Children whose families will benefit from a new medical centre in Crimond were invited to the site on Friday to bury time capsules.
Some 140 youngsters from staff from Crimond, St Combs, St Fergus, Inverallochy and Rathen primaries took part in the ceremony on the outskirts of the Buchan village.
They were joined by toddlers from the Vital Sparks nursery run by the Peterhead-based Score Group, which bought the two acres of land in 2007 and donated it to the Crimond Charitable Trust so it could create new medical facilities for villagers and the surrounding communities.
A spokeswoman for the company said it was delighted to involve the children who would be looked after in the centre in the future.
“Each school was invited to place its own time capsule in a special compartment incorporated in an imposing granite monument under construction in front of the new building,” she added.
Each capsule’s contents were chosen to reflect items of local and personal interest for the villages and included the children’s own stories, poems and pictures.
It is hoped the medical centre will be completed by May this year.
It will serve the communities of Crimond, St Fergus, Rathen, Lonmay, St Combs, Inverallochy and Cairnbulg.
The building will also house a pharmacy, and will include a café and community meeting rooms.
Last night, Cairnbulg and Inverallochy councillor Charles Buchan said it was an exciting development for the area.
“I think it’s absolutely great for the villages and rural communities,” he added.
“It will be good that medical staff can practice in decent surroundings and I hope that will attract GPs into the area. It gives the people of the villages a choice.”