The Shinty Club in the Community

It has long been the Wing Centre’s belief that Glenurquhart Shinty Club is one of the corner stones of the Glen community but of course without the wider community there would be no Shinty Club. Always mindful of its obligations to the community, the Shinty Club is keen to put something back which is why Glenurquhart and Scotland under-17 international Neale Reid is pictured down at the Glen Care Centre handing over a cheque for £100 which has been donated by the Shinty Club to help with the old folk’s Christmas Party.
Accepting the cheque on behalf of the Care Centre is Mrs Agnes Morrison whose son Burton Morrison was also a Scotland shinty internationalist and turned out over many years for Glenurquhart , Aberdeen University and Glasgow Mid Argyll.
A lovely picture then which shows how the indigenous sport can reach across the generations and unite the community and it is also perhaps a reminder of how important it is both for the Club and for those outside it to reflect on what a community is.
Of course this is not the only aspect of village life which the club is keen to support. The recent Guy Fawkes Bonfire run by the Rural Community Association received a cheque earlier this month as it has done for the past two decades. The Pavilion at Blairbeg though it was built and is still maintained and funded by the Shinty Club - without any Council help - is also there for the use of the Glenurquhart Highland Games on its big day as well as being available to other local organisations. Support was given to Glen Urquhart High School for their recent trip to Ireland plus those youngsters who are picked for national shinty sides have their travel costs always generously supported by the Club.
It goes the other way too and local businesses from the Lewiston Garage and Kilmartin Estate to the Blar Mor and Fiddler’s restaurant have been helpful sponsors of the Club. Our jerseys have also been sponsored recently by Danwood Highland, a company with a strong local profile while our lotto books are retailed in a number of local outlets namely the Chip Shop, the Blar, the Ben Leva ,the Steading and of course the West End Garage.
A range of other sponsors are also happy to support the club -on match days their boards are on display round the field- while the youth aspect of the sport has had help from both Mackintosh Joinery and HIS.
Of course the Glen has changed massively over the past 30 or so years from the time when everybody knew everyone and supported all local organisations out of a sense of obligation to the Village. Sometimes in his bleaker moments the Wing Centre thinks it would be a good thing for the Glen to be cut off without power for two weeks in a deep snowdrift to get people to have a little more community spirit : it happened once before- in the early months of 1978 to be precise.
However, the Sale of Work which took place on Friday night (16th Nov) was a success. A good crowd was present and thanks are recorded to all helpers. The money which came in was around the order of £1650 and for the first time the club polo shirt ( !!) with its new logo was on sale. The logo was designed by Under 17 and 2nd team Player, Ewan Menzies, in a competition run in conjunction with the High School.
The polo shirts are still available for Christmas and if you have a passion for fashion the best thing to do is to contact Russ Fraser.
There is still one second team game to go before the season is officially finished but as far as can be seen from the Camanachd Website at this point, that game has not yet been scheduled by the Association.
The 2nd team had an excellent season and with a little bit of good fortune they could have won something but with a number of young lads having made their debuts in the black and red this session the future looks quite good provided they make the commitment next session.
Congratulations are due to Calum Smith who made a break through to the North Under 14 squad from the development squad. Calum has also made his debut for the 2nd team in the recent match with Beauly. The Wing Centre is going to make the assumption - the info is not out to him as yet - that Laura McConachie, Neale Reid and John Barr will be participating in the appropriate North selects. This assumption is based on the fact that they were members of the National squads- as such they most certainly should be in the district line-ups.
Next event on the social calendar is this Friday’s Ceilidh Dance at the Clansman-about which more later.