The 150th Anniversary Guisachan Gathering, July, 2018

A Personal Journal by Joy Viola

President. Friends of Guisachan

They came from around the world – 37 countries to be exact – walking together, many with Goldens on the leash – trudging through the dark along the road to the Guisachan House ruins. There were hundreds of them, carrying flashlights and endeavoring to chase away the tiny midges that swarmed their faces thinking “dinner” had arrived in mass. There was subdued laughter which, in many cases, gave way to tears as around the bend of the road, the stately ruins of the once magnificent Guisachan House came into view. It was lit with colored lights and a bagpiper played traditional Scottish tunes. It was the beginning of what was to be a magnificent week of celebration commemorating the 150th anniversary of the founding of our beloved Golden Retrievers.

I was there will two friends, Mary McCullough and Carolyn Zagami having traveled from Boston to London to Inverness and then, oh, boy, I rented a car and began driving on the left side of the road! En route, I saw the sign to Culloden Moor, Bonnie Prince Charlie’s last battle. I swung in and told my friends, you’re in Scotland, you have to see this. I had been there in 1961 when there was nothing but the battle field. Now, a large visitor center told the story, and in a large room we stood and watched the four large screens on four large walls as the battle unfurled around us. If you’ve any Scottish blood in you – as we three did – it stirs your heart.

We journeyed on arriving at the Tomich Hotel mid-afternoon. A group of us from the Yankee Golden Retriever Club and a couple of friends had booked the entire hotel more than a year before. We had but one cancellation and that room went to two lovely women from New Zealand.

The Golden Retriever Club of Scotland had prepared a host of activities for the celebration–walks, field demonstrations, dinners, a dog show, and the all-important afternoon Gathering for mock Highland Games, socializing, and the big group photo. The Friends of Guisachan also were invited to host an event, so we put together a Scottish tea together with a lecture and a competitive quiz for prizes.

 

 

There was an informal assembly Monday night at Shinty Field in nearby Cannich, for those who arrived early, but the celebration really kicked into high gear on Tuesday. That afternoon, The Friends of Guisachan hosted a tea of sandwiches, scones, clotted cream and jam for more than 200 guests. Marcia Schlehr, a member of the Friends Board of Directors, and Historian of the Golden Retriever Club of America, gave a lecture on the history of the Golden including a bit about Guisachan Life. Following her lecture, some friends presented her with a cake celebrating her 80th birthday. Then we got into a rousing competition – table against table – while attendees endeavoring to answer 24 questions about Guisachan History. The questions had ben written by two additional FOG Board members, Ainslie Mills of Canada and Marilynn Morphet of Australia. The quiz ended with two tables of Golden fanciers being tied and four run-off questions were needed to determine the winners. The winning tie-breaker was “Trees from the Guisachan Estate were used to rebuild what famous explorer’s ship? Only one person knew the answer. Prizes of the FOG 150th anniversary commemorative booklet, a Walking Guide to Historic Guisachan, and a Guisachan tweed bookmark were presented to the winners. FOG had a table of books and Guisachan tweed items that were sold and raffle tickets were sold for a magnificent counted cross-stitch quilt featuring multiple Golden scenes donated by Marilynn Morphet.

Our merry band of Yankee Club members and six members of Rachel Page Elliott’s family gathered for dinner in the hotel pub. I had a magnificent steak and kidney pie with a rich gravy and a yummy flaky crust and everyone else loved their entrees too.

That night, around 9 p.m., cars began driving down the road toward the ruins and in the kennel field, volunteers directed parking as people and dogs began to assemble. At about 10 p.m. (it doesn’t get dark until late in Scotland) the walk got underway. The Scottish Club graciously provided a van for handicapped individuals – and dogs – who could not manage the mile-long trek. Once at the ruins, a wee dram of whiskey was offered to all. A Scottish piper welcomed us with traditional Scottish tunes and the ruins were lit in revolving colored lights. If you love Goldens, it’s an emotional experience. If you don’t shed tears, you at least get a lump in your throat thinking about all the Goldens in your life and the fact that it all began here.

Wednesday morning there was a Field demonstration, again at Shinty Field in Cannich, where obedience and field techniques were demonstrated. The afternoon being free, my roommate, Marty and I headed to Glen Affric, Scotland’s most beautiful National Park. The road was a single lane with “passing places” some of which were very near long drop-offs that were challenging – and frightening to say the least – to those of us not use to driving on the left side of the road! Marty was very good. She only grabbed my leg a few times – and I didn’t blame her. She was on the passenger’s side looking over the edge. Coming back on the inside track was easier for both of us.

That night we all dressed for the Gala Dinner in the Shinty Field Marquee and in the course of the evening everyone was asked to stand, identify themselves and tell where they were from. It took a long time given the fact that there were more than 250 people in attendance! When the head table was introduced, we all got an immense and very pleasurable surprise. A handsome gentleman in full Scottish regalia stood and identified himself as Alex Grigg, the owner of the Guisachan House ruins. He received a hearty chorus of applause and cheers which seemed to surprise him as he said he thought everyone there was ready to throw bricks at him given the deterioration of the ruins. To everyone’s surprise he then announced that he thought the time had come to try to stabilize the ruins! A huge cheer went up and the atmosphere became electric. A short time later, Ruth Holmes, daughter of Rachel Page Elliott, came back to our table and said “Alex Grigg would like to talk to you.” I guess he remembered me because after dessert when I went up to speak to him, his first words were “I guess this is about five years late.” Indeed, I had written to him in 2013 when the Friends of Guisachan were first getting organized, presenting a proposal for a 99-year lease which might enable the stabilization of the ruins and a small park surrounding them. We chatted for some time about the significance of Guisachan House to the Golden community, a fact of which he was unaware. Then he said he had just this past week become the sole owner of Guisachan House and was now able to do things he could not do before. He spoke first about the trees that have grown up inside the ruins’ walls and that some of the tree roots may have undermined parts of the foundation and it might be possible that only a portion of the ruins could be saved. He even suggested having a small museum about the history of the Golden some day!

