Emotions ran high last October at the Clan Donnachaidh Centre in Bruar as veterans of the 51st Highland Division held their last ever commemorative event.  

Veterans of the regiment, most of whom went ashore on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day and D-Day plus one during the Second World War, gathered in Bruar with the families and friends of those who died in battle for a service of dedication.

 A monument, consisting of an eight-foot piper standing on a 10 foot granite block now stands in front of the Clan Centre facing the A9, Scotland’s major north/south highway. The statue, based on the famous Normandy figure sculpted by Scottish artist Alan Herriot, was unveiled at 11:30 am on Saturday following a band concert. 

Dr. Tom Renouf, secretary of the 51st Highland Division veterans’ association, said “the monument is in honor of the five Highland regiments that are now disbanded. It will recognize the achievement and sacrifice of these soldiers. This will bring to an end our activities of annual pilgrimages and the grand reunions of second world war veterans.” 

Dr. Renouf paid tribute to Clan Donnachaidh, saying “our veterans are greatly indebted to the Clan Donnachaidh Society for the provision of an excellent site. In order to acknowledge their generosity, the unveiling of the monument takes place during the annual clan gathering.”                            
Click here to see a few pictures of the ceremony.   

                                                               

Click on the button above to read Dr. Renouf's account of the last days of World War II  while serving with the 5th Battalion Black Watch of the 51st Highland Division. 

FALLS OF BRUAR by Christopher Dingwall


When the first visitors came to view the falls in the eighteenth century the Bruar Water flowed not among the woods which you see today, but across a bare, open hillside. The first trees were planted by John Murray, Fourth Duke of Atholl, not long after the celebrated Scots poet Robert Burns had visited the falls, and had been inspired to write a poem about them. In the poem, written in 1787, Burns imagined that he was the Bruar Water, and pleaded with the Duke of Atholl to plant its banks with trees. The poet was already dead by the time the plantations were made, but the verses and vision which they contain ensure that Burns’ name, more than any other, is associated with this place.

Others besides Robert Burns recorded their impressions of the falls, whether in words or in pictures. Perhaps you will be stopping to take some photographs on the way round. If so, you will be following the same path trodden by the poet William Wordsworth, by the artist William Turner, by Queen Victoria and by many others less well known. Burns’ poem, and their descriptions, can help us appreciate the history of the plantations at Bruar, and the special place that these waterfalls hold among Scotland’s wild places.