The Last of The Hostellers
Andrew Mackenzie, Clashmore, Stoer – 1990s… Oral History

 

“We were going to a much bigger school – a school of 700 at the time, and that was a great experience, because it meant that I was meeting people from all over the county; so, west, north and east coast. And hostel life was tough to start with. Leaving home at eleven to go to the scary east coast was tough but school itself was great. I particularly enjoyed the social aspect of school. I wasn’t so keen on the academic side, and … but I certainly gave it a go at Standard Grades. I got enough credit grades to get a few Higher options. I think that’s important about high school; that it’s not just about the academic side of it; it is about interaction. We were all together in Golspie. Sometimes I’m vaunted as this great success story but I was actually suspended from the hostel for drinking, so, you know, so there is good and bad. But I managed to get a few ‘A’s, as I said, and I can remember a teacher saying to me, ‘Well, yes, you got two ‘A’s and a ‘C’ and three ‘B’s’, (???) and he said, ‘Well, Andrew, what would you like to do?’ And I thought, well, I’d quite like to be a lawyer.”