Getting Wet Wet Wet to play outdoor public pools

In the first part of a two-day look at Tarlair Pools, once a bustling destination for locals and tourists, David Proctor remembers the weekend, 25-years-ago, that Runrig and Wet Wet Wet came to town

Alot has happened to the Tarlair outdoor swimming pool in the nine decades since the then Macduff Burgh Council agreed to build it. Nestled at the bottom of sea cliffs, just east of the Moray Firth town, the complex was a smash hit with locals and visitors alike following its opening in the summer of 1931.

The Banffshire facility boasted changing rooms, a boating pool, a paddling pool and a much larger tidal pool, sitting in a natural bowl bordered by rugged rock faces and the sea.

Photographs and film footage from Tarlair’s heyday feature daring amateur acrobats plunging into the water from its diving boards and water slides.

Then there were the crowds of people who set up camp at the bottom of the cliffs, no doubt armed with a supply of extra clothes, towels and picnic food.

Tarlair was built as a result of the explosion in popularity of recreational swimming in the 1920s and 1930s and was followed by similar pools in Stonehaven, Arbroath and Prestwick.

Comedian Andy Cameron was a regular visitor in his youth and called it “the coldest swimming pool in the universe”.

For the best part of four decades it delighted visitors but the tide then turned against Tarlair – as indeed it did against many other outdoor pools across Scotland.

As holidays abroad became cheaper during the 1970s, visitors dwindled and eventually the decision was taken to close.

The site was never wholly out of public consciousness and welcomed all manner of events, reinventing itself as a unique venue for a string of openair concerts.

But it was in the summer of 1994 that Tarlair played host to two of the biggest bands ever to come out of Scotland.

The water was drained from its pools and a giant stage built for the Tarlair Music Festival and its two headline acts.

The festival itself had begun in 1985, featuring local bands, and the organisers managed to book Jethro Tull and Fish in 1993.

On Saturday June 25, however, it was the turn of Runrig – led by Donnie Munro – to perform to around 7,000 fans.

The next day Wet Wet Wet took the stage to close the event.

When Wet Wet Wet arrived at Tarlair they were arguably at the peak of their musical powers, having been at number one in the charts with their version of The Troggs’ Love Is All Around. to

Video footage from the day shows Marti Pellow and his bandmates being flown to the cliff tops above Tarlair.

Local police officers and a handful of fortunate fans awaited them there – among them current Banff councillor John Cox. The band then jumped into a minibus for the short drive down the hill to their temporary coastal arena.

There they took to the stage to play to thousands of fans standing where generations of swimmers had once taken their first paddles.

Many others decided to watch the action from stunning vantage points atop the cliffs overlooking Tarlair pool.

Marti Pellow – and if the band were at their peak this was also peak Pellow – took to the stage with a swagger, long hair flowing in the north-east breeze.

Fans looked on in adoration as the singer belted out an array of hits, joined by guitarist Graeme Duffin, bass player Graeme Clark, drummer Tommy Cunningham and Neil Mitchell on keyboards.

The biggest cheer of the night came when Wet Wet Wet played the opening bars of their then record-breaking smash number one.

Banff councillor John Cow said the atmosphere had been “electric”.

“It was a moment in my life I never want to forget,” he said.

“The weather was great and the dolphins were playing in the bay. There had also been an incredible build-up.

“Wet Wet Wet were the band of the time and had been in the charts for weeks.”

Despite its success, the 1994 Festival was to be the last.

It had come a long way since its inception as a showcase for local bands, who played on a lorry trailer, but the pools have never again seen such use.