Gordon Allan the Chairperson of The Strathaven John Hastie Museum Trust, is sharing the work of this amazing organisation:

“Almost exactly a century ago, local merchant John Hastie acquired a piece of land adjacent to the town centre of Strathaven, our historic Lanarkshire market town, and established a public park, which was gifted to our community. It’s still known as The John Hastie Park and rubs shoulders with a second park gifted to the townspeople, The George Allan Park, given by a Strathaven clergyman in memory of his son, who died in a tragic accident.

From his estate, John Hastie provided funds for the building of a Hall, to be a museum for the people of Strathaven. It became a prominent feature of The John Hastie Park, which it overlooked, and it operated until 2011 when South Lanarkshire Council closed the building, in an effort to save money. By this time, the John Hastie and Strathaven Collections had amassed thousands of items.

From the public outcry at the closure of Strathaven’s own museum there emerged a group of volunteers, who shared the vision and determination that a new museum must be established – a genuine community museum, fit for the 21st Century. Not only would this museum tell the ongoing story of Strathaven and its beautiful valley, Avondale, but its volunteer team vowed to bring the artefacts in the John Hastie and Strathaven Collections out of the shadows so that the people of Strathaven and Avondale had the opportunity to see them, some of them shown for the first time.

And that’s what we do. “The Strathaven John Hastie Museum Trust”, a Scottish not-for-profit company formed in 2011, subsequently registered as a Scottish Charity, number SC 043189.

Since our Trust began its work, we have provided a wide range of displays and exhibitions and we respond to requests (locally and worldwide!) for information about Strathaven’s heritage, ancient or modern. We are always pleased to hear from those who share our interests and we also try to help if there is concern for aspects of local heritage, perhaps in danger of damage or loss. We share information about our work on Facebook, on our website and via the local newspaper, Echoes.

We very much appreciate the help of other local organisations who make their premises available to us for our events, however we are pursuing actively our ambition and need to acquire our own “home” which will be the permanent base for all we do. That’s a big step but permanent premises are essential for full accreditation and for the facilities and environmental controls required to care for our archive of items from Strathaven and nearby. We are currently pursuing property within the town and have engaged with South Lanarkshire Council to acquire the Ballgreen Hall & ex-Library Facility by Community Asset Transfer and are at present pursuing External Grant Funding in a bid to realise this ambition. This has been hindered by the current Covid 19 pandemic. However, we remain committed to pursue this goal to a satisfactory conclusion.

Our Trustees are very grateful to the many local businesses which support our work. We also welcome everyone who wishes to become a Member or Friend of the Trust and are pleased to hear from anyone who has information or items from Strathaven’s or Avondale’s past.

We can be contacted by email at strathavenmuseum@gmail.com”