Cameron Highlanders veterans fall in line for special events
A DWINDLING band of veteran soldiers who served with Inverness-shire’s own distinguished former regiment will attend two very special events in the Highland capital this weekend.
Members of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders’ Association, now in their 70s or older, are to hold their annual reunion on Saturday at the Cameron Barracks in Inverness.
It marks the 220th anniversary of the raising of the 79th Regiment, or Cameron Volunteers, by Major Allan Cameron of Erracht.
The following morning they’ll line up for a parade at their former regimental kirk, the Old High Church, where they will join the congregation in dedicating a new memorial area to the Camerons, funded by the association, within the main part of the church.
The reunion, hosting around 150 veterans and wives or family members, opens at 11.30am, followed at 12.15pm by a military drumhead service conducted by retired minister Rev Alasdair Maclennan, a former Cameron Highlander and veteran of the Aden campaign in the 1950s.
Old soldiers will then recall past campaigns over a buffet lunch and a dram. Sunday’s dedication ceremony will be conducted by Old High minister Rev Peter Nimmo, with prayers by Mr Maclennan.
The Old High Church became the regimental church of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders in the absence of a church at the Cameron Barracks. It houses some of the regiment’s colours, memorials and rolls of honour (memorial books).
The new memorial area, located along the wall nearest the river, brings together memorials of the Cameron Highlanders into a new space within the church.
Its poignant centrepiece is the Martinpuich Cross, relocated from the east stairwell of the church where it has lain in relative obscurity for over 90 years.
This simple wooden cross was erected by members of the regiment’s 6th Battalion during the Battle of the Somme, after the Camerons had played a distinguished role in the attack on the village of Martinpuich.
The cross, to which the names of those who fell in the battle were attached on metal tags, was recovered at the end of the war and brought back to the Old High Church.
Also gathered in the new area are the Cameron Highlanders’ roll of honour books, war memorial plaques and other historic artefacts from around the church.
The memorial area is separated from the main body of the church by a wooden partition topped by a frosted glass screen featuring a striking design by Old High elder and former Inverness Royal Academy art teacher, Gordon Harvey.
Said Mr Nimmo: "As well as a space for remembering, we hope the memorial area will become an exhibition space and an informal gathering place within the church." Association chairman Major Hamish Sutherland, commented: "It’s wonderful to see veterans from abroad and various corners of Britain returning to Inverness to reminisce about old days."
