The Iolaire Memorial section of the Point and Sandwick Trail was officially declared open on Friday 22nd April. The path, which is part of the planned 40km coastal trail from Stornoway to Sandwick and around the Point Peninsula was opened by Councillor Angus McCormack with members of the local community and invited guests including Iain Macaulay, Lord Lieutenant, Malcolm Macdonald of the Stornoway Historical Society, John Mackay, Councillor for Ness and the Lewis and Harris Youth Pipe Band in attendance.
The new section of path, built by the Point and Sandwick Coastal Community Path (PSCCP) has been made possible via a funding grant of £104,000 from the Scottish Government’s Healthy Island Fund and links existing routes from Stornoway via Newton and Sandwick Bay to the Iolaire Memorial at Holm Point. The grant to complete the new 1km section was successfully secured with the help of Point and Sandwick Trust (PST) Community Consultant Alasdair Nicolson and the project has been managed by PST Community Consultant Tony Robson.
The 1km addition has created a new section of path from Lower Sandwick, following the shoreline before turning up to the top of Cnoc nan Poll Urra and on to the Iolaire Memorial site. The path connects the town of Stornoway to the Monument which commemorates the disaster on New Year’s Eve 1919.
The new path has been planted with 201 trees, each marked with a slate engraved with the name and village of each man lost in the Iolaire tragedy. With significant attention to detail, the trees are planted as geographically close to each man’s home as possible along the route. As you enter the path at Lower Sandwick, trees are planted for the 8 Stornoway sailors, five Harris men and two Berneray (Harris) sailors to the right. The path winds on and to the left are planted fifty-one trees for the Ness and West side men. Nearer to Stoneyfield Farm are trees for the eleven Tolsta sailors and nine men from Back and Vatisker. Thirty-nine Point sailors are honoured towards the Iolaire site and on the right, fifty-six sailors from Lochs, Uig and Bernera. Close to the end of the path sit trees for the eighteen English sailors on the right and trees at the gate for the two Scottish mainland sailors. The last of these is planted in memory of the signal boy from Aberdeen, David Macdonald, only 17 years old.
Nicola MacSween, Secretary of the PSCCP commented on the opening, “The creation of this vital section of the ‘Point & Sandwick Trail’ is a long held, community aspiration in the widest sense and landowners, Iain Scott and family have been pivotal in its realisation. The entire stretch from Stornoway to The Iolaire Memorial itself enables ‘access for all’ and is a strategic link onwards, to Point and the remainder of the planned Trail.”
PST Community Consultant, Alasdair Nicholson who has been closely involved in accessing funding for the Trail added, “A path is much more than just a path. It is the infrastructure for accessing all sorts of opportunities. The path is a route to interesting and beautiful places, a way of reminding ourselves about our local heritage, and an incentive to do some healthy exercise.”
The project is a successful example of community cooperation with local organisations and individuals who have bought the path to life. In addition to the Scott family for allowing use of the land, Malcolm Macdonald and Stornoway Historical Society have been integral to ensuring the placement and details of trees and plaques, Stornoway Port Authority, contractors Duncan Mackay & Sons, Breedon Group, Thomson Fencing, I A C Maciver and Martins Memorials have all worked hard to deliver the project, as has Tony Robson with expert oversight and careful attention to detail at this important local site of remembrance. The project would also not have been realised without the Scottish Government Grant of £104,000 administered by Inspiring Scotland which followed an earlier grant of £80,000 for a path between Shulishader-Flesherin and a circular route at Steinish.
Officially opened by Cllr Angus McCormack who remembers walking at the site for the first time in the 1960’s with his late wife Mary.
The new walk at Lower Sandwick
Landowners Iain Scott and family
Top row, L-R: Alasdair Nicholson PST Community Consultant, Nicola MacSween, PSCCP Secretary, Duncan Mackay, Sandwick Community Council and PST Director, Don Maclean, PSCCP Chair, Donald John MacSween, PST Manager. Front row, L-R: Cllr Angus McCormack, Iain MacAulay, Lord Lieutenant WI, Tony Robson, PST Community Consultant, Tom Clarke, PSCCP.
All photos taken by Sandie Maciver.
Click to read this article in Gaelic.