100 Years of BBC Aberdeen

Out of Doors celebrates 100 years of BBC Aberdeen. This week we have a special programme looking back at what life was like in rural communities in 1923, how people enjoyed the outdoors and the early forms of conservation. We’re joined by author and broadcaster Graham Stewart who tells us about the origins of broadcasting in Aberdeen. Paula Williams from the National Library of Scotland tells us about how people used the outdoors for recreation in the 1920s and the growth of mountaineering. Stuart Brooks, director of conservation and policy at the National Trust for Scotland explains the origins of the Trust and the conservation movement. And Dr Tom McKean from the Elphinstone Institute at Aberdeen University tells us about who was listening to the radio from across rural Scotland and the North East in particular, and what their lives were like. We also delve into the Aberdeen archives to get a flavour of what things sounded like in the 1930s and hear what conditions were like working in the early studios. Rachel visits the Highland Folk Museum to see what life was like in the 1920s bothy and how people lived and worked in a ‘farm toun’. And we hear from Professor Marjory Harper about the wave of emigration from the North East to places like Canada in the 1920s and the impact that made on rural communities.