The Portlethen Heritage Society

27/07/2020

Jimmy Nicol.
One of the North-East greatest character's also became one of its benefactors in 1967.
Mr Jimmy Nicol, of Bogentoy, Portlethen, announced he was buying Stonehaven's biggest hotel - to give it away.
The well-known breeder and judge of beef cattle, and self-taught financial wizard bought the 37-bedroom Bay Hotel and promptly handed it over to the Church of Scotland for an old folks home, though not without opposition.
Approval for change of use was strongly opposed within Stonehaven Town Council and finally went through on a four to three vote.
Jimmy, who laughingly referred to himself as a ' poor old body of a crofter ' later became one of the home's first residents after moving out of the but and ben that had been his home for many years.
(Shared from Michael Morrison's post on Aberdeen History and Stories from the Past page)

18/05/2020

Tamas Blaque
by Chevalier Frederick Stewart (Portlethen resident and founder of The Portlethen Heritage Society)

So, there I was, in lockdown. Wondering what to do next, having planted lots of seed tatties in pails, homemade boxes, and - ssshhh - in the flower borders. With my interest in history,
I started thinking about the Scottish mercenary, Tamas Blaque (Tam Blake). Blake was part of the Coronado expedition into Arizona and New Mexico in 1540, and I contemplated the
impact on the Great Plain Indian tribes after the arrival of the Spanish on horseback.
Blake was the first Scot and possibly the first Brit in the New World, of whom there are written records. In 1550 he declared to the Spanish Viceroy that he was a citizen of the
Kingdom of Scotland and son of William Blake and Agnes Mowat arriving in Mexico in 1534-35 having taken part in the conquest of New Grenada. He joined Captain Francisco
Vazquez de Coronado’s expedition from Mexico in search of the lost cities of Gold. Blake married Francisca Rivera, a widow of one of the first settlers in New Spain.
Thinking about Blaque reminded me of the Métis tribe whose homeland is in Canada and part of the United States. The tribe trace their descent to both indigenous north Americans and European settlers. Many married Scottish and French fur trappers during the Hudson’s Bay Company era. The
Métis is a distinct group of people with a distinct culture and language, and in Canada are recognised as a distinct Indigenous people.
To keep me active, I decided to become an Unofficial Member of the Métis Tribe and construct a Tipi out of scraps of wood and branches.
Right; Chevalier Frederick sitting outside his
Tipi.
Note’ for those wanting to learn more about
Blaque, see;
https://coronado.unm.edu/node/7681 where
it gives his birth year as ranging between
1506 and 1519 based on his own testimony
in different documents.
He served in the pacification of Cartegena
(Colombia) in 1533 and by 1539 was in
Mexico City plying his trade as a hosier.

10/05/2020

Not Portlethen but I imagine most of us will have visited Ma Cameron's in Aberdeen once or twice. Fabulous photograph.

07/05/2020

Ancestry have extended the time that you can search their records at home,by logging in with your library card and PIN, until the end of May
There are lots of incredible family history records to be found. And with VE day tomorrow Ancestry have just highlighted the military records available including
-UK Army roll of honour 1939-45
-UK British Prisoner of War 1939-45
-UK Military campaign medal and awards 1793-1949

Login at https://bit.ly/2yF83NN
If you are not a member you can join online from https://bit.ly/LibOLreg

See more Live Life @ Home VE Day resources at https://bit.ly/LLAhome

Live Life Aberdeenshire

07/05/2020

Great lockdown project!

Historic Environment Scotland appeals for information about 5,000 unidentified images in its collection.

05/05/2020

Please note the following. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Due to essential maintenance, the following services will be unavailable between 8pm Tuesday 5th May and 8am Wednesday 6th May:
Overdrive (Digital Library)
Pressreader
Freegal
Ancestry
Library Spydus App
Online Library Catalogue

21/01/2020

14/01/2020

Life Live Aberdeenshire have launched a survey regarding the future development of the library service. They are keen to hear about community views on future library provision in communities around Aberdeenshire to build a better understanding of how best to develop our library service. Please would you be so kind as to complete the survey and to share this with as many people as possible. The more feedback the better!

Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

09/01/2020

Please take a couple of minutes to fill this in 👍

A survey seeking views on future library provision in communities around Aberdeenshire is now live.

As part of the Council’s budget-setting process, savings were identified for the library service and the possibility of the closure of some facilities in smaller villages was outlined.

Since then, Live Life Aberdeenshire has been working hard to look at alternative ways of achieving savings by taking a broader view of how library services are provided.

The needs of individual communities and how customers want to access services is at the forefront of this, as are opportunities to deliver services in different ways.

It is hoped that new opening hours, combined with a focus on what customers need from their library, can generate the savings required with minimal impact on community life.

For example, where communities identify a low requirement for physical library services, alternative provision such as postal services, services delivered from other local premises or outreach work could be considered.

Communities are encouraged to give their views on local libraries via the survey, which will then inform future decisions by councillors.

For more info and a link to the survey, which is open until the end of February, see: http://bit.ly/30c37tD

To go straight to the survey, see: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ABSLIBRARIES

13/12/2019