Ex-fisherman Derry brightens up Mey pier with boat artwork
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A Canisbay man is using his artistic skills to enhance a north coast quayside – 44 years after he played a key role in an improvement scheme that was officially opened by a visiting rock star.
Derry Ross (76) is adding new colour to a series of fishing boat designs that embellish the pier at picturesque Phillip's Harbour, Mey, having been foreman when it was rebuilt in the late 1970s.
He created the designs on the concrete wall as part of the original renovation project and now, with more time on his hands, the ex-fisherman is painstakingly painting between the outlines while also adding fresh details. Some show trawlers of the type he used to work on, based in Aberdeen, while others depict Danish-style boats.
The upgraded harbour was officially opened in April 1979 by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page.
The pier had suffered from storm damage in the 1950s and the year-long reconstruction was carried out as a job creation scheme under the Special Temporary Employment Programme, financed by the Scottish Development Agency.
Mr Ross's name is inscribed on the plaque commemorating the work, along with those of architect Jack Sutherland, regional councillor Bill Mowat, district councillor John Green and Jimmy Page himself.
Mr Mowat, who passed away this week, was instrumental in arranging the visit by the rock musician who at the time owned Boleskine House on the shores of Loch Ness.
Mr Ross showed a talent for art as a youngster but left school at 15 and served his time as a joiner. After about eight years in the fishing industry he worked in the construction trade and became renowned for his formwork or shuttering, which involves creating temporary moulds that hold concrete in place until it has set.
It is this technique that can be seen on the pier wall at Phillip's Harbour. He had carved out the fishing boat outlines with a utility knife on plywood moulds.
Mr Ross has been busy on his current task for a few weeks, on and off. He has been using a wire brush disc on a grinder to clear areas of mossy growth before getting to work with paint and brush.
The first eight trawler designs are nearing completion, with nine or 10 more to follow.
"There's a fair bit of work in it," Mr Ross said. "It's good for passing the time.
"I'm retired officially and I thought it would be a chance to do this when I have nothing else on."
Pointing to one of the boat motifs, he said: "That's a typical Aberdeen or Grimsby boat that fished the west coast, as far as Rockall and the Faroes. You'd have a crew of 12 or 14 on that one – they didn't like the baker's dozen."
Mr Ross has a lot of knowledge about the history of the harbour, which also goes by the name of Harrow.
"It would surprise you how many people are interested, not only in this but in the harbour area and the seals," he said. "It's an area that you underestimate. It was a busy place at one time."
Mr Ross says there used to be a short section of horse-drawn railway to take local flagstones to the harbour from the road above. He believes these would have been transported by schooner to ports down the east coast.
Mr Ross was away on the day of the official opening almost four-and-a-half decades ago so didn't get to meet the famous visitor. "Jimmy Page came and had a meal in the Mey hotel, although I wasn't here that particular day," he recalled.
Not everyone in the local area was familiar with the work of the Led Zeppelin star, however.
Mr Ross remembers a conversation he had with a man from the Barrock area who had rarely if ever ventured out of Caithness.
In the lead-up to the big day, Mr Ross suggested that the man might want to be dressed for the occasion if he was intending to go and see Jimmy Page doing the honours down at the harbour.
The man replied: "Jimmy Page? Does he come fae aboot here? I dinna ken that name at all. He must be fae Week or Thurso."
