Veterans’ Charity Shinty Match | |
27 May 2015 Caberfeidh Shinty Club will host a special veterans’ charity shinty match between Caberfeidh and The Rest of the World at Castle Leod on Saturday 6 June 2015. A group of the game’s top players, including multiple Camanachd Cup winners and internationalists, are coming together in this special challenge which will raise funds and awareness for Alzheimer Scotland. The Rest of the World veterans’ squad will be managed by Newtonmore shinty legend John MacKenzie who is also the Shinty Ambassador for the Memories shinty club run by Alzheimer Scotland. Amongst the veterans former Camanachd Association President John MacKenzie has assembled are shinty’s first National Player of the Year, Willie Cowie from Skye Camanachd and his Camanachd Cup winning team mates Ewen MacKinnon and John Finlayson. Badenoch rivals Kingussie and Newtonmore are represented by current Kings first team co-managers Russell Jones and Davie Anderson as well as second team manager Jimmy Gow whilst current ‘More President Norman MacArthur and Evan Cheyne are also included. There is a place for former Scotland player and manager Ally Ferguson who currently manages the Lochaber first team. Kilmallie’s John Morrison has been preparing for the match by representing SCOTS Camanachd at the recent Festubert Commemorations in Portree. Lovat manager John MacRitchie and his former co-manager James Gallacher have also been selected.
The Rest of the World squad is: James Cruickshank – Beauly Stephen MacLean – Beauly Willie MacDonald - Fort William David Stewart - Glenurquhart John Morrison – Kilmallie David Anderson – Kingussie Jimmy Gow – Kingussie Russell Jones – Kingussie Ian Fraser – Kinlochshiel Neillie MacRae – Kinlochshiel Ally Ferguson – Lochaber David MacKenzie – Lochcarron James Gallagher – Lovat John MacRitchie – Lovat Evan Cheyne – Newtonmore Norman MacArthur – Newtonmore Willie Cowie – Skye Camanachd John Finlayson – Skye Camanachd Ewen MacKinnon – Skye Camanachd Raymond Fraser – Strathglass
The Caberfeidh squad is still to be announced. It will be managed by current Caberfeidh Vice-President Ian MacLean. There will be a place for Cabers’ Ian Bartlett and the 75 year old will likely be the oldest player on the field. The man in the middle will be respected former referee John Henderson who refereed Skye Camanachd’s 1990 Camanachd Cup win over Newtonmore. The match will be played after the popular Annual Ross-shire Sixes competition for primary and U14 age groups and throw up is at 6.30pm. The entry fee for what should be a memorable spectacle is by donation with a recommended minimum £5. All the proceeds will go to Alzheimer Scotland. Any other donations received will be added to the contribution being made to the charity.
The Camanachd Association and Alzheimer Scotland are collaborating on several projects, which will see the sport’s archives and other resources used to help people with dementia. Memories Shinty Club, the first virtual shinty club (non-playing but very active in other ways) has been established with its own Facebook and Twitter presence. Modelled on a previously trialed and very successful project involving football, the plan is building sets of resources to be used to help people with dementia improve their recall, communication skills, self-esteem and confidence. The project team also offers training to support groups. Based at Hampden Park in Glasgow and managed by Michael White of Alzheimer Scotland, the project has so far exceeded all expectations. Michael White said, “It was noticed that men with memory problems had an impressive recall of football from their younger days and a pilot project was carried out in Falkirk, Aberdeen and in Edinburgh with Hibs. The pilot project was evaluated and the decision taken to extend the coverage across Scotland. A national hub was established at Hampden Park and the national programme started. The success with football has led to the development of this parallel project for shinty. We will develop the resources over time and hopefully we can get support to produce Gaelic versions as well. I would like to thank Caberfeidh and the veterans on their effort. This type of fund-raising activity will be an enormous boost to our work, help to raise awareness of the issues involved.” For further information on the game, please contact Andrew MacMaster on 0771 750 2263. |