BHS Winter Talks

This evening’s talk CANCELLED

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‘THE MYSTERIES, FOLKLORE AND HISTORY OF GLEN LYON’: A talk to be presented by Donald Riddell.

It is with regret that we have had to cancel tonight’s talk (on Friday, 20th Ocober, at 7.30 p.m.).  While we were still considering whether or not to go ahead, at lunchtime the question was taken out of our hands as Perth & Kinross Council has taken the decision to close the Community Campus, the venue for the talk, due to weather conditions.

Our proposal now is that we will reorganise a date for this talk, possibly adding it on to the end of our winter season of talks in April, but with the final date still to be considered.

October Talk

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The next BHS Winter Talk takes place at 7.30pm in the Assembly Hall at the Breadalbane Community Campus on Friday 20th October, when Donald Riddell will be talking about “The Mysteries, Folklore and History of Glen Lyon”. 

Looking forward to seeing many of you at the meeting on Friday, 20th October, for what should be a very interesting talk.

2023 – 24 Winter Season of Talks

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Our first talk of the new season, ‘The Work of the Tayside & Fife Raptor Study Group’, is on Friday, 15th September, held in the Breadalbane Community Campus, Aberfeldy, commencing at 7.30 p.m. This talk will be presented by Logan Steele, Secretary of the Tayside & Fife Raptor Study Group and he will discuss the work of the Scottish Raptor Study Group and focus in on the local Tayside & Fife Branch and their recent monitoring activity.

Our winter season of six monthly talks runs through to March on the third Friday of the month, apart from December when there is not a talk. With the exception of the January and February talks which are presented online on Zoom, they are held in the main hall of the Breadalbane Community Campus in Aberfeldy at 7.30 p.m.

From our constitution, one of the Charitable Purposes of the Society is to advance education, heritage and culture by promoting and encouraging an interest in the study of the archaeology, history, antiquities, folklore and natural history, particularly concerning the Breadalbane and Upper Tay area of Perthshire. With this in mind and when possible, we try each year to build our programme of talks around these five topics associated with our local area. Our 2023-24 season listed below includes talks on all these topics.

Further details of each of these talks will be provided in due course.

2022-23 Winter season talk recordings

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The following talks from our 2022-23 winter season were recorded and can be viewed following the links below:

Friday, 16th September, 2022: ‘The Wolf of Badenoch’, presented by Professor Steve Boardman.

Click on this video link:

‘A Species of Celtic Attila?’

Professor Steve Boardman is the Professor of Medieval Scottish History at The University of Edinburgh with research interests in Late Medieval Scottish Kingship. His talk was based on his current research activities on the life and post-medieval mythologizing of the Wolf of Badenoch.

Friday, 21st October, 2022: ‘The Hillforts of the Tay’, presented by David Strachan

Click on this video link:

‘Hillforts of the Tay’

David Strachan is a Director of the Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust and his areas of interest include Iron Age forts and settlements c.700 BC to AD 700, and community archaeology. In this talk, he concentrated on the hill forts of Castle Law, Abernethy; Moncreiffe Hill, Bridge of Earn; and Kings Seat, Dunkeld.

Friday, 20th January, 2023: ‘Culloden’, Presented by Caitklin Greig

Click on this video link:

‘Culloden’

Caitlin is the Visitor Services Supervisor (Engagement) for the National Trust for Scotland at their Culloden Battlefield Visitor Centre. Her talk covered how the battle came about with the Jacobite supporters seeking to restore the Stuart monarchy to the British thrones, and how the current survey work carried out by the National Trust for Scotland on the site of the battle is changing the understanding of how the battle progressed.

Friday, 17th February, 2023: ‘Mar Lodge Estate Regeneration’, presented by Andrew Painting

Click on this video link:

‘Mar Lodge Estate Regeneration’

Andrew is the Conservation Officer for the National Trust for Scotland at their Mar Lodge Estate to the west of Braemar. He is an upland ecologist with specialisms in native woodland restoration, bird monitoring and botany. His talk covered the work of NTS during the last 25 years and, in particular, to the advances made in regeneration in the last 10.

Friday, 21st April, 2023: ‘Discovering Froglife’s Scottish Projects’ presented by James Stead

Click on this video link:

‘Discovering Froglife’s Scottish Projects’

James Stead is Froglife’s ‘Come Forth for Wildlife Project Manager’ and, in this talk, James aims to raise awareness of native reptiles and amphibians and will guide you to learn more about amphibians and reptiles in the area as well as the exciting work underway on the ‘Come Forth for Wildlife’ and ‘Fife Living Water’ projects.

Additional Zoom Talk

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‘Discover Froglife’

Friday, 21st April 2023

At short notice, we have added another, and final, Zoom talk to our 2022-23 winter season of talks and we invite you to attend this free, natural history Zoom talk on Friday, 21st April, at 7.30pm.

Froglife is a national wildlife charity committed to the conservation of the UK’s amphibians and reptiles in addition to the habitats these species depend upon.  Froglife has been operating since 1989 with a number of national and regional projects. 

They want to see people from all walks of life get involved in wildlife conservation and achieve this via three strands: on the ground conservation, environmental education / communication and research.

This presentation will enable you to learn more about amphibians and reptiles in the area as well as the exciting work underway by Froglife Scotland on the ‘Come Forth for Wildlife’ project and ‘Fife Living Water’ project.

To register for this talk and to receive the Zoom joining details, please contact Ian at  bhsaberfeldy@gmail.com.  

Zoom is free to download, and all are very welcome to participate in our Zoom meetings free of charge, although we do welcome donations from non-members; our members receive free ‘entry’ to all our winter talks.  Please do encourage any friends or family who may be interested to join us, but they must register separately so that we are aware of prospective numbers attending as there is a permissible limit!

We look forward to “seeing” many of you on the evening of Friday, 21st April.

Hillforts of the Tay

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David has worked in archaeology at both national and local level in Wales, England and Scotland since the late 1980s. Over the last two decades with the Perth & Kinross Heritage Trust he has established the Historic Environment Record and planning archaeology service for Perth and Kinross. He has developed and delivered several projects including the Carpow logboat, Tay Landscape Partnership Scheme, Glenshee Archaeology Project and Kings Seat Archaeology Project. His areas of interest include community archaeology and, in particular, Iron Age forts and settlement c.700 BC to AD 700.

Membership:    Thank you to all who have already paid their subscriptions either online or by cheque.  There will be an opportunity to pay your membership subscriptions at the meeting, either cash or cheque, and it is not necessary to complete a new membership form unless your contact details have changed.     We are not issuing membership cards this year, however all members will receive email confirmation of their membership and an electronic copy of the 2022-23 Programme, hard copies of which will also be available at the meeting.  As in previous years, there will not be an entrance charge for BHS members, but visitors will be asked for a donation of £4 on the night.

Looking forward to seeing many of you at the Breadalbane Community Campus in Aberfeldy on Friday 21st October.