Autumn 11 - The Clan Cameron Association Scotland.

ACHNACARRY SPORTING & COUNTRY PURSUITS
A new commercial venture has been launched by Alec Macdonald
who has been the resident deerstalker at Achnacarry for over 30 years.
Some of you may have met Alec at previous Clan Gatherings (he has
always run the clay pigeon event). Alec is the fourth generation of his
family to have been stalkers on the Lochiel Estate and is extremely
knowledgeable not only about the wildlife and hills of the estate, but
also its culture and history. His wife, Catherine, is a Cameron of Glen
Nevis, and she has lived at Achnacarry in the past. She is a talented
musician (and music teacher) who has played at some clan ceilidhs
and clan church services.
This year Alec (and Simon Laird, a stalking tenant who has a holiday
home on the estate) have set up a business called “Achnacarry
Sporting & Country Pursuits”. Its aim is to take wildlife tours, fishing
tours, and sporting ventures around Lochiel Estate as well as to let
deerstalking and shooting parties. The Lochiel family are not financially
involved nor do any management, but the company is chaired by
Donald Andrew, and it very much has their blessing. In essence, the
sporting enterprise has been “outsourced” to Alec‟s company.
Donald Andrew comments that “this would be a perfect service for
any Camerons visiting Lochaber, enabling them to take advantage of
Alec‟s expertise and knowledge, giving people the chance to take in
some of the estate and its hills and wildlife, in whatever way they like.
Alec has use of “argocats” and other all-terrain vehicles which will
make parts of the estate accessible to people of varying levels of
ability, etc.”
The website is http://www.achnacarrycountry.co.uk/ and Alex‟s email
is: info@achnacarrycountry.co.uk
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phone to send the images down to meet the two o'clock Wednesday deadline.
Images sent, I soon caught up with the rest of the group and resumed
my Sherpa duties. With our various parts of the Model T we made it back
down the mountain in around three hours, much to the relief of all of us -
cold, wet, tired, but very happy volunteers.
Later that day, the Model T Club
members met in their Alexandra
Hotel HQ in Fort William as part
of their week-long gathering to
celebrate the day's achievement.
To their amazement and
delight, local journalist, Roamer,
arrived in the dining room just
before 8pm and handed Neil
Tuckett and his colleagues, copies
of the Lochaber News
(printed 65 miles north!) which
carried pictures and a story of
the Model T on the summit
Some of the signatures of the 77 volunteers who
carried the Model T up to the top of Ben Nevis.
Photo: Bill Cameron
hours earlier. There's a lot to be said for the lack of our distinctively laid back
West Highland time - occasionally!
The Model T which was borne up the Ben, was later put together again in
the West Highland Museum, in Cameron Square. There it will remain for the
best of a year, its bonnet signed by all seventy seven volunteers - a fitting
re-creation of an adventure which had begun in that very Cameron Square -
a hundred years before.
Alexander Donald Trotter
Alexander Donald was born on 7th March, 2011. He is the first son of
Catherine and Henry Trotter and a brother for Alice. Catherine is the
eldest daughter of Lochiel and Lady Cecil. Many congratulations to
Henry and Catherine and to Alexander Donald‟s grandparents.
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