Welcome to the Inverness Local History Forum.

The Inverness Local History Forum was founded in 1992 by the late Mrs Sheila Mackay OBE. With a few like-minded volunteers she set about researching, recording, preserving and promoting the history of Inverness.

The long-term objective of the project was to record all aspects of social life in what was then the Burgh of Inverness. The Forum has to date archived over 200 hours of oral history recordings by local people, and collected books, photographs, maps and other artefacts of interest relating to our history. The Forum has also published several popular books and booklets, as well as Inverness Remembered, a quarterly newsletter for members which has surpassed 100 issues since its inception last century.

The Forum presents regular talks and presentations from guest speakers throughout the year on a variety of topics, held on the first Wednesday of every month at 2.00pm (except January, July, August and December). These talks, of just under one hour duration, are held in the theatre of the Spectrum Centre in Margaret Street, Inverness, alongside the bus station.*

The Forum also maintains a presence on Facebook — an ever-growing series of illustrated historical articles about people and places (plus links to websites of interest and current events).The organisation is a registered charity and all profits from the sale of our own publications is used to continue the Forum’s work in unearthing the hidden nuggets of information and memorabilia that get lost or forgotten in this fast-paced modern world and the mists of time.

* Our Illustrated Talks are on the first Wednesday of every month in the Spectrum Centre. Our next speaker will be Donald Mackenzie on Abertarff House (1st May 2024).

Upcoming speakers include Johannes Petersen on the history of the Kessock Ferry Swim (5th June, including the Forum AGM). After the summer break, Talks will start again on 4th September with Anne Fraser discussing the Mystery of the Lion Tamer.