Loo-turned-museum flushed with success
A SCOTTISH festival, so remote it can only be accessed by boat or a three-day hike, is under threat because of funding problems.
The Knoydart Festival, on the peninsula of Knoydart, northwest of Fort William, needs to raise £1,500 within the next month if it is to go ahead as planned on 26 to 28 April.
So far the tiny festival, which requires equipment to be brought in by boat, has raised £1,000 from music lovers.
This year’s festival is to feature a variety of Scottish musicians, including ska band Bombskare and folk band Peatbog Faeries
Organisers were forced to set up a public appeal after three funding applications were turned down.
The online call for funds came despite 700 tickets selling out within five days of going on sale because the revenue does not cover the costs of the volunteerrun festival.
The donated money will only be claimed if the £1,500 target is reached and the festival goes ahead. SCOTLAND’S quirkiest museum venue has officially opened – in a converted toilet.
The once-derelict public conveniences, in the heart of the historic town of Dunkeld, have been transformed to house the extensive archive of the Dunkeld Cathedral Chapter House Trust.
And the move to the disused toilets has allowed the trust to put its historic records on public display on a permanent basis for the first time.
The archive charts the history of the cathedral, the burgh and the regimental records of the Scottish Horse, a yeomanry regiment of the Territorial Army from 1902 to 1956, which was once based in the Perthshire town.
The archive was originally collected by a group of volunteers 19 years ago and, until the move to the converted toilets, had been stored in a small room above the chapter house in the cathedral.
However, it could only be accessed up a narrow spiral staircase. Work to transform the loos began last summer after the trust bought the redundant conveniences from the council for £3,000, and raised an estimated £175,000 to fund the restoration scheme.
Earlier this year, the archive was transferred to the old toilets in the town’s main square, The Cross. The archives were taken from the cathedral tower by a cherry picker machine.
Joan Brookes, spokeswoman for the trust, said: “The archive was started by a group of local residents in 1994 and has been housed in one of the towers of the cathedral up 45 stone stairs in a rather cold and damp room.
“With the use of dehumidifiers and heaters, it managed to be reasonable in the summer, but the winter months could be rather difficult. Sitting in -1C trying to work with cold hands and feet was no fun.”
The toilets were converted after the trust received financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Rural Tayside Leader Fund, the Gannochy Trust, the Griffin Wind Farm Community Fund and various local charities.
The conversion includes a new glass frontage, an exhibition space, an archive store and a restoration room at the rear of the building.