Ex-detective to solve family history puzzles

A RETIRED detective is turning his talents to solving ancestral mysteries at a family history research unit at Buckie.

Former Lothian and Borders Police officer John Crawford is studying for a post-graduate degree in family history at Dundee University to lead the new Banffshire Family History Centre.

The research facility is housed within the Buckie and District Fishing Heritage Centre, though independent premises are being sought in another part of the town.

Mr Crawford, 65, of Titness Street, Buckie, said he was keen to strengthen the project and start delving into the past of hundreds of people.

He added: “I would hope that people would come to see us as a primary research centre in this area for genealogy.

“We would be on a par with all the rest because we’ve got huge resources in the heritage centre. We have access to all the boats and all the history, and that’s our speciality. Once we have got space we are ready to go. We have got various databases lined up and the computer, which is in the heritage centre, will be moved into the new unit.”

The Cluny Place Buckie and District Fishing Heritage Centre, staffed by more than 50 volunteers, has 7,000 photographs and one of the north-east’s largest collections of model boats. A database lists every boat built in the local yards, and a small reference library is kept for members.