‘Mr Fraserburgh’ dies at 96

Community: Stalwart gave decades of service to the town he loved so dearly

Children’s Panel, including a spell as chairman, and for a time chairman of the board of management of Fraserburgh North School and chairman of the Fraserburgh Family Resource Centre.”

Current captain of the 4th Fraserburgh Boys’ Brigade Martin Dunbar has many fond memories of Mr Duthie from when he first joined the Boys’ Brigade, aged 12.

Mr Dunbar said: “He was a larger than life character who touched the lives of many.

“I’m sure lots of people who have gone through the Boys’ Brigade will have fond memories of him as I do. Through his involvement with the Fraserburgh Junior Arts Society, he got the Boys’ Brigade involved in some drama too.

“I remember it was a summer show and some of the boys couldn’t do it.

“I was playing football and he came out and said ‘I want you, you and you to do it’. I was quite shy at the time but he got me on the stage doing something I thought I wouldn’t be able to do.”

Mr Duthie was also one of the founding members of the Fraserburgh Junior Arts Society. Secretary Alice Irvine said: “He just had this aura about him. He was someone everyone looked up to.”

Born at College Bounds in Fraserburgh, Mr Duthie left school at age 14 to became a message boy with Lipton’s the grocer.

He became a police messenger and then member of the Home Guard and was also a member of the local bomb disposal squad.

In 1940 he moved to Fraserburgh’s CPT (Toolies) factory – a reserved occupation – but cut short his stay to enlist, succeeding by claiming he was a grocer.

He joined the Royal Scots and later the King’s Own Scottish Borderers with whom he landed in Normandy.

Proud of his town and a knowledgeable historian, in later life he was an active volunteer guide at Fraserburgh Heritage Centre.

He was also a keen gardener.

LIFETIME OF DEDICATION: Henry Duthie worked with the Boys’ Brigade in the town as well as Fraserburgh Junior Arts Society for years