Letter from the Chief

Personal Arms of Munro of Foulis

Dear Clansmen and Clanswomen

 

Our webmaster, Ian Munro reminded me at a recent Council Meeting last month that it was nearly two years since I wrote something for the website so this is long overdue.

 

2006 has been an eventful year for both the Clan Munro (Association) and my family.

 

On the Association front the Council has continued to work on updating of the constitution, which was finally accepted unanimously at the Extraordinary General Meeting of CM(A) on Saturday 14 October. The constitution now has to be submitted to the body that regulates charities in Scotland, The Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator (OSCR) for approval and this process may take six months or so. Until then we will continue to operate under the old constitution.

 

Plans are well underway for our International Gathering to be held at Novar and Foulis on 28/29 July 2007 which will be part of the 2007 Highland Year of Culture celebrations consisting of a myriad of activities throughout the year in all parts of the Highlands www.highland2007.com and which promises to be an exciting time for anyone intending to visit the Highlands next year. It is coincidentally the seventieth anniversary of the founding of CM(A) so has special significance for us and we are particularly looking forward to welcoming as many Munros as possible to Ferindonald at the end of July.

 

From a family point of view, the farming year started cold and wet with three major dumps of snow which although they lasted less than 7-10 days each time nevertheless meant the ground was cold and wet well into the Spring, delaying planting of our malting barley crop until the last week in April and the first week in May. Meanwhile as we awaited the arrival of some warmth our next-door neighbour of 18 years decided unexpectedly to sell the old Munro property of Lemlair and Mountgerald (Clyne). A neighbouring farmer further up the hill from us approached me with a proposition that together with a third party we make a joint bid to purchase this property that my Great great great grandfather had sold to pay off some of his litigation debts in 1857 (see the article on Sir Charles Munro in the next CM(A) Magazine). Rather reluctantly, due to the current difficulties facing farming I agreed and in the last few days of April our consortium learnt they had ultimately been successful so after almost 149 years another small area has once more been joined to Foulis.

 

The summer was on the whole a good one with fine spells of sunshine and enough moisture to produce a reasonable crop of malting barley absolutely essential for the financial viability of the estate. Feed barley with its lower price is just not an option these days. I am glad to say everything bar seven tonnes was of good enough quality to go for distilling. In July my wife Alpha took her fiddle group the Kiltearn Feis Rois Fiddlers to the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales and lifted the first prize in the Massed Celtic Ensemble competition and you can see a photograph of them wearing their Munro sashes on                   www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk

 

Just before harvest I got word that I had to have a small operation on my back, not the most convenient time but not wanting to miss my ‘slot’ I had the operation on 17 August. The wound took a long time to heal probably not helped by the necessity to drive various bits of farm machinery throughout August/September but I’m glad to say all is now well. Earlier this month my mother had a cataract operation and is very much back to her usual self.

 

After a fairly wet October we suffered an unprecedented spell of rain when around 4” (100mm) fell in approximately 48 hours on 24/25 October resulting in widespread flooding throughout Ferindonald in particular. Several properties including the restaurant at the Clan Centre and several houses on Foulis suffered but worse was still to come and on the afternoon of 26 October we were hit by 80-90 mile an hour winds, this coupled with the completely saturated soil conditions and the very late leaf fall meant that Foulis & Novar with their large old hardwoods were particularly badly hit and in the space of not more than half an hour Foulis lost over 100 of the lovely old deciduous trees that adorn the Castle grounds, field margins and roadsides in addition to large areas of coniferous plantations. Five massive 150-200 year old trees from the avenue leading between the Castle and our house ended up falling onto the Castle courtyard wall showering branches and debris into my mother’s garden.

 

We are still reeling from the shock of the devastation but hopefully with a squad of men employed we will have it all tidied up by next July. It is sad to see old friends go and the character of the landscape changed.

 

As a farmer out of necessity I have been a close watcher of the weather over the past forty or so years and I am convinced climate change is well underway. If proof were needed, we now sow our spring crops on average 3-4 weeks later than we did when I first started working the land and the end to summer is much more abrupt than it used to be with later autumns. But having said all that most of these trees had probably reached or nearly reached their natural lifespan and one cannot stand still, so I shall be busy planting again next Spring for future generations.

 

With very best wishes

 

Hector W. Munro of Foulis

November 2006