A very special place

Although we only got back from Spain early yesterday evening we were off first thing this morning for a visit to Eilean Mor MacCormick which sits at the mouth of Loch Sween and for which I am, therefore, the constituency MSP.  

There is usually an opportunity for SNP members to visit the island at some stage each year (I went on the annual trip last year) but the timing of this visit was arranged primarily to allow John Swinney to get there, as he had been holidaying on Tiree.

John had long wanted to make the trip and take his wife Elizabeth and son Mathew and they all seemed to greatly enjoy and value the experience.

Speaking to the group of volunteers on the island at the end of the afternoon he recalled that in the 1980’s as SNP National Secretary he had been an ex officio trustee of the Neil bequest . It was Pat Neil’s estate , left to the SNP entirely unexpectedly in 1978 , which enabled the party to fight elections in those difficult days, as I well remember being a national office bearer of the party myself at that time. It therefore played a very important part in securing the continuation and gradual growth of the SNP to a party of government and the party that has taken Scotland closer than ever to Independence.  

He pointed out that he had never expected to be on the island as Deputy First Minister of Scotland, but that the fact that he was owed a great deal to both Pat Neil and Billy Wolfe. 

It was Billy , who was then SNP Leader, who had insisted on keeping the island out of the property to be sold (Pat Neil had a large farm which included the MacCormick islands) largely because of his own belief in common ownership. It was Billy that then inspired the committed group of people who looked after, and still look after, what has become a very special place.  

A trust to secure that purpose in the long term was established in 2000 and it is now responsible for Eielan Mor. It has erected a bothy with a small permanent exhibition about the island and makes regular access improvements. The ancient monuments on the island - St Cormac’s cave, chapel and cross - are in the care of Historic Scotland but the whole living place is a testament to communal effort , shared purpose and a determined vision - all the things that are characteristics of the SNP too. 

John, Iain Thompson ( a former chair of the trustees and volunteer ) and I were invited by the present Chair David Wolfe - Billy’s son - to plant trees to mark this special day and it was honour to do so. In thanking David both John and I talked about our admiration for Billy and for the seminal contribution he made to building the modern SNP , a contribution that will be I think firmly underlined in a new book on SNP Leaders being edited by James Mitchell and Gerry Hassan which will be published in September and to which I have contributed an introductory chapter. 

The picture is of John and David at the cross at the highest point of the island. This was erected in the late 14th century by Mariota de Ros, wife of Donald MacDonald, 2nd Lord of the Isles. The original was removed to the National Museum in 1937. I have also uploaded some further pictures to my Flickr site which can be accessed here.

I have posted two extra photos today giving contrasting views from the island and from the boat journey back to Crinan.  They show the stunning quality of the light and colour all around.