East Lothian Courier | News | Landmark display fuels museum call

Thursday, 20th November, 2008

Published: Thursday, 7th August, 2008 08:15

Landmark display fuels museum call

THE remarkable success of a landmark historical photographic exhibition, which drew more than 3,000 visitors to the Hope Rooms last month, has fuelled calls for the revival of a North Berwick museum.

John Fergie’s exhibition on ‘Ben Sayers and North Berwick’s Golfing Heritage’ attracted a total of 3,175 visitors in the 16 days it was open to the public, and its organiser said the case for a local museum was now stronger than ever.

Speaking ahead of the anticipated publication of an East Lothian Council feasibility study into the reinstatement of the mothballed museum premises in School Road later this month, Mr Fergie said: “The majority of people who came along to the exhibition were local to East Lothian, or had a connection with the area. Many visited the exhibition on more than one occasion.

“This confirms what is already well known – that there is a strong local interest in our own social history.”

Mr Fergie’s collection of hundreds of images dating back to the mid-19th century is thought to be the most extensive photographic archive on local golf ever assembled.

“A large number of holiday visitors to the town also visited the exhibition and were surprised to learn what a rich golfing history North Berwick has,” he said.

“Their surprise extended to disbelief when consideration is given to the fact that, apart from a small wooden statue to Ben Sayers on Tantallon Road, there is no commemoration in the town, to this wonderful heritage; no memorial at the West Links to the likes of Willie Anderson, Jack White or Fred McLeod, no wall plaques on the houses marking the birth places of the likes of Robert Millar, all of whom, and many more, were pioneers of golf in the early 1900s.”

One couple from the United States received an unexpected bonus when they visited the exhibition, as they bumped into the granddaughter of Ben Sayers, 96-year-old Marjorie Wilson, one of the event’s VIP guests.

Another interested visitor was 94-year-old Mary McLaren, whose brother, Michael ‘Sonny’ Burke, served his apprenticeship with Ben Sayers in North Berwick in the 1920s, and ended up as professional at the Aga Khan’s private club on Corsica.

The report on future museum provision is likely to go before the council on August 26.

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