Brechin Total Abstinence Society
Brechin Total Abstinence Society was inaugurated in 1833, meeting weekly in the Independent Chapel, City Road, Brechin. Members of the Brechin Society pledged to abstain from "the use of ardent spirits, except for medicinal purposes". To counteract the evils of drink, the Society tried to offer alternatives to occupy the leisure time of the working class. These generally had a high moral tone: lectures, evening concerts and soirées. A musician was hired to train the choir, and musical evenings were frequently held. After a few years, membership began to falter, but in 1839 the Society was re-instituted by the Reverend John Mason, minister of the Independent denomination, in connection with his own church. Lectures were regularly delivered under the auspices of the Society. By 1860, membership had grown to such an extent that the Society purchased the First Secession Church, City Road, for £180, and converted it into a commodious new Temperance Hall. It became a popular venue for social occasions and public meetings.
Brechin Total Abstinence Society grew from the Brechin Society of Teetotalers, established in April 1832, one of the oldest temperance societies in Scotland. The Temperance movement in Scotland had its origins in Glasgow in the 1820s, and was a response to increasing problems of drunkenness and anti-social behaviour amongst the urban poor.
The medal was gifted to the Society in 1895 by Mr. William Fyffe on the occasion of the inauguration of the Society's new buildings on 16 October 1895. It had been worn by a past president Mr. William Smart on the Society's first public demonstration in Brechin.
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