodil in the 'Flower of Olrig' - is this the first to be seen in Caithness?