Chance to reminisce at Montrose Museum event

Pictured is an example of Ken Hay’s work, a children’s Party held in St. Enoch Hall in Montrose, 1963.

A trip down memory lane awaits the Montrose public early next month when the town’s museum will open its doors for a special reminiscence event.

It will mark the return of Angus Archives’ popular Ken Hay Drop-in Days which will offer a unique opportunity to view more of photographer Ken Hay’s work.

The day, on Friday, December 10, will also be a collaboration between the archives and museum teams.

A well-known professional photographer in the north-east, Ken Hay enjoyed a career spanning 50 years, during which time took around a million photographs including some 6000 weddings.

His personal archive provides a valuable and prodigious record of life in the Angus area and further afield.

Mr Hay’s photographic career started with a commission for a local daily newspaper and, as his reputation grew, he found himself contributing press photographs to around 10 newspapers in total.

When Glaxo Laboratories, now GlaxoSmithKline, first set up in Montrose in 1952, he was appointed as the official photographer for the Montrose factory, a post he held until 1986.

His work covered a multitude of subjects ranging from weddings and postcard views to industrial and commercial scenes and was regularly used for calendars, postcards and featured in a number of publications. He and his wife June, who worked alongside him, donated much of their picture collection, along with around 40,000 negatives, to Angus Council’s then cultural service department.

An archives spokesperson said: “Join the ANGUSalive teams at Montrose Museum where we will be hosting a joint collections event. The Archive team will be on site with our first Ken Hay Photograph Drop-in Day in more than 18 months!

“The museum team, who are working on the Montrose Museum Reimagined project will be onsite with some fascinating artefacts which have been uncovered during research work. Visit the museum, browse and reminisce over one of our most popular photographic collections and view some of the museum objects from our stores.”

The event, which runs from 10am-3pm, is free. Further information is available by telephoning 01674 907447 or emailing [email protected].