Project Blog

Hello everyone, welcome to the final project update for Perth & Kinross Remembers.  I cannot believe how quickly this past year has gone and what a year it has been! In this post I update you all on what I’ve been up to in the last few months of the project and highlights over the past twelve months, as well as a closer look at some of our collections.

I can’t quite believe that this is our final guest blog post of the project! This week’s post is by David Dykes from Perth Academy’s commemorative First World War project, Flowers of the Forest. Dave takes us through the project, when it began in 2014, before looking at the story of the Midgley family and two sons, Albert and Arthur who appear on the school’s war memorial. 

In this week’s blog Phyllida Shaw shares with us the lives and work of Alice and Morris Meredith Williams, looking at their careers during the First World War and the years following, before taking a closer look at their work in the Shrine of St John’s Kirk, Perth.

This week we hear from Fiona Ballantyne from Fearnan Village Association (FVA). Fiona shares with us how the community of Fearnan worked together in the lead up to the Centenary of the Armistice to commemorate the men of Fearnan who lost their lives in the First World War.

For Nancy Johnston, Scottish Stained Glass and its history has been a hobby since 2004 when she was asked to research the windows of Crieff Parish Church. In this blog Nancy looks at buildings across Perth & Kinross that house First World War memorial windows. Please note that all photographs, unless stated otherwise are taken by Nancy.

Let’s get digital – cataloguing and preservation.

Over the past few weeks I have continued to work through the project’s many digital deposits. Just like physical material, digital files have their own preservation needs to ensure their accessibility over the years to come. Different file formats and software are emerging all the time, meaning it can often be hard to keep up with the maintenance of digital material.

To mark World Refugee Day on Saturday 20 June, Kieran Taylor a PhD student at the University of Stirling discusses the relief of Belgian Refugees in Perthshire during the First World War.

Part two of Dr Billy Kenefick’s blog on war resistance and conscientious objectors in Dundee during the First World War. In this post Dr Kenefick looks at the impact of the Military Service Act and the response from the Dundee branch of the anti-war Joint Committee Against Conscription as well as the treatment of conscientious objectors. 

This week’s guest blog post comes from Sarah Wilcock, Assistant Archivist at Perth & Kinross Archive.

This is the first of two blog posts by Dr Billy Kenefick to mark International Conscientious Objectors Day on 15th May. In this blog Dr Kenefick explores the beginnings of the movement in Dundee in the early years of the war, focusing on the anti-war activities of the Independent Labour Party and one of its leading figures, Ewan Geddes Carr. 

Fiona here, the Project Officer for Perth & Kinross Remembers, and welcome to my second project update! I hope everyone is staying safe and keeping well during this difficult time. 

Due to COVID-19, there have been some changes to the way I am working and how some of the project activities are being delivered. In this blog, I will update you of these changes and give a brief overview of what I’ve been up to since my last post. 

Welcome to the first blog post for Perth & Kinross Remembers. I am Fiona Hall, Project Officer for Perth & Kinross Remembers, and I’m based in Perth & Kinross Archive, on the first floor of the AK Bell Library, Perth.