Exhibits 2012

Outreach Project 2012 with Dornoch Primary School

The subject for the 2012 project with Dornoch Primary School was the History and Stories of Embo. The project explored, collected and, documented the history and tales of the old village of Embo from Norse times, through its days as a thriving, Gaelic speaking fishing community of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and later its embracing of the tourist industry.

The Historylinks outreach team completed the Dornoch Primary 5 project with a finale of a play. performed to parents and invited guests, entitled 'Stories and history of Embo'. The pupils researched and wrote the script as well as painting the sets. A DVD film of the production is available from the museum shop.

2012 Exhibition - Schools Out

Developed from a 2010 talk to Dornoch Heritage Society by retired teachers John Muir and Rick Bramley, the Museum's 2012 exhibition 'Schools Out' provides an insight to schools and education in Dornoch Parish.

Amongst other information the exhibition reveals:

• There were over 8 separate schools in the Dornoch Parish - now there is only one.
• Why in the 19th Century the Parish School in Dornoch was housed in the County Jail.
• The local woods were used as toilets at Torboll Side School with boys on one side and girls on the other!
• Female teachers had to abide by a host of rules both in and out of school including:
  • You may NOT loiter downtown in ice cream stores.
  • You must wear at least two petticoats.
  • You must not keep company with men.

Some residents of Dornoch may learn from the exhibition that St Finbarrs Charity Shop was once a female school.