Ron Laidlaw: Alistair Cunningham - Scottish Clans & Castles
Thu, Nov 19th 2015 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Weekly meeting with guest speaker
The Rotary Club met at their new venue
last week at Thorterdykes Roadhouse where they previously met about 20 years
ago. Vice-President Jim Walker chaired the meeting and introduced the
speaker Alistair Cunningham who runs his tourism business from his home at The
Coille, Hawick. Alistair, a retired KOSB Officer started his business
"Clans and Castles" in 2000 when the dot.com phenomena took off. "Scottish
Clans and Castles" is a bespoke, specialist, tour company which arranges
holidays in Scotland tailored to the individual likes and requests of
customers. Many of them are from North America who have an avid interest
in ancestry and their roots. He arranged the tours as an all-inclusive
package to include flights, accommodation and travel as well as an input from
geneaological experts and guided visits to many locations throughout
Scotland. Of all the "must see" attractions the most popular is Eilean
Donan Castle and the Glenfinnan Railway Viaduct on the West Highland line to
Mallaig with its connection to the Harry Potter films and the Hogwart's
Express! He also includes ancestral tourism in the Borders and referred to
the Heritage Hub in Hawick which contains a wealth of information and he was
firmly of the opinion that its attributes should be better publicised. Many questions arose which led to further
discussion after which Past President Ron Laidlaw gave the vote of thanks for an
excellent talk.
