Help tell the Lanark Story, which is being funded by Heritage Lottery Fund

It will be jointly run by Lanark and District Archaeological Society and the Friends of Lanark Museum.

Paul Archibald of the Friends Lanark Museum and myself, representing Lanark and District Archaeological Project, will be in charge of its management.

However, the real success of this project will depend on the help of interested members of the public. One of the first aims is to make a photographic record of Lanark as it is today, as well as assembling a record of photographs as far back as the 19th century.

Our aim is to store the results of this survey online so that it can be accessible to the public at large. Even photographs taken ten years ago show a very different Lanark to that of today.

We are also going to choose a selection of photographs for an exhibition in Lanark Tolbooth, entitled Lanark Then and Now.

To bring this about we need help from all those who are interested in Lanark’s Past. However this project is not just about an exhibition.

We want to collect and catalogue written, oral, photographic and filmed material that is related to Lanark’s Heritage. This includes everything from pictures of people and buildings to memories of traditional events connected with the town.

And there is much more people can contribute according to their interests, whether it is the story of their working life, entertainment, education, religion, holidays, sport or transport.

In other words, we are aiming to try to get together the most interesting stories from the past. Obviously, this will take a number of years but it is valuable to collect this information before it is lost in the mists of time.

The project is also looking towards recording the experiences of all members of the community to get together a picture of the past before it vanishes.

An example of this is the story of Lanark’s shops over the past 60 years to see how both the supermarkets and internet have had an effect on our community.

We intend to have a special website to share digitised photos and old pictures, not only with the people of Lanark but the world too.

We believe this is an important project as the Lanark Story is a historic one and it richly deserves to be better known, not just by locals but globally too!

We are intending to involve people of all age groups in this project. Obviously, schools have a very important part to play and we have already involved Lanark Primary and Robert Owen Primary in the project work. We hope to hold heritage workshops with them at a later point.

We are also keen to do reminiscence work with older members of the community whose memories of many changes during the 20th century are of great interest.

Anybody interested in this project should contact Paul Archibald or myself through the Clydesdale Heritage Facebook site, Lanark Museum or the Lanark and District Archaeological Society through the Library. We would be most grateful for any information you can contribute.