CHS Annual Report for 2024‐25

The retirement of 5 committee members at the end of the last season, left quite a gap to be filled in order continue running this society. 3 members stepped up to the challenge — Scilla Aitchison, Graham Philips and Anne Dickie, they joined Ross Couper and myself to ensure a future for the history society. During the season, Sue Kent became a Cromarty Courthouse Trust representative on our committee.

As a group, we now have 47 paid‐up members which is a respectable number for a small community.

I hope you agree that our programme of talks this year has covered a broad range of interesting subjects. We have certainly attracted additional visitors, even from beyond the Black Isle, and kept up the average attendance across our meetings to over 40. Indeed at Professor Donna Heddle’s lecture on Vikings in the North of Scotland there was an audience of 65.

So, big thanks are due to both committee and audience:

• Our committee for ensuring an excellent programme, good publicity and that meetings run smoothly with refreshments continuing to enhance the social opportunity which forms an important part of all our meetings. I shouldn’t fail to mention that we strive to ensure the society is kept financially viable, as we cope with all the frustrations of dealing with banks who seem to try to exasperate their small society customers.
• Our audience for continuing to support the society by regularly turning up to meetings and showing that there is an appetite for keeping history, particularly local history alive.

It was heartening to hear last month’s speaker, Calum Maclean, express his thanks to us all for helping to keep the legacy of Highland architect, Alexander Ross, in the public domain. He felt that history societies such as ours play a key role, where many statutory bodies fail to appreciate what heritage is in danger of being lost.

Additional thanks go to Roger Young for continuing to maintain our society website.

As a Friends Group to our local museum, we will be hosting an extra talk in May to raise funds for Cromarty Courthouse, as a way of demonstrating our support. In addition we will make a donation of at least £250 to ensure that the sum of £500 goes to the museum next month.

M. Bowers
April 2025