Just came across this by accident really, and have spent the last hour very pleasantly reminiscing! I was born in 1945 and lived in Dalwhinnie until I was 17. My parents lived in Dalwhinnie until the end of their lives (1987 and 1991). Life was pretty hard in the old days in Dalwhinnie - no central heating (in fact I remember my Dad putting electricity into the little wooden house (shack?) we lived in behind the distillery until I was 6, and the distillery built new houses for the workers - Dad was a stillman). Winter went on for a very long time, but there was lots going on in the village - dances, concerts, ceilidhs, whist drives, country dancing classes, drama groups etc.
Betty-have you any photos or other material to contribute?
Added by Douglas Abercrombie on 20 July 2011
Most of these photos are before my time. I lived in Balsporran and then Dalwhinnie from 1961- 1980. I'll look out some photos. Scraping the ice from the inside of the window was common, drifts as high as the first floor of the Grampian. Buses used to come from Newtonmore and Laggan to the dances on a Friday night (we were setting the trend even then!). You got a cup of tea and a sandwich in them days!
Lovely site
Just came across this by accident really, and have spent the last hour very pleasantly reminiscing! I was born in 1945 and lived in Dalwhinnie until I was 17. My parents lived in Dalwhinnie until the end of their lives (1987 and 1991). Life was pretty hard in the old days in Dalwhinnie - no central heating (in fact I remember my Dad putting electricity into the little wooden house (shack?) we lived in behind the distillery until I was 6, and the distillery built new houses for the workers - Dad was a stillman). Winter went on for a very long time, but there was lots going on in the village - dances, concerts, ceilidhs, whist drives, country dancing classes, drama groups etc.