Mountaineer Munro to be celebrated in exhibition

Celebration of Sir Hugh Munro to be held at AK Bell Library in Perth

An innovative exhibition will be held in Perth next year to celebrate the life of one of the country’s greatest mountaineers.

The display will mark the 100th anniversary of Sir Hugh Munro’s death.

The creator of the ‘Munros’ list of Scottish mountains over 3,000ft died in March 1919. There are 282 Munros in Scotland – attracting thousands of ‘Munro baggers’ every year.

The Munros were first listed by Sir Hugh in his Munros Tables, published in the Journal of the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) in 1891. His list caused quite a stir at the time, as it had previously been thought that there were only around 30 mountains over 3,000 feet.

Sir Hugh never managed to complete the ascent of all the summits on his list and it was left to the Rev AE Robertson to complete the first round of the Munros in 1901.

Sir Hugh had been planning to revise his list of Munros and after his death the SMC took over the job of keeping the list up to date.

The first revised edition was published in 1921 and several further changes have been made, the most recent in 2012.

Now the AK Bell Library in Perth has invited the Munro Society to mount an exhibition about Sir Hugh.

The society has decided to broaden the theme to The Munro Legacy by tracking what has happened from the birth of ‘the Tables’ and the pioneers through the ensuing decades up to current times.

“The exhibition is planned for March to May next year.

David Batty, at the Munro Society, said: “We need to gather appropriate archive material such as photographs and artefacts and are seeking help to bring the exhibition to life.

“The birth and growth of hillwalking and climbing clubs is an important part of the story and we have contacted a few long-established clubs to see if they can help. If anyone has or knows of photographs or artefacts going back to the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s and ’60s we would appreciate being able to tap into them.”

Mr Batty stressed that the society is only looking to borrow such items, and any of value will be displayed in closed display cabinets.

Anyone who can help contribute towards the exhibition is asked to contact David Batty at dsbatty@btinternet.com

We need to gather appropriate archive material. DAVID BATTY