History of the Clan Donnachaidh Centre

On 30th August, 1969, the Donnachaidh Museum was opened by the Duke of Atholl. Since then the Society has recruited many new members – a considerable portion of them having joined at or through this central gathering place of the clan – and even those of us who were members before 1969 find it hard to believe the days when the Clan Museum was only a pipe dream.

At the opening, Sir Edward Reid said that the real pioneers were Charles Guthrie, W.S., Edinburgh, who died in November 1962, and Senator Wishart McLea Robertson, Canada, who retired from the office of Honorary President in June 1963. From the time of the re-founding of the Society after the Second World War it had been hoped that one day a clan house in the clan country might be acquired, and small sums of money were set aside for this purpose in what was called the Struan Fund. The project was taken a step further at a council meeting held on 9th August, 1962, when it was agreed that ‘to have a small cottage with ground sufficient for tented meetings' in the Struan, Calvine, Blair Atholl or Kinloch Rannoch areas might be the most suitable proposition.

In the following March, the Council heard that the Chief was strongly in favour of having such a house if possible and that Mr Guthrie had bequeathed some items to add to the small but interesting collection of exhibits kept in the clan office.

Local landowners were asked to inform the Society if they knew of a suitable cottage, and over the next two years a sub-committee looked at several possible cottages, going in one case as far as applying for planning permission for the necessary development. In spite of hearing that Perth County Council had refused this permission, hope continued and the annual meeting in June 1965 gave the Clan Council authority to purchase a house in the clan country if anything suitable was offered.

Four months after getting their authority the Clan Council endorsed the views of the sub-committee that the projected clan house should be primarily a museum and only secondarily a residence for visiting clansmen, that it should be situated on or near the A9 Perth to Inverness road in the clan country, and finally if no cottage became available within six months, a site for building should be acquired.

By June 1966, the site next to the Bruar Falls Hotel, generously offered at a nominal sum by the Duke of Atholl, had been chosen. The Struan Fund, standing at about £6,000, was renamed the Museum Fund and registered as a charity for which an appeal was to be launched. Council was authorised to approach an architect to prepare plans and obtain planning permission in principle.

The Council saw the preliminary plans in May 1967 and approved them. Meanwhile a world-wide appeal was launched for £30,000 with which to build, equip and endow the project, and numerous fund-raising events took place. One of the most ambitious was a performance of ‘Going for a Song’, a popular radio and television programme on antiques, staged by the series’ chairman Max Robertson with Arthur Negus as one of the experts. A thousand tickets were sold for the evening in Leith Town Hall and the profit was more than £800 and much publicity for the appeal.

The Clan Museum remains a central focus for the Clan and a much loved stop on any visit. The Clan Council continue to look for ways to keep the Clan Museum up to date and interesting and update members at each AGM on their progress.