A CalMac port assistant at Lochmaddy has been nominated for the Scottish Transport Awards.
John MacDonald is shortlisted in the frontline employee of the year category to be announced at a ceremony in Glasgow tomorrow.
He has worked with Caledonian MacBrayne for 20 years, beginning his role as a night watchman at the same ferry port.
John explained that given Caledonian MacBrayne is woven into island life, it seemed like a natural step to work here.
His involvement began as a child when his father helped out on the pier. Inevitably, this led to visits onto the vessel and the bridge. And so, he always wanted to work for CalMac.
John’s ‘tradition’ goes a little further than being a loyal employee at the port, managing the safe arrival and departure of all vessels, in all weathers – and in all sorts of challenging scenarios.
For over 48 years, he has been documenting the history of the organisation, and with it, the important maritime history of the Outer Hebrides and the west coast of Scotland in his (limited) spare time.
It began when, given he was a regular feature at the pier, he received a wooden shield with the David MacBrayne crest upon it. This started his interest in researching the objects and where they had come from.
Since then, he’s brought together an incredible collection of documents, maps, models, flags, charts, and memorabilia that chart the history, and some remarkable chapters of the Caledonian MacBrayne’s role in the maritime history of Scotland.
This includes the company’s role, alongside their committed previous employees, in a ‘secret’ project, called Operation Hornbeam, which played a pivotal role in helping to secure the country from the threat of potentially malign Soviet vessels during the Cold War period.
John’s collection is currently on display in Taigh Chearsabhagh in Lochmaddy.
He hopes it will tell the story of the untold efforts of colleagues from decades ago whose efforts in helping to keep their country safe has never been publicised.
He has been able to tell the story of ‘Operation Hornbeam’ which helped to safeguard the west coast of the UK during the cold war period. Captains, skippers and pier and port staff were tasked, secretly, with watching for Russian boats in UK waters.
Issued with maps and charts, for identification purposes, if any sightings were made, they would then report sightings to HM Intelligence Services in London. A copy of the call card they used, is attached, which John tracked down, and has permission to share, and this, alongside charts and maps, showing all the warships, submarines and merchant boats which would have appeared in pier masters’ reports to London.
Speaking about the operation, John said: “I’m glad to have been able to record this
work. It’s a small community here, and within Caledonian MacBrayne, however, no-one
knew about this work.
“Caledonian MacBrayne and those involved knew, but nothing was obviously ever said, and they were content to let it go with time, however, I’m pleased to now be in a position to tell the story of the role the company and our previous colleagues had in ensuring the safety of our communities.”
John was invited to Holyrood House to share his collection with the late Queen Elizabeth.
He has saved a book dating from 1870, detailing what could be found on every island the then David MacBrayne boats visited, giving a window into times gone by.
Every house flag created is also in his collection along with over 60 model boats of the fleet, created by hand by a craftsman in Denmark.
The collection boasts a letter written on board, from 1914, where a passenger unaware of the looming war, comments on women carrying out most of the agricultural work on the islands.
CalMac ‘ambassador’ shortlisted for transport award
19 June 2024