Reminiscence event looks at memories of Montrose

Memories Scotland: Our Montrose is an ANGUSalive Archives & Libraries reminiscence event in partnership with Memories Scotland.

Through it, people can explore Montrose’s recent past through the Archives’ extensive photographic collections.

Using the collections of local free-lance photographer, Kenneth Hay, the event seeks to help stimulate conversations and recollections about local people and events.

Kenneth Hay was a professional photographer in Montrose from the late 1940s until his retirement in 1991.

He is credited with having taken a million photographs during his professional career – a portion of which have been donated to the people of Angus and is held by Angus Archives.

Containing negatives of people and local events, the collection is an important source documenting the social history of Montrose, Brechin and other areas of Angus.

Memories Scotland is the latest development of a Scotland-wide partnership project.

The project originated as an innovative partnership between Alzheimer Scotland, the Scottish Football Museum and members of the Scottish Football Heritage Network.

The current phase reflects a new partnership with Scottish libraries thanks to support from the Scottish Government’s Public Library Improvement Fund, administered by the Scottish Library and Information Council.

So far, 23 regional library services have signed up to the project, sharing social history resources from their local studies collections and working to develop Memory Groups within their venues.

The project is managed by a Steering Group under the leadership of North Ayrshire Libraries, with representation from Scottish local authorities and trusts, including ANGUSalive, as well as the National Library of Scotland and both the Chair and Football Memories lead of the Scottish Football Museum.