Moray visitor attraction Morayvia honours Seymour Monro with freedom of the museum

The Freedom of Morayvia has been awarded to someone who’s been a “constant friend and advocate” of the aviation museum in Kinloss.

Seymour Monro was given the honour at a special ceremony this week during which one of the museum’s exhibits – a two-seater Skeeter AOP helicopter – was also named after him.

The 75-year-old, who recently retired as the Lord Lieutenant of Moray, holds the rank of Major General and served in the Queen's Own Highlanders.

In his acceptance speech he recalled how, as a small child growing up nearby, he often used to hear the distinctive sounds of Shackleton patrol aircraft in the skies above .

The former Army man went on to pay tribute to the RAF’s long links with Moray, not just in the form of the current Lossiemouth air base, but in past examples such as RAF Kinloss.

Other speakers, in turn, highlighted Seymour’s work over the past five years as Lord Lieutenant, not least the leading role he played with the Moray Emergency Relief Fund during the pandemic.

The fund, which he set up in conjunction with Andy Simpson, his lieutenancy counterpart in Banffshire, succeeded in raising £285,000 to help struggling families through that difficult time.

Mark Mair, the chairman of Morayvia, said: “Seymour’s leadership, advocacy, and enduring commitment to our region and its heritage have made a lasting impact, and we are deeply privileged to bestow upon him this rare honour.”

Amongst the guests at Thursday’s ceremony were Air Commodore Alistair Monkman, a previous station commander at RAF Lossiemouth who has just become Moray’s new Lord Lieutenant, as well as Group Captain Sarah Brewin, who’s currently in charge of the air base.

Also honoured on the day was Chris Bodiam, who worked in search and rescue for many years, first as a helicopter pilot with the RAF, then as a winchman with the Coastguard.

A resident of Garmouth, Chris flew 10,000 hours and was involved in no fewer than 1364 callouts.

Morayvia officially opened its doors to the public in October 2015.

Its team of volunteers include many who once flew or serviced the types of aircraft contained within the museum’s varied collection, which includes a Nimrod and a Sea King helicopter.

The Skeeter is amongst several of the exhibits which have been painstakingly restored from states of neglect.

The team is also partway through a project to build a replica Spitfire.

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