Catriona McKay, an internationally renowned master of the Clarsach (Scottish harp), came to Huntly in 2009 from Glasgow.
In 2008 a proposal was made by the local authority to access public funding in order to fell major parts of two local woods: the Battlehill and the Meadows. The woods themselves were planted many years ago in order to provide firewood for the local community, but have since then developed into park-like local amenities. Now policies have changed and in the name of biodiversity previous plantations of ‘foreign’ Sitka spruce are felled to make way for deciduous and indigenous alternatives. The clearing of the land will impact leisure use for many years to come, and in particular the use of large scale machinery in these relatively small plantations is under question.
