Friends celebrate return of Newburgh’s Laing Museum
ByPaul Reoch
David Verden-Anderson in front of the painting of his ancestor Alexander Laing.
After a lengthy closure, Newburgh’s Laing Museum has reopened to the public on a regular basis.
The museum will now open its doors from noon until 4pm every Wednesday afternoon.
Gavin Grant, Fife Cultural Trust collections and exhibitions team leader, joined the Friends of the Laing Museum to celebrate its revival.
Many of the objects and books in the museum were bequeathed in the 1890s by the Victorian collector Alexander Laing.
A wealth of information is contained in more than 2,000 books, from Laing’s own History of Lindores Abbey and the Burgh of Newburgh (1876) to rare volumes about archaeology and local history.
The museum display includes a large oil portrait of Laing and the gallery floor is laid with cloth made more than 100 years ago by the Tayside Floorcloth Works in Newburgh.
The Friends hope to enhance the collection further by recording people’s memories and stories before they are lost.
