Family connections show importance of providing skilled jobs in far north
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Jamie’s Journal by Jamie Stone
In another lifetime, in another career, I went to a kind of Highland dinner in Quebec in Canada – and quite by chance, I sat beside a nice old boy called Ted Gunn who, with a name like that, would have had forebears who would have emigrated from the north Highlands to Canada many years ago.
Where was I from? I said that I was from Tain and Easter Ross, born and bred.
“Sure, my Gunn ancestors came from Caithness but guess what? I had other ancestors who originally came from Easter Ross.”
Their name? “Matheson.”
Oh, I have Matheson in my blood too. “Yep, he was Charles Ross Matheson, a preacher man in your parts.”
What?! Charles Ross Matheson was my ancestor too. He was the Free Church minister at Logie Easter. OMG, Ted Gunn was my cousin – and what a stroke of fate that had me sat beside him, far away across the Atlantic. Today I write this column, reflecting on this astonishing coincidence.
Of course, most Highland families have cousins on the other side of the Pond. Why? Because it was the only hope that many Highlanders had of raising themselves out of poverty in their native Highlands. They went to the New World in search of a better life, and this was precisely what the mutual ancestor of Ted and I had done.
“The best job opportunities will be in the south,” my father had said to me when I was at Tain Royal Academy. Back in the late 60s and early 70s, people who passed exams – or simply wanted to better themselves – headed away from the misty straths and glens whence their native blood came for longer than human memory can count.
For hundreds of years, one of the Highlands’ main exports was its young people. That is why we can still see the remains of so many abandoned dwellings in the remoter parts. It is a sad testimony to a facet of Highland history.
But then we know the more recent story. Dounreay came, and Nigg came. In the end, I and thousands of others suddenly had employment opportunities that, in the space of a few short years, turned history on a sixpence. Suddenly, we could work and prosper amidst the same beautiful scenery that our forebears on the other side of the Atlantic would surely have missed all those generations ago.
So why do I support the space launch in north Sutherland? Very simply because it is hard to make a living, and to live, and to bring up children, and to know that they may not have to move far away without high quality opportunities. I have been very clear about this ever since my own work at Nigg -– and Kishorn, and Sullom Voe – led me to live in my hometown and bring up my children there.
“What’s the most important part of your work as an MP, Jamie?”
Of course, it’s about making sure the constituents get help with their problems, it’s about making sure that health services are all they should be and that nobody should be disadvantaged because they live in a remote part of the Highlands. But, if there’s a wider mission, almost a kind of repayment of my personal debt to society, it is to do everything I can to ensure that potential top quality employment is provided for the generations to come in the truly beautiful area that I have the honour to represent.
That is why the spoiling tactics used by some to thwart the dream of jobs in north Sutherland makes my blood boil. You want to know what gets me up in the morning? That’s it.
You know, I wonder how Ted and his French-Canadian wife, Louise, are getting on. As I lay my pen down, I suddenly feel a trans-Atlantic email coming on.
- Jamie Stone is the Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.
