Accordian to a mad Scots woman

Part of one woman's vast collection of 300 accordions has gone on display in a Highlands museum.

Caroline Hunt hopes her exhibition will inspire other music fans to help her establish a permanent display. Accordions, melodeons and concertinas are on show in Grantown on Spey Museum until Sunday.

Ms Hunt, from Avoch, Black Isle, has spent 12 years amassing her collection from all over the world, including two accordions rescued from a rubbish skip.

She believes there is nothing like it anywhere else in Scotland and hopes to find a permanent home for the instruments in the Highlands.

An accordion player herself, she said: "My interest started with my great uncle Gordon Morrison who played the accordion.

"He lived near Ballachulish and I spent my summer holidays and winters on his farm. One of the people who has visited the exhibition told me he played with my great uncle in the Ballachulish Hotel."

Ms Hunt took up the accordion at the age of 20 and began her collection with an antique French instrument, which she bought at a fair in the Drumossie Hotel in Inverness.

Her collection, which span 1840 to 1960, is scattered among friends because it is too large to store in her own home.

She said: "There is a fantastic museum in Castelfidardo in Italy which inspired me and, as there is nothing similar in the UK, I'm working on it.