Bob Grieve

I was at the HQ of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park today, attending a unique meeting of the four MSPs who represent the Park (Jackie Baillie, Bruce Crawford , Rosanna Cunningham and myself) , and then joining with the same group and the Board to launch the consultation on the next Park Plan on which comments are now invited.

During the reception after the launch I sneaked across the corridor to take this photograph. Outside the door of the Grieve Room there is a stand holding a granite plaque recording the fact that I opened the building when I was Environment Minister on 20th May 2008 . Inside the room is dominated by this much more moving image, which I unveiled on the same day as the opening. It was a gift from Hannah Stirling on behalf of the Friends of the National Park and it pays tribute to a great Scot for whom I was lucky enough to work for a brief period of time, when he chaired the Organising Committee for the 1983 Celtic Film and TV Festival in Glasgow.

Bob Grieve (well described in this obituary by Tam Dalyell) was inspirational , and profoundly influential on the Scotland we now have around us. One day - nearly thirty years ago now - walking across George Square in Glasgow, in answer to my question about nationalism, he said that he would only support independence if Scotland had , by then, really tackled the problems of Glasgow and the Highlands. Those were his priorities throughout his life .

I wold like to think that great progress has ben made on both since that time - progress that helps the places, heals the country and pays tribute to Bob's vision and imagination . And curiously the National Park - which he championed well before its establishment - contributes to the well being of both and has been part of the process of change and renewal of West Central Scotland, the Highlands and the nation.