Special exhibition honours Fifer who was at heart of Scottish Fisheries Museum

David Tod BEM was a former chairman and vice-president at the heart of the museum.

He died in February.

A keen model boatmaker, he is now being remembered with a special exhibition of model boats. It opened to the public at the weekend.

David was also instrumental in the founding of the SFM Boats Club to maintain and crew the Reaper in 1985, acting as club chairman.

As a keen model-boat maker, he was also founding chairman of the Scottish Fisheries Museum Model Boat Club in 2008.

He exhibited at every one of its annual events, and it is these, his favourite models, that form the basis of the current exhibition.

Bill Horsburgh, Model Boat Club chairman, said: “David’s models are works of art and he brought his skills as an engineer and designer to bear in creating boats that were not only beautiful to look at but are fully working models.

“We wanted to create this exhibition as a showcase for his talents and as a tribute to David’s energy, vision, and commitment.”

David also worked with Alex Jordan of Jordan Boats to create the St Ayles Skiff design, setting up the St Ayles Rowing Club in 2010 and serving on the committee of the Scottish Coastal Rowing Association, founded to promote the craft and to organise inter-club competitions.

During his time at the museum, he took part in several significant events and developments.

His vision saw the creation of the working boatyard within the museum site to maintain the operational boats in the SFM collection, as a chance for volunteers to learn and transmit traditional boat-building skills, and for visitors to witness craftsmen at work.

As chairman, he welcomed the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to the museum in July 1982 when he presented Her Majesty with a box of locally caught prawns.

From a fishing family on his mother’s side, in his professional life, David trained as a marine engineer and also worked as a fisherman.

He bought his first boat in 1966, followed by the St Adrian KY 245 which he had built at Campbeltown Shipyard in 1970 to his own design.

She was the first of her kind to be equipped with a combined winch and net drum for hauling and stowing her trawl. He mainly fished for prawns in the Firth of Forth but also spent time fishing off the west coast. He also ran his own marine engineering company, Miller of Crail, from 1989 and served on a number of local and national fishing industry bodies.

He was awarded a BEM for his services to the Museum and the preservation of Scottish fishing heritage in 2017.

Linda Fitzpatrick, curator, Scottish Fisheries Museum, said: “It is an honour to host this exhibition in memory of David who was such a positive force within the Scottish Fisheries Museum and the wider community, and it is particularly fitting that we can show his work in the Gallery dedicated to him.

“We hope that the display has much that will be of interest to those who knew David, and to our general visitors.”

The display runs until the end of September.