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Highland
Gatherings
Being Accounts of the Braemar,
Northern and Luss Meetings, by Sir Iain Colquhoun, Bart., D.S.O. and Hugh
Machell. With contributions by John Macpherson and C. D. McCombie-Smith,
and a Foreword by H. R. H. The Princess Royal, The Duchess of Fife.
[1927]. |
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To
Alfred Donald
The Mackintosh of Mackintosh, C.B.E.
Of Moy Hall, Inverness, Chief of the Clan Chattan
Lord-Lieutenant and Convener of Inverness-shire
FOREWORD
By H.R.H. The Princess Royal, The
Duchess of Fife
THE spirit of friendly
rivalry that is fostered by Highland gatherings can perhaps be matched by
many a similar athletic contest, but I feel that this spirit combined with
the pride of race and clan, that is so prevalent at these meetings, may be
said to give them a special value.
There laird and clansman,
crofter and shepherd, meet for the purpose of keeping alive the memories
of a great past, and furthering either in person, or by their attendance,
the continuance of those contests which will be of the greatest value in
maintaining the best traditions of their race.
To anyone who has lived
among and loved the mountains and their people, and truly felt their
atmosphere, attendance at these gatherings must be in the nature of an
acknowledgment of all that their race and country means to them.
In this book the authors
have combined, in a most skilful manner, a romance and a bare statement of
progress and athletic achievement. The records of Donald Dinnie, Sandy
Mackintosh, and the McCombie-Smiths, are mingled with stories of Malcolm
Canmore, the "'15," Lady Jane, Duchess of Gordon, and other romantic
episodes of a cherished past.
We read with pleasure of
the wave of national feeling, originating in the formation of a post of
the British Legion, which caused the resuscitation of the Luss Gathering
after a period of abeyance of ten years; and some indication of the
popular affection for these gatherings can be gained from the splendid
response made by the whole parish to the appeal for subscriptions in 1922.
"The records of the
Northern Meeting are most enjoyable reading, and give an excellent insight
into the life of the Highlands from the days of the prohibition of
Highland dress.
The games will be seen to
have somewhat altered in accordance with the progress of the times, but
throughout the gradual change until the present day, the same spirit of
great pride in the good name and fortitude of the race has endured-that
spirit which one cannot help feeling it is the intention of the gatherings
and this book to maintain.
LOUISE PRINCESS ROYAL.
CONTENTS
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