History of the Centre. . .(continued)
In 1972 a depute Principal was appointed (Stuart Armstrong formerly a highly
respected instructor at Benmore Centre). Stuart lived in a caravan on site for
three years until the "Depute's House" (now Carnethy Lodge) was built. Also in
the early 70's there was a flurry of building activity.
Caerketton was built to house the caretaker and his wife (who had some
secretarial duties). Adjacent to Caerketton were the two chalets Holmes and
Watson ( Boyd Anderson was a Sherlock Holmes fanatic!). These two chalets were
intended for family ski groups.
In 1974/75 the main centre was expanded (to 32 student beds) and Anderson Lodge
( Named after Boyd Anderson) was built as a home for the Principal John Paisley
and his family.
Prior to this there was such a shortage of accommodation for domestic staff
that John Paisley bought a caravan, and collected rent of the Council for the
domestic staff who became his tenants!
For the next few years the centre operated in much the same way. The main
centre offered courses for youngsters (often run in conjunction with visiting
staff who were well qualified as a result of the Council's enlightened training
policy). By this time Lagganlia had passed into the ownership of Lothian
Regional Council (Local Government Re-organisation). The centre offered courses
for up to 32 students in the main building, and Hillend residents were left to
run their own programmes. Activities in those days were the traditional outdoor
pursuits of walking, climbing, camping, canoeing and skiing, together with
geography and biology field studies. The majority of students were from
secondary schools with about 30% being from primary schools.
In the early 1990's there were significant financial pressures on the centre,
and efforts were made to diversify and to expand capacity. There was a change
to staff contracts with Instructors no longer being required to live on site.
This led to Anderson Lodge being used as extra accommodation for groups, and
Caerketton, and then Carnethy being added to accommodation available for
groups. The space in the main building was also modified to give 50 client beds
instead of 32.
The number of activities was expanded to include mountain biking, white water
rafting, snowboarding etc. At the same time the number of weeks open increased
(365 days a year now), and the centre became busier and busier year by year.
Clients at the centre reflected National trends and the percentage of primary
school users increased at the expense of the secondary schools.
In 1990 the salmon fishing on the river Feshie ( adjacent to Lagganlia) came on
the market, and the fishing rights were purchased for the centre through one of
the charitable trusts set up by George Boyd Anderson before his death.
1997 saw yet another reorganisation of local government with Lothian Regional
Council being broken into smaller units. After much discussion Lagganlia was
allocated into the care of the new City of Edinburgh Council.
There followed a difficult time for Lagganlia when it looked as if the Council
would be unable to afford the existing outdoor education provision. However, it
was eventually decided to invest in the centre in the hope that Lagganlia would
eventually be self financing. So in 1999 a new batch of facilities was opened
including Sgorans and Ptarmigan Lodges, our dry ski slope, new ropes course,
and kayak lochan.
MORE HISTORY »
Triumph & Tragedy
The first courses at Lagganlia started in February 1969. The ethos at the time
was that schools would mostly run their own programmes, as most Edinburgh
secondary schools at the time had well trained and full time outdoor education
teachers based in the school.
Just over a year afterwards the Centre suffered a very tragic incident with the
infamous "Cairngorm Disaster" occurring in November 1971. A party of school
children from Ainslie Park School in Edinburgh visited Lagganlia. The group was
not a Lagganlia staffed group but stayed in Hillend Lodge and came with their
own instructors Ben Beattie, and his girlfriend Cath Davidson.
The group set off on a winter mountaineering expedition with tragic
consequences as 5 children and a voluntary instructor (Sheila Sunderland) died
in a snowstorm on the Cairngorm plateau. The ensuing enquiry had a deep rooted
effect on the conduct of all outdoor activities within the UK, and resulted in
the tightening up of training and certification schemes for mountain leaders.
The aftermath of the disaster was profound on those involved. John Paisley's
wife left for her native Denmark taking their children with her. Terry Parker
resigned and moved on to another job within months of the official enquiry, and
Boyd Anderson, deeply affected by events died shortly afterwards.
In remembrance of
THE CAIRNGORM DISASTER NOVEMBER 1971
The five children who died were;
Carol Bertram
Susan Byrne
Diane Dudgeon
Lorraine Dick
William Kerr
Sheila Sunderland - Voluntary Instructor also died.
May they rest in peace.
The only survivors were Cath Davidson and a pupil Raymond Leslie.
