Shinty Memories Scotland

Hugh Dan MacLennan’s Camera at the Camanachd talk hits the road again this September, as he teams up with shinty playing artist Dougie Rankin to tell the story of Donald MacKay’s incredible shinty photo archive.

Taking place at Corran Halls in Oban, you can come along the night before the Tulloch Homes Camanachd Cup final and is a great opportunity to reminisce on the stars of yesteryear the night before seeing the new generation battle it out at Mossfield.

The event starts at 19.00 with free entry. There will be a collection for the continued development of Shinty’s Story - Sgeul na Camanachd, so come along for what promises to be a great night of nostalgia for Scotland’s community sport!

There was a big Newtonmore representation at the 2026 Shinty Memories Scotland Golf Championship sponsored by Birchwood Financial Planning, and held at Newtonmore on Sunday. Both Scratch and Handicap prizes stayed in the village with the competition seeing 19 teams representing the shinty community from as far afield as Argyll and Skye, braving the elements which included biblical scale rain showers. They failed to dampen spirits and the golf was followed by an impromptu ceilidh in the Balavil Hotel with entertainment from Duncan Forgrieve of Oban. Thanks to everyone for coming to play, to Badenoch Shinty Memories ladies for their help as well as Keith Loades, Charles Young and Chairman David MacMaster. for their organisation. The auction and raffle raised its usual significant sum which is being tallied up but grateful thanks are due once again to all those who donated prizes including Roddie MacLennan of MacLennan Camanas Inverness who once again provided a splendid hand-crafted caman. We all hope Paul John MacKintosh enjoyed the basket of fruit he bought in the auction.
Photos attached of the two winning teams.

Thank you to everyone who commented on last week’s images from Donald MacKay’s archive - this week’s images are from Glasgow Mid Argyll's 1980 Glasgow Celtic Society Cup win 📸

If you can identify the teams and players in each photograph, please comment so that we can complete and strengthen the archive catalogue! Each individual image has all the currently known information.

This archive was digitised by the University of Stirling Archives thanks to support from the Camanachd Association and Shinty Memories Scotland | All reproduction rights reserved

Celtic Society Cup Final. Bishopbriggs. 28 June 1980. Glasgow Mid Argyll (Winners) v Strachur. GMA won on penalties after game finished 4-4 after extra time.

Since 2022, the National Library of Scotland has been getting out and about in Scotland more and more. This is so that we can meet people and organisations who might benefit from our vast collections, and spend a bit of time in an area making connections, finding out what people are interested in, and guiding folk through our collections and resources.


It’s all free, and when people discover the sheer range of our collections people almost always find something of interest to them.



We will be taking a trip from Oban to Fort William, stopping off at places on the way. We will be especially keen to connect people to our Gaelic collections, and you will have a chance to meet the Library’s new Gaelic Assistant Curator, Fiona MacDougall.



You might see us out and about in our Library T-shirts (if it’s warm enough), but you will definitely be able to catch us at the following places:

Ballachulish Shinty Clubhouse, Wednesday 6th of May, 7-8.30pm

Fort William Library, Thursday 7th of May, 6-7.30pm

What puts sporting collections at risk, and why do they matter?

Following last year’s National Sporting Heritage Day, we hosted a Collections at Risk webinar and network discussion exploring the challenges facing sporting archives across the UK and how we can support them.

In the second half of the session, Fran Stovold facilitated a sector-wide conversation with our panellists and attendees, reflecting on what’s needed to safeguard sporting stories for future generations.

One key takeaway came from Philip Gale, Head of Standards & Improvements at The The National Archives summed up why sporting heritage is vital to the wider heritage record:

“Sports are a mirror to society and sporting archives tell us about social attitudes, class division and economic realities... If we did not have sporting heritage records, we'd have an incomplete landscape of society.”

"Sporting archives are more than records of play, they’re records of people, communities and social change. Ensuring their survival is essential to keeping our shared history pluralistic, inclusive and representative.

🎥 Find out more and watch the discussion linked in our blog post: https://tinyurl.com/mrybax3s