Eielan Mor MacCormick

This afternoon I achieved a long held ambition and visited Eilean Mor MacCormick, which is one of the three MacCormick islands that lie in the mouth of Loch Sween.

It was gifted to the SNP (as part of a larger legacy)  in 1978 by Pat Neil, a farmer at Keils which is the nearest point of the mainland.   As a result of the vision of Billy Wolfe, the former party leader it was retained when the rest of the estate was sold and since 2000 has been managed by a charitable trust which includes SNP office bearers. 

There is now a "visitor centre" or bothy and a huge amount of work has been done over the years by volunteers.    Historic Scotland manages much of the significant heritage .

Billy and Nicol Cameron wrote a book about the place which is full of fascinating detail and for years there was an annual trip that SNP members could make but I never was able to go so it was a great privilege to get across today (not least because the island is in my constituency)   and to be greeted by a small group including Billy's son David who is now the "Guardian" in succession to Billy and Nicoll Cameron himself.   The two of them did a wonderful job in showing us all around and telling us about the island and its features. 

There were a number of us on the wee boat from Tayvallich including Billy's granddaughter , Heather, who works for me in the Parliament and she played the fiddle in the old chapel, half of which is still standing and roofed with turf.   That was a lovely moment too. 

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the  visit  and I have some more photographs which I have now put up on my Flickr site.