New book – The Summer Crew – takes comic look at life in 1980s Moray through River Spey workers' escapades
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A MORAY-BORN writer takes readers back four decades and down the River Spey in his new novel charting the summer shenanigans of a fictional 1980s salmon netting crew.
Kingston-raised author and digital designer John Bennett's second novel, The Summer Crew, is written in Morayshire Doric and follows a half-dozen temporary workers taken on for the grilse run at salmon nets on the mouth of the Spey – and all the many local adventures that ensue.
Inspired by John’s own experiences working on the Spey salmon nets in the late 1980s, the novel highlights the real-life struggles faced by the industry when salmon stocks began to fall.
The book can also claim to be a gently comic and far broader look at rural life in Moray, in the same vein of one of John's inspirations, novelist Compton Mackenzie and Neil Munro’s tales of Para Handy.
John's stories follow the new recruits – the worst that skipper Sandy Geddes has ever seen – as they struggle to learn the ropes to net salmon using a flat-bottomed boat, a coble.
In their free-time ramblings, the characters pop up at Keith Show, a rave in Rothes and Garmouth's Maggie Fair.
Moray's own Northern Scot earns a few mentions, most notably in a chapter entitled The Obscenity, about a (fictional) heroic local journalist.
Publication of the book was originally scheduled for March but was held up after John (50), his wife Charlotte and their 11-year-old daughter, Ella, all contracted Covid-19.
Former Mosstodloch Primary School, Milne’s High School and Elgin Academy pupil John, who now lives in London, said: "I hope the novel will entertain people but also shine a light on a forgotten way of life and underline the fragile nature of things, which is particularly relevant now with our current situation regarding the coronavirus outbreak."
His novel has already attracted some interest from TV production companies.
John added: "I met some fantastic people and characters while I was a student, working part-time on the salmon nets.
"Many of the fisheries stretched back over 1000 years but most of them were bought-out or closed in the space of about 10 years around the turn of the millennium, with the culture, tradition and skills of the salmon fishers disappearing almost overnight."
At one point, up to 15,000 salmon would have been caught on the River Spey each year, but in 2018 the number had fallen as low as 3,000.
John added: "The demise of the onshore salmon fisheries asks much bigger questions about how we manage our natural resources, protect our communities and preserve our heritage and identity.
"But my book is a pretty light and easy read, and I think it might make a nice change to the difficult stories we've all been reading for the last few weeks.
"It's about places like Elgin and Fochabers and the types of characters people will recognise. There's a nostalgic element and hopefully people will enjoy looking back."
John's father, Richard, was an English teacher at Elgin Academy for more than 20 years.
His first book – Sea Otters Gambolling in the Wild, Wild Surf – made the Scottish top 10 bestsellers list.
The Summer Crew will launch today, June 12, priced £8.99, and is available at www.speybooks.co.uk.
