For contact please email the secretary at braemarccsecretary@outlook.com
Brian Wood
Member and Chair
I came to Braemar first in 1967 to take up a summer holiday job in the Fife Arms Hotel before going to university and I have been around the village ever since. I qualified as a teacher of Physics and worked in schools in Edinburgh, Stonehaven, Laurencekirk and Aberdeen. I retired as Rector of Hazlehead Academy in 2009. I have also been a Justice of the Peace, an Honorary Sheriff and was for a number of years Deputy Convener of the Cairngorms National Park Authority. I am a founder member of the Braemar Local History Group, a Trustee of the St Margaret’s Trust, a Director of the Cairngorms Trust and Deputy Session Clerk of Braemar and Crathie Parish Church. I am now the Secretary of the Duff Highlanders’ Society. My interest is in protecting what is good in Braemar and in improving what I think can be better.
Calum Innes
Member and Secretary
I have a long association with Braemar with my grandmother’s family hailing from upper Deeside and a family holiday home in Inverey.
Having restored Downie’s Cottage, a Category A listed property high above the village on the shoulder of Morrone, we then built a new house and moved permanently to Braemar.
As a Chartered Surveyor I have an interest in property and am keen to try and facilitate some much-needed affordable housing to make it easier for young people to secure a permanent home in the village to ensure the school remains viable and the community is sustained both economically and socially.
Alex Smith
Member and Vice Chair
I first settled in Braemar in 1992 with my wife when we operated Braemar Lodge Hotel. After that, we built and operated the Gathering Place Bistro and later ran the Wild Thistle Gift Shop for many years. During this time, I also worked as an engineer in the oil and gas industry. Currently, I work part-time as a walking guide during the summer and as a ski patroller at Glenshee Ski Centre in the winter. I joined the community council in 2024, and I am the main contact for the climate change section of the CAP.
Miep Helfrich
Member
Originally from the Netherlands, I moved to Aberdeen in 1992 where I worked as an academic in Cell Biology at the University of Aberdeen. My husband and I were fortunate to be able to purchase and restore a derelict croft house in ‘Tomintoul’, on the slopes of Morrone in 1996. We have been coming to Braemar with our 4 children ever since and moved in permanently in 2017 when we retired. Our family run a holiday rental in Braemar. I like crafts, gardening and being outdoors in the beautiful Cairngorms. I am lead for the area The Visitor Experience in the CAP and contribute to the area Climate Change.
Susan McAlpine
Member and Treasurer