The Place of Shinty in the Social History of Badenoch and Strathspey

Research Project

1] The Funders The funding has been provided principally by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Cairngorms Local Action Group LEADER 2007-2013 Programme. We are very grateful to them for their support.

2] The research themes The research themes were identified from the scoping study funded through the Cairngorms National Park Authority These are the origins of Camanachd in Badenoch and Strathspey; social and economic conditions reflected in shinty; Badenoch’s role in developing shinty into an organised sport; material culture; literature and music; language – Gaelic in shinty; camanachd and local identity; other developments like women’s shinty, children’s shinty & summer shinty; oral history…capturing peoples memories before they are lost.

3] The approved purposes of the project

• To help preserve and protect the written and oral history and material culture of shinty in Badenoch and Strathspey
• To interpret the place of shinty in the social history of Badenoch and Strathspey
• To make oral history recordings and preserve these for future access
• To identify records for deposit in the Highland Archives for use by the public
• To give holder of archives and artefacts advice on how best to preserve their holdings
• To make a photographic record of shinty artefacts and make these available to the public
• To compile a comprehensive catalogue of all sources including songs, poetry and bagpipe music so that these can be accessed
• To educate people through the production of a booklet and by holding exhibitions
• To involve people who volunteer to be interviewed, through the holding of the exhibition, in the staging of a match re-enactment and through social networking and the schools environment

4] Have you some valuable items? From May 2011 to June 2013 we hope to uncover all the important sources of information about shinty in Badenoch and Strathspey including photographs, memorabilia, old equipment, poems and bagpipe music. If you have anything of interest please e-mail the researcher Rosemary Gibson at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Grantown was one of the founding clubs of the Camanachd Association in 1895 so Strathspey people could have long lost items hidden in their attics!

We are also wanting to record memories of a selection of people that have lived through the different eras of shinty so if you are interested in taking part please contact Rosemary by e-mail or phone 01540 673048.

5] The booklet and travelling exhibition These will be produced in the late spring of 2013. The 70 page booklet will be made available for sale widely. The travelling exhibition will be seen at the Newtonmore museum, Laggan village hall, Grantown museum and the Highland Archives in Inverness

6] Could you help? Many of the activities that we want to carry out will take time. Would you be willing to help? It could be helping to staff the exhibitions, making outfits for the re-enactment match or perhaps taking photographs of memorabilia.