From my perspective in February 2025, at the age of 84, I feel that it is important to explain the founding principles of our charitable organization (originally known as the registered Scottish charity LINK, then Books Abroad, and now Books Abroad SCIO) that were uppermost in my mind during the period from 1973 to the present. I am at a stage where time is very limited and by explaining and putting on record my thoughts, I hope that the evolving organization, over the years, will steer a course that is focussed towards my vision. That vision only makes sense if I explain how, it all came about.

To clarify matters, I began duty in the post shown below at Banff Academy on 3^rd April 1973

To teach Community Education, which was devised by the Rector, Robert I Scott, as an integral aspect of the Guidance system, was not easy. With a pupil roll of 1,160 (later it exceeded 1,300) I needed the assistance of around a couple of dozen colleagues. These included Assistant Headteachers of Guidance, and Principal Teachers of Guidance, as well as other suitably qualified staff. Once the subject got going, one of its noted aspects was talks given to classes by visiting speakers with the aim of sparking interest in the larger community outside the classroom, in order to widen the vision of pupils to the world and its problems. There were many aspects of life covered in Community Education, but when a spiritual dimension could be identified this was sometimes explored by visitors who might be linked to local churches through missionary work. One such visitor was ex-RAF Derek Joy who, as a missionary, was Principal of a secondary school in Nigeria. He had linkage with Macduff.

Derek’s talks to a number of classes were so inspiring that a pupil asked him whether there was any way that we – as a class at Banff Academy – could help his school. His reply made clear that there was a great lack of textbooks in his school which was Nakam Memorial Secondary School in Panyam, Nigeria. That reply was the catalyst that started the reaction that fizzed into life and continues to this day in Rhynie. Using the enthusiasm generated by Derek Joy with that class, I started a project named ‘Books for Joy’. This entailed us collecting redundant textbooks from departments in the Academy, then raising funds by participating in such events as a ‘sponsored silence’. Once we had enough money, we were able to post parcels to Derek’s school in Nigeria. I have a lasting memory of leading a class of around 30 youngsters in crocodile, each carrying a parcel of books, as we made our way to Banff Post Office.

As Books for Joy became established in Banff Academy, many and varied fund-raising activities and book-collecting sessions took place over the years. A particularly noteworthy event was the visit to us by John Trevett in September 1978, as recorded in the accompanying P&J article. He was on his way to Derek Joy’s school in Nigeria via the Sahara Desert, so he gave inspiring talks to the pupils. I began to realise through my thriving project just how big the shortage of textbooks was in schools throughout the Third World (as the poorer countries were then known). Clearly our school project was helping one school greatly, but it was one school among thousands in Nigeria, and enlarged to the global scale there must have been millions of deserving schools. At some point I also wondered what might happen when I left the school.

The logical answer came to me that I must attempt to start some sort of organisation that would continue and expand the Books for Joy project in the community. It could be yet another practical extension into the community at large of my role in the Academy developing Community Education. Already we had hospital music request visits and community work, but I could see that the books project needed to go on indefinitely.

As a geographer with experience in state and independent schools, and as Warden of a residential centre, I knew the need for and totally understood how resources enliven a lesson or an educational situation of any sort. I could empathize with teachers everywhere from Primary to Tertiary age range. To have a class-set of textbooks, I suspected, must be the dream of countless teachers throughout the world. For a teacher struggling to inspire a class without possessing an inspirational book is difficult. The gift to talk day after day in an interesting way is rare. A tired teacher, drained of ideas, would value such a book like gold. I saw a need to set up a system whereby a teacher overseas could ask for our help with a request for a suitable type of book or class set. That was a vital requirement of any such service. If a teacher were to request a textbook on mathematics, then what would be the use of a low-level book on arithmetic, or even worse, a completely irrelevant set of books on history? As I researched the problem, I discovered that the Ranfurly Library Service (later to be named Book Aid International) was sending loads of books that I suspected had not been requested, and I resolved not to copy them, but to aim for some kind of ‘bespoke’ service. I had in mind ‘small but good’ as a motto to adhere to, just in the way that the Banff class project had evolved.

Having resolved to start this type of charitable book donating society it took me a year of persevering through many refusals and the occasional positive reaction to gather enough people together to organize an inaugural meeting where we lived in Huntly at the Parish Church Hall on Saturday afternoon 16^th January 1982. The soon-to-be-knighted Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire, Dr Maitland Mackie, kindly agreed to chair the meeting. He created an enthusiastic atmosphere among the couple of dozen people that had been encouraged to attend, and formally started our activities by voting in our Constitution. I had chosen the name LINK because it encapsulated the linkage that I envisaged us making with people overseas. That is how we began in Huntly, and our early selecting and packing sessions were held in the Brander Library meeting room with our stock being kept in a cleaner’s cupboard! It was laborious to take everything out and then put it back at the end of each session. Eventually we were kindly given the use of the redundant Library Caretaker’s flat. In 1991 we moved to the office block at Rhynie and changed our name to Books Abroad at the same time, finally expanding into the whole property over the ensuing years.

Fortunately, I was blessed by being married to Marit, a wife who always supported my work and ideas wholeheartedly. She did much work in our organization including sorting and selecting of books. Naturally, with my Community Education rôle I saw the project as having the potential to provide a focus for suitably motivated people within our local community. They could involve themselves in worthwhile work that would directly link them to the wider community on a global scale whilst having the opportunity for company and companionship.

Media will change over the years and Books Abroad will need to flow along with these new trends. It might have to change its name to match the service that evolves which might mean something beyond our wildest dreams. Whatever happens, it is my vision that our organisation should provide a focus in the community that fosters a caring attitude to others throughout the world who are less fortunate.

I recall that I was asked to give a sermon at Banff Parish Church. My theme was ‘SEE’, which I saw as the key to a happy family life and by extension to encourage similar ways in the broader community. I said that those letters signified to me ‘Shared Enjoyable Experience,’ Although somewhat idealistic and difficult or even impossible to apply in all circumstances, I do believe the letters encapsulate the absolutely essential requirement within a community of any size, from the family scale to any size. There must be sharing. One must look and SEE how sharing and enjoyment could be fostered in the family and in the community. Logically then, our organisation ought, I my view, to follow the same aim.

So, on the one level the community of Books Abroad should ensure that our resources are shared with others in the world, but to make as enjoyable as possible our experience of doing that. The process should be an activity that attracts people to come in and SEE and put their shoulder to the wheel on an unpaid voluntary basis. It should not turn into a struggle against seemingly insurmountable odds to meet a deadline or a production figure that has been plucked out of thin air. It should be a joy to be involved in our work, at a sociable focus for the community. One should feel great satisfaction in answering a request, a plea for help from far away. We should encourage an atmosphere of heart-warming joy to help others.