Postie Gerald set to deliver for Coast

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THE postal workers who tramp our streets and drive the rural routes see almost every kind of weather on their travels – rain, shine, snow and hail. And they get to know our town- and landscapes like few others.

Now visitors to this year’s Coast Festival will be given an insight into that working life at an exhibition entitled ‘A Postie’s Year’.

For more than 18 months, local postman Gerald Duncan has been recording his rural route, capturing moments and scenes that many people never see, or may walk by without noticing.

Festival organisers, however, reckon that Gerald’s eye for changing seasons and dramatic moments will certainly engage viewers.

Coast chairman Bryan Angus said: "I heard of Gerald’s collection of dozens, if not hundreds of pictures, many of them showing the same place in different seasons. We got together to look through them, and I was very impressed by their quality.

"Many single images are really good in themselves, but there are also collections of the same place seen season after season, or groups of images on themes. I’m sure this will be a memorable exhibition."

Gerald admits to being nervous about showing his work for the first time.

He said: "I am an emotional snapper. If I see something that thrills me, I snap it. As a rural postman, I am fortunate to be out in the countryside all year, in all weathers. Because of changes in light and weather, scenes can change from flat and uninteresting to dramatic and atmospheric very quickly."

Alongside his work, there will be photographs taken by other postal workers who have recorded the seasons on their rounds each day.

The exhibition will run in Banff Castle from May 26-27. Gerald has decided to donate half the proceeds of any photographs sold to the Sightsavers charity, which works to eliminate blindness in the developing world, and the other half to Coast, to help fund other exhibitions next year.

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Since mid-2010, Coast Festival has been run by volunteers from the communities of Banff and Macduff, and successfully presented a festival of 25 exhibitions, performances and workshops in May, 2011.

Each year events are provided free of charge to the public to celebrate the start of the summer season and to invite people from far and wide to come and enjoy the beauty of the Banffshire coast.