Meet the team
Brian Wood
Chair
Part-time resident of Braemar, associated with the village for over fifty years – former secondary Headteacher, Deputy Convenor of the Board of the Cairngorms National Park Authority, Justice of the Peace and Honorary Sheriff for Grampian, Highland and Islands, currently Director of the Cairngorms Trust– brings enthusiasm, commitment and leadership to the Project.
Dave Chandler
Resident of Braemar – former chartered accountant with Deloitte – currently Finance Director with Braemar Community Ltd, Treasurer of Braemar Parish Church and Director of Braemar Community Hydro ltd .Brings to the Project a sound knowledge and understanding of financial matters and an enthusiasm for the development of Braemar as a tourism destination.
Reverend Kenneth Mackenzie
Minister to the Parish of Braemar and Crathie and Domestic Chaplain to HM The Queen in Scotland, Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Deputy Lord Lieutenant – brings to the Project a thorough knowledge and enthusiasm for the history and heritage of the development of the Church in Scotland in its various forms – also brings access to various valuable networks of potential support for the Project.
Colin Hunter OBE
Treasurer
Colin retired after 33 years in practice as a GP in Skene, Aberdeenshire in June 2018. He and his wife, Fiona, have had a house in Braemar since 2005 and have been supporters of St Margaret's since it moved to be an arts venue. They are now permanent residents in the village and have immersed themselves in the wonderful community that is Braemar. Colin has considerable charity Trustee experience. He is Chair of the Board of Governors at Robert Gordon University, a Trustee of Drinkaware and is involved with a number of groups within the village. His passion is to establish St Margaret's as one of the top rural performance and exhibition venues in Scotland for a variety of genres, ensuring that the key features of the building are retained whilst providing a first class space for performers and audience.
Colin Wight
Retired former BBC TV reporter and former employee at STV, Colin is a skilful camera operator and video editor. He has produced video records of many events at St Margaret’s and has also worked in promoting the work of Braemar Castle and of the Braemar Royal Highland Society. Colin brings to the project an understanding of the media and has valuable access to a range of performers.
“St Margaret’s is a wonderful inspiring space: but it’s also a blank canvas on which so many wonderful things can happen for a small community like Braemar. It’s an exciting and rewarding project to be involved in”.
Annie Armstrong
Annie is a freelance guide and runs a nature and outdoor experience company called Wild Braemar. She loves introducing people to the beautiful landscapes and wildlife around Braemar, including through cold water swimming in our local rivers. She also loves art, music and being part of the amazing community in Braemar. Annie wants to help St Margarets thrive as an arts and music venue to make Braemar an even more vibrant place to live.
Fergus Mutch
Fergus runs strategic advisory and communications firm True North and is a regular newspaper columnist and media commentator on Scottish politics. He was previously Head of Communications and Research for the SNP. As a piper, Fergus has considerable experience performing in trad and ceilidh bands and teaching music, and applies this to concert programming and workshops at St Margaret’s — not least to the Braemar Folk Festival which he helped to establish in 2021.
Fergus is passionate about bringing brilliant performers to the St Margaret’s stage and unearthing new talent. He believes, through transforming the building into a high-quality arts space, there’s huge potential to develop St Margaret’s place as a unique venue of international renown. workshops.
Cameron Grant - Programme Manager
Cameron is primarily a guitarist, making it to the finals of the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award in 2019 and performing internationally with various outfits including tours in Austria, Sweden, Canada and Holland. Alumni of the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music and UHI's BA in Applied Music, Cameron launched the promotional venture 'Isle of South Uist Folk Club' creating a platform for touring folk artists to perform on the island and was awarded the Student of the Year award for his efforts with this. Cameron is the former events manager of Aberdeen's well loved hangout, Foodstory Cafe, a member of the Stonehaven Folk Festival team, the booker of Stravaigin's popular Tuesday night jams and a multi disciplinary visual artist actively working with prominent figures in the UK music scene on projects including album covers, music videos, tour posters and festival highlight films.
Lyndsey Boden - Venue Manager
Lyndsey is the Venue Manager at St Margaret’s Braemar. After studying music at Liverpool Hope University she started her career in events organisation. Boasting an impressive range of experience in events management during her eight years working at three major hotels in Liverpool, Lyndsey returned to Aberdeenshire eight years ago to raise her family in the neighbouring village of Ballater. Herself a woodwind musician and chorister Lyndsey has performed in a number of high-profile venues both across the U.K. and Europe. She has organised and supervised events for the likes of Sir Paul McCartney and Andre Rieu.
