Two ‘outsider’ presentations launched the CRSC Autumn Programme, as Richard Dikstra reports. The presenters might have been hundreds of miles from the club’s home waters, but as CRSC President Graeme Hogg explained, both presenters also had interesting links; both live in the Cotswolds, both are involved in publishing, and both, perhaps even more remarkably, are related to captains of the Waverley.
Kay Hutchison on board one of the Western Ferries fleet arriving at Hunter’s Quay on a fine afternoon
First up was Kay Hutchison with a talk entitled ‘Book & Stories’. Kay explained how she had used her extensive media background to encourage her father, Captain Robin Hutchison, to write his memoir, Hurricane Hutch’s Top 10 Ships not long after his 80th Birthday. Robin had been one of the longest-serving Clyde Captains and, in his introduction, Graeme mentioned having served under Robin as an Assistant Purser on the car ferry Cowal back in the summer of 1971 – apparently a happy memory. Kay went on to explain how publishing that first book had, in turn, spurred a range of other maritime-related projects. Her interest was as much about the people as it was about the ships. Projects such as the Times Radio series Stormy Weather were designed to appeal to a wide audience, not just the enthusiast, but always with the hope of spurring a longer-term interest in ships and shipping.
She also told of how she had developed a children’s picture book series, The Adventures of Captain Bobo, partly with the view of inspiring the next generation, and how that led to the eponymous 10-part radio series narrated by the late, great John Sessions.
Kay also went on to explain how her wish to celebrate the contribution of the ‘summertime crews’ of the past had led to her publishing the Captain Bobo series in Gaelic too. Summertime crews were men and women that came down from the Western Isles every summer and worked the season. Gaelic was their first language and was commonly heard on board. The radio series also has a Gaelic version and was broadcast across the West Coast.
She also mentioned her work with schools and the support she’d had from the CRSC with materials to help illustrate the extent of Clyde cruising in the past and how things have changed over time.
Her talk ended with a photograph from the very recent past – the historic meeting up of Waverley and Kingswear Castle on the Dart. It was the first time these ships had met up on Kingswear Castle’s home waters. Both ships were packed, as were the quaysides, and it was an occasion Kay clearly felt very privileged to have attended.
Iain McCall’s talk, by contrast was very much about ships and photos drawn from his personal archive. Iain runs the well-respected specialist publisher Mainline & Maritime and is also of course the brother of Waverley’s master, Captain Dominic McCall. Iain’s talk was titled 30 Years of Scottish Ferries, and he set himself a deadline of covering this in just 30 minutes! His father was the well-known maritime author Bernard McCall, and it soon became clear that throughout his childhood ships had played an important role, indeed he explained he’d first been introduced to ships as an 8-week-old on the Manchester Ship Canal. Throughout his time growing up, every 2 or 3 years, the family came to Scotland on holiday armed with a CalMac ‘Rover Ticket’.
His talk started with a picture of himself as a 4-year-old on the Glen Sannox in 1978 and went on to highlight many a famous ship; Pioneer, Saturn, Juno, Caledonian Isles, Suilven, Kenilworth, Hebrides, Lochmor, Lord of the Isles, Isle of Lewis, St Ola, Iona, Pentalina~B to name just a few. In addition, he included a small turntable ferry, landing craft style ferries, two Loch Class ferries, the sludge boat Garroch Head, the luxury cruise ship (and ex Cal Mac ferry) Hebridean Princess (coincidentally a ship that Iain’s co-presenter’s father Hurricane Hutch was master of in semi-retirement) and even a shot of the turbine steamer Queen Mary laid up in Greenock shortly after being taken out of service in 1978.
Two views of Uig, a favourite shot of Hebrides from Iain McCall’s archive taken in 1980, when six year old Iain was fascinated by the lifts and hoists
And Uig several years later, with a newer Hebrides at the pier showing how much the scene had changed
When you start the video, please click the box on the lower lefthand side to get the full screen version.
Thanks to John Newth for technical support.
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Published on 8 September 2024