MP: I visited the Clan McPherson Museum yesterday. Do you get a lot of “roots” tourism?

SD: We do get a lot of people coming here from overseas, because of the McPherson Clan. It’s quite a strong clan, and has a well-attended annual clan gathering.

FD: They’re very sensible. They hold it on the same day at the Newtonmore Highland Games. There is a parade down the High Street, bagpipes playing.

SD: The McPhersons were the lieutenants of Bonnie Prince Charlie, and during the ’45 rebellion they held the money. The ’45 refers to the Jacobite rising of 1745, an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart the Younger, commonly known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie” to regain the British throne for the exiled House of Stuart line.

Bonnie Prince Charlie eventually fled, but Cluny McPherson stayed here and his lands were seized and his clan was subjugated. The local legend is that he hid the money in the hills in the caves. You’ll see people in them with metal detectors.

MP: What is involved with the Highland Games?

SD: The Highland Games happen from the end of June into September. They each have their own personality. You have to buy your tickets months in advance.

It’s a mixture of many different things. You have the usual heavy events of caber tossing; the stone put, the weights throw but it’s not just all physical things. There are people selling wares, you also have Highland dancing competitions and music.

The main thing for the local Newtonmore Highland Games is the hill run, which has a historical reference to the ’45. A couple of hundred people participate, they go off about mid-morning and they come back about 3-4 o’clock. It’s quite steep; it’s gravel, so there’s usually a few that end up in the ambulance.

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