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Dear Alastair,
What a fascinating site! I've just spent a
lot more time than I can afford taking a look at it.
I wonder if you would consider including
some information about Strathpeffer Pavilion in the Highlands of
Scotland, and perhaps a link to our website as below. The Pavilion
started life as a place of entertainment for the wealthy visitors who
came to "take the waters" in Victorian times, in what was then the most
northerly spa in Europe.
 The
building has since gone through several incarnations - including being
used as a US Naval Hospital during the first World War (see attached
photo). It then became a ballroom and restaurant and a popular place
for weddings and other functions. In the 1960s, it was acquired and
refurbished by Highland Lass Estates, which ran it as a dance hall at
weekends and a venue for a "Highland Cabaret" during the week. Many
hundreds of people, now scattered all over the world, have fond memories
of dances in the Spa Pavilion. Indeed, a member of our staff who was on
holiday in the States told us that he got chatting to a chap in a
launderette in a small town in the California desert and it turned out
that the chap was a musician, who used to perform at dances in the
Pavilion!
In the last decades of last century, the
Pavilion changed hands and was allowed to fall into disrepair, which was
a very sad sight for all who know and love Strathpeffer and the Pavilion
itself. However, in 1996, it was acquired by the Scottish Historic
Buildings Trust, which managed to raise the funds necessary to restore
the building.
The Pavilion re-opened in 2004 and is now
being run by a voluntary local charitable organisation, Strathpeffer
Pavilion Association (SPA). At the same time as trying to establish the
Pavilion as an exciting new venue for the arts, functions (including
weddings), dances and other events, SPA is raising money to complete the
job of buying the necessary furniture and equipment so that this grand
old building can fulfill the vision that we have for its future.
For our very first functions in 2004, we did
have tables but we had to hire chairs and borrow crockery and cutlery.
We also had to borrow a stage for more than a year! As you can perhaps
see from our website, we have come a very long way since then, but we
still have a long way to go.
With best wishes (and keep up the good work
yourself),
Margaret
(Margaret Macdonald, Pavilion Webmaster
among other things!)
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