If he’d looked north 93 years ago, Sir J M Barrie would have seen the familiar sights of the Airlie Monument and majestic Lochnagar miles beyond.
But it’s likely the Peter Pan creator’s focus was firmly on the cricket ball coming at him down the crease on Kirrie Hill during the Angus town’s special day in June 1930.
That morning, the Wee Red Town had honoured its famous playwright son as a freeman of the burgh.
In return, Barrie gifted to Kirrie the pavilion at The Hill, with its magnificent vista of the Angus Glens and Cairngorm mountains.
Thousands celebrated by watching an invitational match between a local outfit named after the Allahakbarries team of celebrities Barrie founded many years previously when he lived in London, and a West of Scotland select.
Lifelong friendship
It was on The Hill that Barrie found his love of the game under the tutelage of Alexander Lowson of Kirriemuir – the Demon Bowler of Angus.
Lowson, a local garage owner, is credited with introducing over-arm bowling to cricket in the county.
As young lads, they spent hours on The Hill, using the gates of Kirrie graveyard as a makeshift wicket.
And on Friday, family descendants travelled from France and England to see a special piece of history ‘come home’ to the whitewashed pavilion.
The family has treasured a bat presented to Alexander – Grandy as the Lowson clan came to know him – by Barrie on the famous day.
It bears the signature of Charlie Macartney, a famous Australian Test cricketer of the time, who Alexander met at Kirrie train station.
And it is one of only four bats Barrie presented to special figures as part of the momentous occasion.
It was previously housed at the National Trust for Scotland’s Barrie’s Birthplace in Kirrie.
But the family wanted to see it returned to its rightful home where generations of Kirrie cricketers donned their whites.
Since 2015, the attraction which also houses the town’s camera obscura has been successfully run by Kirriemuir Regeneration Group after volunteers saved it from possible closure.
Final wish fulfilled
Lowson’s great-grandaughter, Jan Mecrow from Cheshire, explained: “On her deathbed my mother, Dr Doreen Holden, nee Lowson, dictated a letter to me saying she felt the bat should join other memorabilia in the pavilion.
“She was an amazing woman.
“I sent that letter to the National Trust and within two days got a phone call which set the wheels in motion.”
Sadly, Doreen passed away last June at the age of 95.
“We have tied in the handover of the bat with the interring of mum’s ashes in Kirriemuir cemetery, so it is a very important day for the family,” said Jan.
The bat now joins a caricature of Barrie at the wicket which Alexander Lowson was also given on the 1930 opening day.
It was donated to KRG last year after passing through three generations of family hands to the late Bruce Lowson, who died in 2020.
Fond memories
Bruce’s Angus-born nephew, David Coventry, said he remembered the historic bat well.
“The family is so pleased this has happened,” said the 70-year-old, who grew up in South Africa.
“We came over in 1963 when I was 11 and I was shown the bat for the first time.
“I also love cricket and was a fast bowler like Alexander.
“So every time I came to Kirriemuir I’d ask Bruce to see the bat.”
KRG chairman Ron Lobban said: “It is an honour to be entrusted with this amazing piece of history.
“It is great to have it home.
“We will look after it, cherish it and enjoy telling visitors to the Barrie pavilion the story behind it.”
Group treasurer Irena Krasinska-Lobban said: “This is an absolutely wonderful day and we are so grateful to the family for their kindness.
“It’s a story which we hope will run and run – who knows, we may be able to track down the other bats and bring them home too.
“There are so many people who love Barrie who come to the camera obscura.
“But they think of him as just an author and the man who created Peter Pan, and then learn about his love of cricket for the first time.”
NTS regional director Iain Hawkins said: “It’s taken a long time, but this is a really special day for so many reasons.”
The Barrie pavilion and camera obscura is now open for the season on Saturday, Sunday and Monday each week.
Conversation