Art Gallery

Friday was the first `International Scotch Day’, promoted by drinks company Diageo to celebrate Scotland’s national drink.

To mark the event, the company opened its legendary archives to the public for the first time, giving 50 visitors the opportunity to visit the facility at the Diageo plant in Menstrie. I heard about this on social media and was fortunate enough to be one of the first 50 to register. The archive is in two parts; the first is a high ceilinged room with hundreds and hundreds of bottles of spirits. Diageo have tried to put one of every bottle they’ve ever sold into the archive and while they don’t have a full collection, they have bottles stretching back as far as 1880.

I felt like one of Willy Wonka’s golden ticket holders when I wandered into the room, to the extent that I was momentarily jealous of myself, which was a novel experience. The second part of the archive is paper based and is filled with distillery records stretching back hundreds of years, images of whisky distilling, famous whisky faces and generally everything you could ever want if you were researching a book on the industry.

They’ve also got advertising stretching back over 100 years and it was great to see how the branding of whisky has evolved over the It seems like yesterday the kids went back to school, but here we are again in the middle of a week off. One problem with holidays in February is that even when it is dry, it can be very cold, making outdoor activities a hit or a miss. Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum is filled with amazing things, including the world’s oldest football. There’s also dress up and drawing activities and the coffee and cake is great. So if you’ve not been for a while and you’re looking for something to do with the kids, head along to Stirling’s best – and free – family-friendly attraction.

Chris Kane is a journalist and marketing consultant with Bee Herd Media Ltd. Contact him at www.beeherdmedia.co.uk