Stunning stained glass display unveiled at Buckie Fishing Heritage Centre thanks to legacies
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A STUNNING stained glass display has been unveiled at Buckie and District Fishing Heritage Centre Ltd thanks to legacies from five local families.
Entitled The Herring Lassies, the panel depicts traditional herring gutters and other scenes from Buckie's fishing heritage.
The donations which made the piece possible were given by the families of the late David 'Dade' Esson, Ian Miller, James Slater, George 'Dodie' Reid and John Parkes.
Artwork for the piece was provided by local artist John Tasker with the display hand crafted by Keith stained glass artist Shona McInnes.
Bringing it all together was the heritage centre's librarian and director Ron Stewart.
He said: "I had seen examples of Shona's work and thought a stained glass piece would be a very nice way to use the legacies kindly donated to the centre by the families.
"I put it to the other directors and they agreed to go forward with it.
"We decided to invite the families to come along and see the display before we open up to the public soon.
"It's a really wonderful piece and we're very grateful to Shona, John and everyone else involved."
Heritage centre treasurer Kathleen Whitham added: "We're so grateful to the families for their generous donations.
"With their help this wouldn't have been possible."
Mr Tasker brought his considerable experience to bear in order to create the initial artwork for the project.
"Initially I talked to Ron about the sort of things he wanted in the display and then I went off and looked at a lot of old photos and drew the details from there.
"It's something you have to be careful with to make sure what you're drawing is historically accurate, even down to the types of barrels."
Ms McInnes, who has been making leaded glass pieces for 40 years, said that the skills involved had changed little since medieval times.
"The first thing I do is simplify the drawing and then make it into a template for the glass," she continued.
"Everything in stained glass is still hand-made – there's no machinery or anything involved to help you, the technology dates from the medieval times.
"One the colours have been fused onto the surface of the glass the pieces are leaded together with cames which are later blackened. The piece is sealed with putty to weatherproof it."
She added that The Herring Lassies had taken in the order of 10 months to create.
The timber frame construction and lighting for the display were carried out by joiner Brian Reid and electrician Dougie Annand.
Keep up to date with Buckie and District Fishing Heritage Centre news at https://buckieheritage.org/ or visit their Facebook page.
