Lighting the beacons

Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in Ardgay & Bonar Bridge

By Plateau Perspectives

June 1^st, 2022

A story of Ardgay and Bonar Bridge... neighbouring communities in Sutherland in the Scottish Highlands!

In recognition of Her Majesty The Queen’s 70th year as Monarch and Head of the Commonwealth, over 1,500 beacons were lit throughout the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and UK Overseas Territories, along with one in each of the capital cities of Commonwealth countries.

Sutherland (Gaelic: Cataibh) was the “southern land” of the Vikings... but is one of the country’s most northerly counties. As written in the magazine Scotland, "Uniquely, this county has three coastlines: on the north, east and west. There you will find sheer cliff faces and rock stacks, mile after mile of empty white sand beaches and bottle-green seas. Around the coast, too, are the majority of Sutherland’s beautiful sea-front villages... Inland, [it] is even more sparsely populated. There is a haunting beauty to its mountains, heather-covered moors, lochs, rivers and empty glens."

For its part, the Kyle of Sutherland (Gaelic: An Caol Catach) is a river estuary fed by the rivers Oykel, Shin, Cassley and Carron that flows into the Dornoch Firth at Bonar Bridge.

An excellent map of the Kyle of Sutherland region is available on the Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust (KoSDT) website, along with much other valuable local information.

The Heart of Sutherland Tourism website also provides much valuable information: where to go, what to see, what to do...

Welcome!

The Platinum Jubilee Weekend ran from Thursday June 2nd to Sunday June 5th, with the beacon lighting organised by both Ardgay and Bonar Bridge communities occurring on Thursday evening.

Planning and preparations occurred over a period of several months, with a final flurry of activity throughout all of Thursday.

Many volunteers from both the communities assisted, including all those who made it possible to have great refreshments at Kincardine (Ardgay) Church Hall and a barbecue hosted jointly by Bonar Bridge Football Club and Bonar Bridge Ardgay Golf club.

Big appreciation is noted especially to Christine Mackay (Deputy Lieutenant) for creating and driving the idea forward, Balnagown Estates for permission to access Jubilee Hill, Bonar Bridge Fire Brigade for putting up the bunting and flags, Kyle of Sutherland Gala Week for lending the bunting, and Calum and Magnus Macrae for helping take the lighting equipment up Jubilee Hill.

Many thanks, too, for The Stage Group that stepped in at the last minute to provide the beacons, as well as the Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust for supporting so many aspects of the organisation of this event together with Christine Mackay, along with all of the volunteer walk leaders.