Dufftown clock tower flag raised in nick of time
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THE national flag will fly proudly at Dufftown's landmark clock tower just in time for the town's biggest crowd-puller of the year after a north-east firm saved the day.
Moray Council had advised that access to the tower to replace its tattered and threadbare Saltire was unsafe. And for months locals have been unable to find the right help and a solution seemed out of reach.
As time ticked by some locals were disheartened that they would not be able to show the town in its full glory for games day this weekend.
Meanwhile the community's flag replacement was left sitting at the local Co-op store as their searches for assistance to hoist the flag proved fruitless.
But after a last-minute online appeal for help, it turned out help was just around the corner – and locals had just 15 minutes to jump into action.
Local resident Andy Harrold said: "With the Dufftown Highland Games coming up this weekend we were highly embarrassed that all our visitors would be seeing some tattered cloth fluttering off the flagpole. We were resigned to failure.
"Then in the nick of time, after an appeal to my contacts on LinkedIn, I received a call from Scotia Access Services on Thursday, July 25, to say that one of their vehicles would be passing through Dufftown in the next 15 minutes.
"I then messaged a few people in the Dufftown area to find someone who could get to the Co-op, retrieve the flag, and meet our hero at the clock tower."
A lorry from Aberdeen-based Scotia arrived with a mounted access platform to get the job done.
Mr Harrold added: "Thankfully, we now have a beautiful new flag fluttering at the top of our clock tower just in time for our games weekend."
The three-storey B-listed tower was originally built as Dufftown's jail in 1839. The tower is the starting point for the massed pipe bands' march to kick off the games.
