Alan My name is Alan and I was born at Keith on the 12th of November 1950. My parents stayed at Ballindalloch where my dad worked at Craggenmore Distillery. I can still remember the first house we stayed in “Spawell” and me and my pal Ian running to meet our dads coming home from their work. I was about four years old then. Dad liked his garden, one day he was planting onions and I thought I would help, my idea of it any way! He planted, I dug them up. Ballindalloch station was at the bottom of the brae at our house and when the locos were shunting their trains, my pal and me would get on to the footplate, we were a wee bit older by then though, we thought we were the bees knees!
When I first came to the centre I was taken on a tour of the premises by a lovely lady called Janice, I was impressed and decided to attend. It has been good for me, meeting other people in a like situation, being able to talk to people who have been down that same road. I have done lots of different things in the sixteen months or so I’ve been here, bird watching at Spynie Loch, which was particularly interesting to me having been brought up in the country. I have been on art classes drawing with pencil then drawing with crayons and painting in oils. Oh aye!?! Painting in oils, maybe it should have been called swimming in oils! Well I did tell the teacher when she asked “anyone worked with oils before?”, that the last time I worked with oils was when I put it in my car engine. I’ve been on a Computers for the Terrified course. I have held a drumming workshop. Digital photography was something else I did. I have a lot of new friends. Coming to the Resource Centre has definitely been good for me.

I enjoy our group on Thursdays and find it good as it helps with understanding computers and allows me to use my home computer. We all have about the same knowledge of computers, nothing…!  Gillian is our instructor and she is very good at explaining things to us in a way that does not let us feel inadequate for asking a question. We all have a lot of fun while at the same time learning something new.

I am a volunteer member of the Keith and Dufftown Railway and have been on various training courses (Goods Guard, Shunter, Booking Clerk, Passenger Guard and Engine “train” Driver) and am happy to say I passed. Other things I enjoy are playing my fiddle, learning or trying to learn new tunes, my favourite is the Cajun music, and drawing and sketching. I also like playing Pipe Band side drum, but don’t do it so much now as I am not so fit now, but still help out with tutoring at the Pipe Band practices sometimes. But what gives me the most pleasure in life are my two grandchildren, Rhiannon who is ten years old and her little wee brother Stuart, they are a right pair of livewires, don’t know where they get their energy from. In the future I want to keep on the learning process and hopefully carry on as normal a life as possible, and hopefully stay able enough to do so. A subject that I’m particularly interested in is the history of the London Midland Scottish railway, from its formation in 1923 as one of the “big four” company’s created that year as a result of the grouping. I’m also interested in researching the life and career of sir William Stannier who was the chief mechanical engineer of the L.M.S. I hope to start researching this soon .Its finding the time to fit it in with all the other interests I have as hobbies.