 

I encouraged him to make a formal commitment before this group taking advantage of the enthusiastic crowd all jabbering about the prospect of the ruins being preserved. After conferring with Doreen McGugan, Chairman of the Scottish Cub, and Jim Richardson, Club President, Doreen, Alex and I went to the microphone and the announcement was made. Alex Grigg pledged 5000 pounds to kick off the fund- raising campaign, I matched it, and others then came forward with their pledges of varying amounts! It was a magical night! Telephone service was virtually nonexistent in Tomich where we were staying, but I managed to call my husband at midnight from the middle of Shinty Field to tell him the news.

The next day was the famous Guisachan Gathering behind the ruins. Marty and I schlepped our chairs, suitcases and miscellaneous bags of books to the bus stop where we were driven up to the ruins. Then we learned from the Scottish Club secretary that we were not to be permitted to sell anything as the Scottish Club needed to be the sole vendors as they had bills to pay. They also did not want us to sell raffle tickets for the beautiful quilt donated by Marilynn Morphet, but they reneged on that when I offered to have the funds go toward the new Guisachan Ruins Campaign. This was a disappointment as I had several friends who brought our 150th anniversary commemorative books over in their luggage assuming this would be the crowd that would most want to purchase them and the postage to the UK was $13 for a $7 book! We also had planned to take orders for the Guisachan Gathering T-shirt our incoming President, Missy Nabors had designed. But no such luck.

 

 

As usual, there was the usual chaos when the official photographer tried to get the photo of 361 Goldens in front of the ruins while the owners, standing around the edge with raised hands, were shouting “sit!” and ”stay!” Some dogs did one or the other, and some dogs did neither! The Duke of York tunnel was then created and the dogs walked through to obtain the official count. No one thought to count the number of people passing through!

That night we attended the Scottish Night Dinner and to my surprise, Alex Grigg came and sat next to me at our table. By then he had made the acquaintance of the entire delegation of Pagey Elliott’s family, especially her grandson, Nick, and Alex graciously began outlining the family’s planned trip to the Isle of Skye. There was a Scottish Master of Ceremonies who sang and did magic tricks, a bagpiper and two young girls who performed highland dances.

 

 

The next day the Championship Dog Show was held at Shinty Field with our two FOG Board members, Marilynn Morphet and Ainslie Mills being the judges. As this was to be our only “free day” and Marty had never before been to Scotland, we played hooky and took off on our own to visit a site Doreen McGugan had mentioned, Strathfarrar Glen in Struy, once a nature reserve but now four private estates. The gate was locked and we were told only 25 cars would be admitted at one time. We were car #4 and for all practical purposes, we had the place to ourselves. It was a foggy day, but the mist only added to the beauty. It was also a “comfortable” dirt road on which to drive! We spent the entire morning there, hoping to see a Red Stag, but to no avail. We saw many Wood Pidgeons, Rooks and a small Lark of some sort – but I didn’t have my European bird book with me.

From there we drove on to the charming village of Beauly which I had visited in 2013. Flower baskets hung on every lamp post and more flowers were planted in the tall median strips. It was a little village garden. We went to the highly recommended Corner Square Café where we had a magnificent lunch topped off by a superb lemon tart. (Marty and I are still talking about that tart!) We did some window shopping, Marty got two scarves at the famous Campbell’s Woolen Shop, and then we returned to Cannich.

Before returning to our hotel, we drove up to Tomich Holidays where I had a chance to meet Nigel Fraser with whom I’d had email correspondence for five years! His father, Donald Fraser had suggested in 2013 that the family owned land along the roadside near the memorial to Lord Tweedmouth would be a good place for the statue we were considering. Alex Grigg having not been interested in restoring the ruins at that time. Nigel was in fact our landlord as we eventually secured a 99-year lease for the small plot of ground that held the Golden Retriever Statue and the small surrounding garden. He’d not yet heard of Alex Grigg’s announcement and was delighted to hear the news.

The night our merry tribe of Yankee Golden Retriever Club members and friends had a final dinner together at the Tomich Hotel. It was a very long wait for dinner, nearly two hours, for very sadly the new owner was in a terrible automobile crash and the staff was shorthanded. But it was a gay evening full of lively conversation with everyone reflecting back on what a magnificent week it had been.

Now comes the task of getting organized to raise funds to remove the trees from the ruins, ascertain their status, and then begin a very large international fund-raising campaign. The Scottish Club plans to establish an independent Charitable Trust and the Friends of Guisachan will solicit American donors as we can offer them a tax deduction on their gifts. All funds will then be forwarded to the Scottish Trust. At age 82 I don’t believe I’ll ever see the stabilized ruins, but I never thought I’d make three trips in five years to Guisachan so Que Sera Sera, whatever will be will be. For now I have photos and memories of a beautiful journey with wonderful friends. And yes, I still get a lump in my throat when I see the sacred site where it all began.