Here is the second issue of our new SYHA Website Historical
Archive feature, Treasure Trove. We would welcome requests for
further features, as well as your memories, additional information
and corrections.
The changing face of Aviemore Youth Hostel.
Fresh from the SYHA Historical Archive come these reminders that
the youth hostel at Aviemore has taken several forms since its
inception on 6th May 1933.
Picture 1, from an uncredited newspaper cutting
in the Archive, is captioned: Another Cairngorm Youth hostel -
The new hostel at the junction of the main road and Coylum Bridge
road at Aviemore which will be opened on Saturday. Another at
Tomintoul will be opened on the same day.
It shows the simple contractors' style hut that could
accommodate 32 hostellers. This provision was soon stretched to its
limits however, and considerable extensions were completed by 23rd
June 1934.
The reconstructed hostel would now accommodate 60, and this was
the form of shelter that obtained at Aviemore for over 30 years.
Pictures 2-4 show the expanded arrangement, with
the original hut probably forming the spine, while three extra
constructions were placed laterally, parallel with the road.
Picture 2 is another of JR Woods' lovely portraits
donated by John Smillie. Here warden Mrs Cockburn poses informally
with two hostellers in 1944. The busy cyclists' scene recorded by
Ulsterman Norman O'Reilly in Picture 3 shows the
location of the hostel next to the main road. This was probably
taken in early post-war years. The taller structure to the rear was
the local public hall. No survey of Aviemore would be complete
without the white stuff (Picture 4, from an
Archive glass plate image). Note the two cast 'squashed
triangle' signs, familiar for so many years, and the directions for
cycle storage. A lucky horseshoe invites hostellers into what was
possibly a snug common room or sub-zero dormitory.
The Historical Archive has some interesting architects' plans
and maps, and two are shown here. Picture 5
displays the layout of buildings along the roadside; the Roman
Catholic Chapel lies to the left (south), then the hostel
with its three short lateral wings, and the public (possibly
church) hall to the right. Note the area shaded in red to the
rear of the hostel. In 1964 SYHA made a decision to build
an-up-to-date hostel within these birch woods, and to demolish the
timeworn huts. The new lodge-type building opened on 13th November
1965. The hiatus had been brief, thanks to the ability to rebuild
on an adjacent site. Picture 6 provides an
interesting contrast of hostel sites. Astonishingly, after over 40
years, the foundations of the old hostel and public hall can still
be clearly discerned at the side of the new hostel approach road
(Picture 7, June 2009, JM).
The 1964 structure, system-built in concrete panels by the firm
Dorran, was provided in memory of Sir Alexander Cross, and was to
contain a room to the memory of Lord Keith, long-time leader of
SYHA matters in Aberdeenshire. The hostel is seen in
Picture 8, taken from an anonymous transparency in
the Archive. There were now 92 beds.
The final transformation came in 1993, with what was effectively
another considerable reshaping. A large extension at the front has
created an attractive and roomy lounge with picture windows, while
other rooms have been recast to take account of family provision,
while still providing for 96 guests. The original 1933 hut would
almost have fitted inside this extension, shown in Picture
9 (June 2009, JM).
John Martin
SYHA Volunteer
Archivist
January 2010
Please send contributions and suggestions to: archive@syha.org.uk