The Grantown Society

Grantown-on-Spey – or just locally Grantown - was once the capital of Strathspey and boasted a brace of railway stations long before nearby Aviemore emerged as a year-round Highland resort. After the railways left in the 1960s, this Highland town wobbled, but the Grantown Society have been on hand to help, a community charity group set up with the twin aims of preserving the legacies of its grand past and also helping pave the way towards a brighter future.

Preserve, Protect and Promote

Bill Sadler, chair of the Grantown Society, is a man on a mission: “The Society is a local history/community heritage organisation. We aim to preserve, protect and promote the area's unique heritage and make use of the information and resources to provide information for local individuals, groups, researchers and visitors. We do this through walks and talks, displays, events, exhibitions, bespoke research and community development projects.”

“By raising awareness of, and promoting, the area's heritage and clan history we enhance the area as a tourist destination,” he continues. “Through our events and activities, such as our guided walks and fiddle festival, we provide added attractions for visitors. Our conservation work and development projects make the town a more attractive and interesting place for both day trippers and longer-stay visitors. By providing shops, businesses and holiday providers with information about their premises, we give them an extra tool for advertising.”

Grand Stone Streets

There is plenty to preserve and protect in Grantown. As a travel writer, I have spent a decent amount of time on the grand stone streets, including a whole week based here on a cycling adventure around this spectacular part of the planet. It is one of the most picturesque Highland towns, its sturdy streets by Scotland’s fastest flowing river, the eponymous Spey, with thick forests and the hulking Cairngorm mountains never far away. This is the epicentre of the colourful Clan Grant too, a clan who fought with Wallace and dabbled with Jacobitism before largely crossing to the British Government side by Culloden. Indeed, Clan Grant was one of the original components of the British Army’s Black Watch.

Unlike some parts of the Highlands, the Grant lands around the town were not savagely cleared of clansfolk. Instead, in 1765, this trim, organised town was built to preside over Strathspey, close, of course, to Grant Castle on the edge of Grantown. The town has a stately demeanour, more in keeping with Scotland’s east coast than its wilder west. 

Local Attractions and Events

John Halliday, the Grantown Society’s passionate vice-chair, stresses there are plenty of local attractions: “We have managed to preserve our distinct identity even within the larger mass of the Cairngorms National Park. This is crucial to us. We may have lost the railways, but you can ride the vintage Strathspey steam trains to Broomhill nearby, and we hope they can continue along to Grantown soon. Our town sits at such a central point: it’s the real hub of Speyside, an ideal tourist centre with great cycling and walking all around us, plus wild swimming, SUP, gorge walking and well-being tourism too. We, after all, used to be a famous spa town. The SnowRoads start here, too.”

The Grantown Society is a charity and both a community and a partnership organisation. Since its inception in 1974, it has run over 300 events, including what Sadler calls Grantown’s “massive nine-day 250th anniversary festival”. It has also been a catalyst for the creation of the Woods Trust and the Museum Trust, commenced work on a Sustrans-funded active travel programme, and organised the conservation area appraisal and management plan.

The energy of the Grantown Society is impressive. The town missed out on public broadband, so the Society sorted out its own Gigabit-capable broadband. Sadler explains, “Creating successful commercial broadband without the help of the ‘big’ statutory authorities was a massive achievement. 

Achievement is a word that swirls around the Grantown Society. Sadler jokes that in the beginning, some people thought they were just “funny blokes wanting to talk about history”, but over the years, they have become an essential asset for the community. The Society is very active with meetings, walks, exhibits and festivals, things that put Grantown on the map. They are proactive in working with local schools, too, on museum visits and guided walks.

Sadler stresses the need for public engagement: “Our volunteers are out in the snow, mud and the rain. We know it can be a struggle getting the whole community involved anywhere, so we work hard at it. In the new premises, we will be able to offer a warm, informal welcome to people who can just come in just to see what is going on. We will be working with and sending people to the local museum, who do great work.”

Temporay Locals Welcome!

The 250th anniversary was an obvious high point with locals dressing up in period costume, a big ceilidh at Castle Grant with Donnie Munro performing before a spectacular firework display. “We would like to do more of this sort of thing,” says Sadler. “Our 50th anniversary as a Society is this year, so we’re proud to have for the first time public-facing premises on the High Street. It will bring new life to empty premises and a real resource to the community at what is a tough time for high streets. We aim to hold classes, evening classes, heritage classes and rent out space to pop up shops to really benefit the community.”

The new Grantown Society premises will also have obvious benefits for visitors. Halliday says, “Temporary locals like the ones SCOTO talk about are more than welcome in Grantown. We get a lot of descendants of Clan Grant coming to visit Castle Grant and the surrounding historic sights. I take people on guided tours that help people feel like they have come home. And we want everyone to feel at home in Grantown.”

During my writing for SCOTO it’s great to see all the connections and partnerships between groups and other communities and organisations. Both Sadler and Halliday talk of the importance of formal and informal relationships with the likes of the Scottish Local History Forum and the Clan Grant Society. Sadler is a supporter of SCOTO and the relationships it fosters – “SCOTO is a wonderful initiative that I really think is – like Grantown – going places.”

We end our chat with typical Highland hospitality, with both Sadler and Halliday insisting I must visit again. Maybe I should pop up at Hogmanay. Grantown-on-Spey still has a traditional Hogmanay with dancing in the main square with a band playing from the back of a lorry, with the streets closed. The big night culminates with a firework display and the population doubles. There is certainly plenty of life in the old capital of Strathspey, which, with the help of the tireless Grantown Society, is a community firmly putting itself back on the map.

www.thegrantownsociety.org.

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