Key handover marks start of a new chapter for Hall of Clestrain

A celebratory gathering took place at the Hall of Clestrain on Saturday to officially mark the next chapter in the history of the building, which is now the property of the John Rae Society.

The society is now forging ahead with plans to restore the 18th century Palladian building, open it to the public and continue the work to restore the reputation of Dr John Rae.

Addressing the gathering, which included society members, OIC councillors and Orkney’s Lord-Lieutenant, Bill Spence was the society’s president Andrew Appleby.

After officially receiving “the key” to the building from Ivan and Jean Craigie, Mr Appleby explained: “We’ve got what we need and now it is a case of forging ahead with the project.”

He added: “We know the restoration is not going to happen overnight but now that we have something tangible to work towards, we’d love to hear from anyone interested in getting involved — whether that’s selling raffle tickets or helping with work on site.

“We will develop this into a world-class visitor centre and we’d love to do that with the folk of Orkney working alongside us.”