Michael Graham McDowall   DipArch RIBA ARIAS MAPM FaPS Tech IOSH

I was born in Edinburgh in January 1947.  At the age of 10, we moved from Edinburgh to South Queensferry, which was until 1975, in West Lothian. 

Educated at Edinburgh Academy, I  started my training to become an Architect, at Dundee College of Art (now a faculty of Dundee University) in 1965.  Married in 1972, Marion and I lived and worked in Glasgow for three years, then returned to Queensferry in 1980 to work in Edinburgh.

After 20 years as a principal architect and project manager in the NHS, I worked with WS Atkins Consultants specializing in Construction Safety and Health management for a further seven years before moving to C-MIST as Head of the Construction Division. In 2004 I took up a 3-year appointment as Estates Development Project Manager at Stevenson College Edinburgh to oversee their refurbishment and new-build programme. I formed Castle Consultants in 2005 to provide specialist design and safety services to construction clients in Scotland.

As a keen yachtsman, I was a crew member of the R.N.L.I. Inshore Lifeboat since 1968,  becoming coxswain in 1989 before retiring in 1992. I was invited to rejoin as Deputy Launching Authority in 2004.

I  have played an active part in the community, being variously - Secretary of the Queensferry Association (the local CIVIC Trust); Treasurer of the High School PTA; Secretary of Queensferry Boat Club; scenery painter (with Marion) and stage manager for Forth Dimension (the local operatic society); member of Queensferry Community Council, elected Chairman 1996 - 1999.  I now take an active part in Queensferry Boat Club as Treasurer, and am a member of the Queensferry History Group. My other interests include medieval Scottish history, castles, monasteries and sacred geometry.

Together with four friends we formed 'Queensferry Abridged' in 2005 to provide various guided walks in Queensferry for the benefit of the tourist visitor and local people.  The most popular of these walks is 'FERRIE SCARIE' the local Ghost walk.

A member of the Scottish Genealogy Society since 1992, when I first became interested in genealogy, I have had various papers published in the Scottish Genealogist, The Scottish Local History Journal and The Dumfries and Galloway Family History Society Newsletter. I have assisted other members of the D&G FHS in the recording and publishing of Monumental Inscriptions (MIs) in graveyards previously un-researched, in Galloway.

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