A hero Fochabers woman who took in 25 refugees fleeing the Bosnian genocide has been reunited with them as part of the BBC documentary Saved by a Stranger.
Clare Findlay and her late husband Andrew opened up their country home in the town in 1992 to 21 schoolchildren and four mothers who had fled their war-torn homeland.
The property is now Trochelhill Bed and Breakfast.
The Findlays had only originally agreed to take in two youngsters after responding to a newspaper ad asking for help.
However, the plane carrying 21 youngsters needed an address before it could take off from Bosnia, and Mr Findlay said to “let them come.”
Tens of thousands were killed during the Bosnian war.
Now, almost 20 years later, Ms Findlay has been reunited with some of them and their families thanks to the BBC show Saved by a Stranger.
Reunion
Broadcast on Thursday night, presenter Anita Rani also helped the 79-year-old find the schoolgirl translator who helped her communicate with the children- and find out their awful truths.
Petra Lovrekovic, then 16, came from Gordonstoun to help translate the children’s stories, and the couple found out they were not orphans- but instead has families back home.
Ms Findlay explained why she opened her doors to so many refugees during the Bosnian War.
She said: “We always watched the six o’clock news. I remember people being turfed out of their homes, there were tiny children, some of them were being carried, some dumped on carts.
“I just felt it shouldn’t be happening – why aren’t we doing something?
“There was an advertisement in the Sunday newspaper which said they’d dearly love to have some foster parents who would volunteer to have one child from the warzone for three months.
“I said why not, or two perhaps?
“The phone rang and it was the charity. There was a bit of a hiccup, he said, there’s a little plane with 21 children and four mothers and our children are probably amongst them, he said they cannot take off until they have an address to go to.
“My brain went into overdrive because it was an emergency situation. I thought I better ring Andrew.
“He said ‘for goodness sake, it’ll only be for a couple of days, let them come here’.
“I was thinking of all the things that could go wrong then I looked out the windows and suddenly saw this big coach and lots of little faces looking out curious.
“You just knew there had been a terrible time in their lives. It was written on their faces. And I remember thinking thank god I said yes.”
Community help
After the kids’ arrival, the whole Moray community pitched in to help out.
Locals offered help to Ms Findlay, and arrived at her home with bags full of toys and clothes while bakers and butchers gave them free food.
However, none of the children could speak English, so a translator was sought from Gordonstoun.
It was assumed that they were all orphans but that was proven to be untrue.
Petra Lovrekovic helped to tell the children’s stories, and helped them find their mothers to reunite them.
Ms Findlay finally got the chance to thank Ms Lovrekovic after she was tracked down by the documentary makers and flown in from Croatia to meet her.
The show shows the moment that both she and Ms Findlay break down in tears when they see each other for the first time since 1992.
Ms Lovrekovic said: “It was the natural thing to do. It wasn’t about me it was about them. I was just translating and giving them voice.
“From those few hours, it went from laughter to tears to hugs to silence. It was very emotional.”
They are seen reuniting with some of the children, with most of them living in Scotland and some in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.