A Laurencekirk man wants to put the record straight following a “blackening” that sparked water pollution fears.
Stuart Murray spoke out after a local businessman reported the matter to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency earlier this month (link).
Mr Murray said there was never any threat to the rivers and burns in the area. He said the blackening happened on private land with the permission of the landowner and was a traditional ritual that had taken place on the same spot near Dunlethen Woods for generations.
Mr Murray explained: “My father and his father before him were at blackenings on that same spot. The groom-to-be is captured by his friends and is stripped to the waist before being bound and ‘blackened’ using substances such as feathers, treacle, soot and flour.
“He is then paraded through the village while his friends make as much noise as possible to make the experience as embarrassing as possible for the unlucky groom.”
The man at the centre of the blackening complained about was David Nicoll of Laurencekirk. He is due to marry Shelley Young from Montrose on November 4 and as part of the preparations a group of over 30 male friends captured him in a cage on September 2 and dragged him to what Mr Murray insists is well-known by locals as the traditional blackening spot.
Mr Murray works in the oil and gas industry in Mozambique and many of his friends work all over the world, with a variety of schedules placing them at home and away.
Mr Murray said: “A lot of us work rotations and it was complicated getting everyone together at the same time. That is why the blackening happened so far ahead.”
He said a clean-up was always planned and the lads were back on site doing just that when SEPA officials arrived.
Local man Ian Forrest alerted the police and SEPA after he found what appeared to be engine oil on puddles on a path near the woods where he walks his dogs. He feared this could pollute local burns.
A spokeswoman for SEPA said at the time they were happy with the men’s clean-up efforts and took no further action.