Some memories of that school..

 

I often played with most of these youngsters during my long summer holidays in Assynt. The boy in the back row, left, with the short-sleeved pullover, is Hugh Angus Mackay, who became a civil engineer and now lives at Croy. He was in those days known as Angus, to distinguish him from his father and at least one uncle who were called Hugh, but has since reverted to the name Hugh. It doesn’t require much imagination to realise why he was called Ham at Dornoch Academy. He occasionally calls in to see me, as I often played with him and indeed most of the rest, and he came along to visit Ruby when she was staying with us.

 

The lad in front of him, with face slightly blurred, is Willie Mackenzie, who lived at the now demolished cottage beside The Lodge. He became a joiner, and lives in Alness, where he is a lay-preacher. Last time I saw him was at Willie Morrison’s funeral.

 

Beside Hugh Angus is Nancy Mackenzie, who lived at Stronchrubie, where her father was a keeper, and where Peter Macgregor now lives. She became a maths teacher, and is now retired in Essex. The boy on the far right, with head partially hidden, is her brother Billy, who also became a joiner, and lives at Conon Bridge. He’s now a widower, but his mother Nancy is still alive, though in a home at Muir of Ord.

 

The girl with the sun shining on her, and a big book in front of her, is Rae Anderson, whose father Willie was manager at Stronchrubie Farm. She became a gym teacher and now lives at Elphin with her husband Tom Strachan.

 

The pair in front are respectively Sandra Milne, who lived at Kirkton, but left shortly afterwards. I don’t know what became of her. The wee boy with the big head is Donnie Mackenzie, whose parents had adopted Willie Mackenzie. Donnie was a placid fellow, a little “far back” though by no means illiterate – Ruby saw to that – and known in adulthood as Donnie Horse. He was working on a fishing boat out of Kylesku, when sadly one night he took too much to drink, and while returning to it fell between boat and pier, and was drowned, aged only in his 20s.