Angus windfarm plan faces protest from beyond the grave 

A protest from beyond the grave has been lodged against an Angus wind turbine application.

Plans have been lodged for a single mast under a mile from where the ashes of Roger Crook were scattered at Melgund Cottage in Brechin.

The classical singer, who died aged 70 in 2013, would have “objected strongly” to the plans, according to widow Nancy.

Mr Crook, of Dunfermline, was brought up at Melgund Cottage and loved the area so much he asked his ashes be taken back there when he died.

The view that so captivated Mr Crook was also one frequently savoured by the late Queen Mother. When at Glamis Castle, she used to ask her driver to stop on the road to Balmoral to take in the spectacular vista looking north across Angus to the Cairngorms and beyond.

Mrs Crook said: “My late husband loved the area so much that he requested that his ashes be taken back there.

“His ashes are now in the grounds of the cottage where he was brought up and there is a memorial plaque on the public road.

“I know he would have objected strongly to the proposal and I do too as it will be unsightly on such a serene, beautiful landscape.”

Mrs Crook, a choir mistress, organist and piano teacher, said the couple were regular visitors to Angus where they performed together in concert.

“It was a special place for him,” said Mrs Crook.

“He told me that his happiest years were spent there. My husband loved the view from the cottage and wouldn’t have wanted to see it spoiled.

“I’m not happy at all because we didn’t expect something like this to happen when we sprinkled his ashes there.”

The application by Intelligent Land Investments is for a single wind turbine of 106ft to hub and 150ft to blade tip in a field just over half a mile south of Bellahill Farm in Melgund.

Roger and Elizabeth Lashley, who stay at Melgund Cottage and gave permission for Mr Crook’s ashes to be scattered there, have also objected to the proposals.

Aberlemno Community Council has also lodged an objection and said the application will represent “a large industrial structure in the historic heart of rural Angus”.

Mr Crook was born in Forfar and spent his childhood on his parents’ poultry farm at Aberlemno.

He was educated at the local primary school and Brechin High School. He started his musical life by having lessons on the violin at the age of six, going to musician and poet Jack D Michie, who had a music shop in Brechin.

As a teenager he had singing lessons from Ann Nicoll in Forfar. His voice matured early and he sang the part of the Captain of the Fleet in Brechin High’s production of Dido and Aeneas while in his first year.

In 1960, Mr Crook went to study the violin and viola at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama but changed over to study voice with Ena Mitchell.

He sang principal roles in college operas and was much in demand as a tenor soloist in oratorio throughout Scotland and northern England.

Mr Crook became heavily involved with Fife and Tayside amateur opera companies after the couple moved to Fife in 1973, taking leading tenor roles in 14 different operas.

He always had a great love of Scottish dance music and over the years he played in the bands of John Ellis, Jim Johnston and Bert Shorthouse, playing piano, violin or accordion as required.