Everyone at Skye Camanachd sends their condolences to Lovat Shinty Club and the family and friends of the irrepressible Mary Ann Henton, BEM.
Few have made such a significant contribution to shinty, at so many levels, as Mary Ann Murchison Henton (nee MacPherson), who has been described by her home club Lovat as their “Heart and Soul”. The epithet was coined for posterity by Lovat when they presented Mary Ann with a carved seat at Balgate, Lovat’s home ground, on the occasion of her 80th birthday last August.
That evening, she had returned as was customary, from a long trip with the team to Inveraray and was, momentarily, and rarely, lost for words when she saw what had been prepared as a surprise.
Mary Ann died at her home at Muirdale, Camault Muir, Kiltarlity on Sunday morning (21 June 2020). She was one of a family of three (sister Cath being heavily involved in the club and brother Willie in New Zealand) and represented the beating heart of the shinty club in Kiltarlity and was a key figure in their trials, tribulations and triumphs for 60 years or more – a teenager when they won the cup in 1953 and never more happy when the next victory followed in 2015.
Awarded the BEM (it could easily and more properly have been more) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in June 2014, Mary Ann was well known at shinty venues and matches throughout Scotland. However, she will forever be remembered for her contribution to her local club Lovat in Kiltarlity.
Having joined them as a tea lady at the age of sixteen, she went on to be club treasurer from 1967 until recently. Camanachd Association President Keith Loades spoke for the whole shinty community when he described Mary Ann as “irreplaceable”. He said: “Mary Ann was a Patron of the Camanachd Association and epitomised everything that is good about our game. She continued to give outstanding service to shinty, locally as a fund-raiser and committee person but also to the Disciplinary Committee and Behaviour in Sport Committees where her wisdom and knowledge of the sport’s governance was invaluable. We will always remember her pride in her players and the club when Lovat won the Camanachd Cup in 2015, for the first time since 1953, with her nephew John MacRitchie as the Club President, and how she revelled in their modern success. A visit to Kiltarlity will never be the same ever again.”
When Lovat again reached the Camanachd Cup Final in 2018, Mary Ann was in hospital and she was mentioned specifically during the television coverage and more fully at the post-match reception.
Mary Ann worked for many years in the Inland Revenue tax office in Inverness which meant that she was widely known throughout the city and was and was pre-deceased by her husband Jackie in August 2014.
When she was awarded the BEM in 2014, her local church described her thus, in a Newsletter: “This is a well-deserved tribute to one of shinty’s best known and best loved champions and a valued member of our congregation at Tomnacross. There will be very few folk in The Aird who do not know Mary Ann. She has given sterling service to Lovat Shinty Club over perhaps more years than even she cares to remember and she continues to do so in her role as club treasurer, a post she has held since 1967… Mary Ann has certainly played a vital part in the life of the club. Her faithful, efficient and enthusiastic execution of the many offices she has held coupled with her unfailing support and encouragement (often voluble!) have played a significant role in the continuing success of this important team. She has demonstrated total commitment to it, never seeking or even dreaming of any reward. She is exactly the sort of volunteer who deserves recognition and everyone who knows and loves her is thrilled that her contribution has now been officially acknowledged.”
Mary Ann was renowned as a vibrant host, one of the most welcoming of individuals who was, by her own admission, often heard before she was seen. Her infectious enthusiasm and sense of sun and vitality ensured that she was the best of company, even on Lovat’s poorer days. The most caring of individuals with an eye for those less fortunate, Mary Ann was shinty and shinty was Mary Ann.
She grew older most gracefully, with and beyond the players she cared for so much and saw two separate buildings emerge at Balgate to accompany the burgeoning growth and confidence of the club as new generations moved through.
Mary Ann was, however, a constant presence, cajoling and prodding, constantly minding the pennies and as someone said, not at all disrespectfully, on the news of her passing: “Who will now take the collection bag round the field.” It is an enduring and endearing image of someone who contributed beyond what was normal to her club and the wider game.
Mary Ann first got involved with Lovat when helping as a tea lady at the age of sixteen and over the decades she held numerous positions there and in The Camanachd Association, of which she was a distinguished Patron, and where she was a long-term Disciplinary Committee secretary and also sat on its Behaviour in Sport Committee.
Speaking on behalf of the club, secretary Linda Bell said, summarising the thoughts of many: “Everybody at Lovat Shinty Club has been devastated by the sudden passing of Mary Ann Henton, for many years the club’s treasurer. Mary Ann was a well kent, loved and respected figure, not only at her beloved Lovat but across the whole shinty community. Our thoughts are with her family at this sad time. We will miss her terribly.”
Due to the current restrictions, an immediate family funeral service takes place at noon on Friday 26 June 2020 in the funeral home of William T. Fraser and Son, Culduthel Road, Inverness and thereafter to Tomnacross Burial Ground. The cortege will stop at Balgate shinty pitch at 1.10pm prior to the interment at 1.30 pm.
Donations are invited for Lovat Shinty Club with a collection available at Balgate and Tomnacross on Friday or please forward contributions to the funeral directors.
Mary Ann Murchison Henton (nee MacPherson), Kiltarlity, Lovat Shinty Club’s Heart and Soul, 1939-2020