January 01, 2025

Letter from Scotland Dec 24 - Shipwrecks, Shenanigans and Sheepdogs all feature in the 2024 review of last year. Some incredible stories....

40 minutes

LETTER FROM SCOTLAND – End of Year Review

Shenanigans, Sheepdogs and Shipwrecks litter the pages of this good news final Letter from Scotland of 2024.

The bad news of the old year is left behind as the stories from this Podcast focus on the good news. So, if you only revel in crisis-driven bad news, then switch off now.

Political shenanigans are confined to the bin. Warm hearted sheepdogs take their place as do one eyed cats, but the finale’ of this Newsletter is left to an extraordinary story of a Shipwreck survivor and the niece who travelled to the North West of Scotland to visit the site and to hear, first hand, of her uncle’s incredible survival. We visit Loch Ewe where the SS William H Welsh, a United States Liberty Ship, sank in a terrible storm in February 1944. Out of 74 crew, only 12 men survived and John King, uncle to Margie Gill, was one of those men. It is not just a story of survival, but one of great fortitude and heroism on the part of locals who lived in the area of Altbea, around Loch Ewe. It is about Crofting women who fought their way across open boggy terrain in atrocious weather to get to the survivors and to keep them alive in freezing conditions. It is a good news story of simple folk overcoming overwhelming odds to help those in desperate need. It’s about Highland folk, doing what Highland folk do – provide Highland hospitality at its best. Hear from Roy Macintyre, now 90 years old, who was witness to this tragedy and met John King, uncle to Margie Gill.

This Letter from Scotland – review of 2024 – is about putting last year to bed and looking forwards with hope for 2025. Enjoy!

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By John Harbour

4.9

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