Adventurous life of Dornoch man featured in new summer exhibition at town's Historylinks Museum

Crowds gathered at Historylinks Museum, Dornoch, last Saturday to watch Chris Murray officially open a new summer exhibition dedicated to his life as a Royal Navy clearance diver and coastguard winchman.

Chris, originally from Dornoch and now retired, undertook more than 500 rescues during his time as a winchman with the coastguard’s Stornoway based Sikorsky search and rescue helicopter.

He was awarded the Queens Gallantry Medal in 2004 for his part in the rescue of nine crew members of the fishing vessel Hansa in March 2000.

The fishing boat sank 205 nautical miles from Benbecula, at the very limit of the helicopter's range. With little time and fuel running low, the fishermen were rescued from their life raft. On landing, the helicopter had only five minutes of fuel left in the tank.

Chris, and fellow crew members were presented with their medals by Queen Elizabeth II a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

The exhibition is open from April to October and features footage of rescues from FV Hansa and MV Elektron.

Then on April 4, members of Historylinks Young Curators Club (YCC) along with storyteller, Jenny Neesham, brought to life the tales of Fionn Mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCoul) and his band of Iron Age warriors, the Fianne.

The event took place in the newly acquired Dornoch Community Woods.

Dornoch Trust chairman, Patrick Murray, said: “It’s excellent to see the woodland being used for such a good cause.”

Twinkling lights and open fires added to the atmosphere, as the audience listened to how the Fianne was the greatest band of warriors in all Ireland and Scotland.

YCC members Isla Swanson, MJ Currie, Lexi Mackay, Mollie Lewis and Millie McCue played the Fianne and all was stage managed by Jess Lewis. The event was part of a storytelling project that the YCC have been working on with Trish Matthews and Jenny Neesham.

Jenny’s book ‘Things told about the Fianne’ is on sale at Historylinks Museum.

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