A charitable trust which continues the legacy of a famous Moray business couple has donated £60,000 towards the restoration of a village landmark the couple cherished.
Gordon and Ena Baxter were frequent patrons of the Fochabers Institute – a grand hall located less than a mile from their food factory – during its heyday.
Baxters Food Group staff staged regular pantomimes there in the 1960s, and it played host to various business talks and exhibitions.
Mrs Baxter even selected the century-old building to display her paintings in.
But the hall fell into disrepair after decades of being looked after by the council, and the Fochabers Village Association was granted control of it to oversee a restoration project last year.
The group is now working on £700,000 plans to return the venue to its former glory.
Yesterday, representatives from the Gordon and Ena Baxter Foundation visited to hand over a cheque for £60,000 towards the work.
The money will be ploughed into creating a new kitchen inside the venue, which will allow the hall to stage more public events when it reopens next year.
Fochabers Village Association chairman, Gordon Christie, said he was delighted by the generous donation.
He said: “I think the trust chose to give us such a substantial donation due to its local links with the building.
“This is a project for the benefit of Fochabers, and the village is tied so closely to the Baxters food factory.”
Manager of the Gordon and Ena Baxter Foundation, Kay Jackson, added: “The hall is very much part and parcel of the Baxters family, and we still feel a strong connection with it.”
