Following business and a meal our speaker on 18th March was club member Malcolm MacDonald. Malcolm has a keen interest in local history, especially of fishing and boat building and chose a film to describe the herring fishing of years past. 

This was historic footage of a way of life that used to exist around the coast of Scotland and featured fishermen, mostly from the West coast, with the film being entirely in Gaelic - fortunately with translations on the screen!

What came across very plainly was the dangers the fishermen faced daily, in  a way of life going back 200 years or so - and of the lack of safety provision in the boats - the ‘luggies’ of 40 or 45 tons. Thirty foot long or so with mostly open decks. We learned that boys would start out to sea with the job of coiling ropes and cooking the food. And with boats going as far as Iceland for weeks at a time.

The film also told the story of the shore-based work, with local cooperages producing the barrels that were then packed with gutted and salted fish.

It was interesting to hear from Malcolm how this life changed when steam trawlers came and later the arrival of radio made it possible to share information about shoals of fish - and to keep in touch with the home port. The coming of railways also meant that a catch could be landed and delivered to markets much faster.

A very interesting talk with an appreciative vote of thanks proposed by William Duncan.