Spirit of the Highlands: Get involved
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If someone was visiting our area for the first time, what one thing would you want to tell them about the Highlands and its people? What makes this place special?
There is lots that is good about living here. The scenery. The warm, friendly people. The vivid colours we see as we move through the seasons each year. Our weather, and the distinctive light that it brings come rain or shine, summer or winter. Perhaps it’s the land around us, offering a wealth of outdoor activities to tempt us outdoors? Or to inspire our creativity?
Maybe you would say that the fresh, delicious food and drink found in all corners of the Highlands is what makes it special for you? Or is it our heritage, making us proud of this unique place? You might highlight a special place you like to visit or that you hold dear to your heart? Or perhaps the warm welcome that awaits, no matter whether its kith and kin or people we are meeting for the first time? Other sights, sounds and smells particular to your favourite place? All of these… and more…?
Spirit of the Highlands invites everyone and anyone who knows and loves the Highlands, to get involved and to contribute a story about what sums up the Spirit of the Highlands for you.
The stories collected will form the basis of online content and will be interpreted within the newly-transformed Inverness Castle visitor attraction when it opens, to encourage people to visit and to explore the Highlands, and to find out more about our extraordinary and unique area. The stories will be available to everybody and will be used in different ways to attract people to find out about the Highlands and to plan a visit in the future; online, in print and through events and education projects.
We live in an extraordinary part of the world, rich in stories that make us laugh, cry or gasp in wonder, that inspire and thrill us, that make us think and make us ceilidh. Whichever part of the Highlands you are in, these stories reflect who we are and how we live our lives. Everyone who lives, visits and works in the Highlands will have an opportunity to get involved in creating the story to be told through Spirit of the Highlands. The stories can be about our past, the present and the future, and be about whatever sums up the Spirit of the Highland for you.
For Nicola Henderson from Museums and Heritage Highland, it’s all about our heritage.
“Highland history and heritage inspires and excites people across the world. Our museums and heritage centres act as time machines, bringing that history to life through artefacts and stories that reach across cultures and generations. Heritage is for everyone and while our artefacts act as portals to the past, they also look to the future and ask important questions that get communities talking – things that are so important for creating a sense of place, of connection and ensuring that communities thrive.
“Museums and Heritage Highland is an organisation that works with the heritage sector to innovate for a sustainable future, helping to bring stories to new audiences in creative ways. Heritage is important too for our rural communities; not just in terms of a sense of place and connection, but also as economic centres that act as tourism drivers and as places to support community wellbeing through volunteering opportunities and as a place to meet.
“What makes Highland museums unique is their direct connections to the communities where they are located; the staff and volunteers in our Highland museums often have a direct connection to the stories being told.
“An example of one of the ways we are bringing these stories to life across Highland museums is through the Highland Threads project – an online exhibition showcasing costumes from 14 museum collections alongside stories of the people who made the cloth, who wore the clothes and where they were produced. Looking to the past is one way for us to build a brighter future and our museums will help us do just that.”
For Hugh Dan MacLennan, broadcaster and author, it’s all about shinty.
“Shinty – in Gaelic camanachd – is one of the few sports that can best claim to be native to Scottish soil and has a significantly important cultural dimension through its Gaelic heritage, played throughout Scotland from St Kilda to the borders. It is arguably our oldest sport and one of the cultural anchors that offered the Scottish diaspora a historical link with their roots, along with Gaelic and Highland games.
“The sport’s main trophy in the modern era is the Camanachd Cup – the national championship trophy, first played for in 1896.
“It is a sport that is at the heart of communities from the Western Isles and north-west Ross-shire to the Mull of Kintyre and beyond to London, Manchester, Cornwall and the Scottish diaspora worldwide. Camanachd values its tradition and heritage greatly and also its contemporary social and economic role in Scotland’s wellbeing. It can rightly claim to be much more than just a game.
Tell us your story in up to 350 words now at www.spiritofthehighlands.com or upload a photograph or short audio/video file that tells the story for you.
