Auction mart memorabilia to go on show at Forss
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Memorabilia from Thurso's former auction mart is to be showcased at an open day next weekend.
Catalogues, photographs and documents will be on display in Forss Hall on Saturday, February 15, and it promises to be a nostalgic occasion for members of the agricultural community.
There will be a video clip from a roup at Burnside, Calder, in 1992, and visitors will also be able to enjoy a coffee or tea with some of the former mart staff.
The open day follows on from a public appeal in November by Iain Thomson, who was the first managing director of Hamilton’s & UA Partnership Ltd from 1996 until his retirement in 2002, and long-serving auctioneer Peter Mackay.
They urged people to dig out any items of interest relating to livestock marketing by Hamilton’s marts in Caithness and Sutherland. The Thurso mart opened in 1923 and closed in 2007.
Mr Mackay said this week the response to the appeal had been "unbelievable", with sale catalogues from 1929 coming to light as well as the number one business ledger with a first entry dated May 16, 1923.
The Miller family from Buckies have gifted the catalogues belonging to Don Miller.
A collection will be taken for Cancer Research UK.
The event will run from 10am to 5pm, and Mr Mackay – who worked at the Thurso mart for 38 years after starting there in 1969 – says there will be plenty of material on show to hold people's attention.
"There's a lot of memorabilia – folk have been looking in their attics," he said.
"It'll take time to go through the catalogues. We have catalogues from 1929 onwards – every year, nearly.
"It has unearthed a lot of things that were lying dormant.
"I can see folk being there for some time, three or four hours. It's a bit of nostalgia, and hopefully some of the staff that were working with us years ago will be there."
