Tarlair

Commissioned by Macduff Burgh Council, Tarlair opened to the public in summer 1930 in partially completed form. Funding came via public subscription and from the government’s Unemployment Grants Committee, a 1930’s style Job Creation Scheme. In 1935 the town council secured a £7k loan enabling completion of the ambitious project.

Unlike the Stonehaven heated outdoor pool, Tarlair relied on the vagaries of the sun to warm the salt water. The main pool boasted a diving board and a chute and there were paddling pools, a restaurant, sandpits and a boating pond. Swimming lessons could be arranged via a mysterious man known as the Pondmaster and on summer Sundays a brass band played. Wet Wet Wet played there a decade or so ago..