The First Kay Gyroplane (Type 32/1) was designed by David Kay of Blackford and John Grieve of Scone. (Kay was, with his brother Andrew, partners in Kay’s Garage, located in Moray Street, Blackford.) The gyroplane was built at Shields Garage on Perth’s Dunkeld Road and was powered by an ABC […]
Perth Fields at the uppermost section of Necessity Brae – Woodhead of Mailer Farm and Windyedge Farm – hosted in the early 1930s at least 4 impressive ‘Air Circuses’ by competing air display businesses. The first of the aerial circuses to call on Perth is likely to have been Captain […]
The co-operative movement in Perth and its relationship with the labour movement, 1871-1918
Perth Silver Band was formed in 1861, /previously known as: Perth Masonic Band and Perth Trades Silver Band. Perth Silver Band, Pictures courtesy of Ken Bruce Bottom row, on the far right is my uncle, Ronnie Spiers, next to him my father, James (Jimmy) Bruce (died 1964). Behind the bandmaster […]
Strathallan Airfield lies some 14 miles west of Perth near the village of Auchterarder. It was established in 1966 by brothers William and David Roberts as the base for their aviation company, Strathallan Air Charter Ltd. (Strathair), which provided private charter, air freight and aircraft maintenance services. (Strathallan Air Services […]
On Friday 5 September 1919, for two days, a year after the Great War ended, Perth’s North Inch hosted an Air Carnival event with two Avro 504K biplanes. The Perth Burgh Town Provost Charles Scott C.B.E., Baillie Macfarlane, Convener of the Inches Committee, and the Earl of Kinnoull were the […]
On Monday 5 September 1905 quite an amazing one-day-only event took place on Perth’s South Inch. Custer’s Last Stand at the Battle of the Little Bighorn was faithfully re-enacted at the much-anticipated spectacular event of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. Performances were at 2pm and again that same night at […]
This story is of Bessie Bell and Mary Gray, “who beautiful in their lives, in death are not divided.” These beauteous lassies were said to have charmed the heart of all the local laddies. They are still fondly remembered to this day, in song and by the naming of hills […]
Between Perth and Crieff there was once a rich and historically important abbey. Nowadays very few know of its existence, far less its history and how the Abbot Maurice played a seminal role in Scotland’s war with the English at Bannockburn. All that remains are some walls and an earth […]
Perhaps the most tragic event to befall the people of this area happened just one month after the end of World War Two. The rail crash in 1979 at Invergowrie was not the worst to affect the people of Perth and Perthshire. Bourne End was truly tragic, newlyweds, soldiers being […]
