OBITUARY: Duncan Allan of Dornoch
Duncan Allan was born on February 8, 1927, on the Kanjikoah tea estate in Assam, India, where his father was manager.
He was educated in England where he attended the same prep school as the late Alan Clark, of Eriboll and diary fame. Duncan was a good boxer and gave Alan a hard time in the ring on a number of occasions.
Duncan joined the Queen’s Royal Regiment at the age of 17 and, after being selected for a commission, was sent to the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun from where he was commissioned into the 1st Gurkha Rifles of the Indian Army.
After two years on the North West Frontier, where conditions were not unlike those in Afghanistan, he spent three traumatic months shepherding refugees in Punjab after the terrible carnage that followed the partition of India.
After leaving the army, he followed the family tradition and became a tea planter for a Scottish company.
The only question that he was asked at his job interview was whether he was a Catholic. He knew how to answer.
Having spent 10 years learning his new trade on the tea estates, he was promoted to visiting agent and immediately embarked on a vigorous new planting programme. This had the happy consequence of creating thousands of new jobs, as an extra labourer was recruited for each acre of tea planted.
Sadly, after 22 years of service, a promising career came to an abrupt end when the rupee was devalued and all British employees were sacked. So Duncan, with his wife and family, had to adjust to cold, grey socialist Britain.
It was a difficult transition from running tea estates to running pubs in Scotland. He said that it was like going to prison for 15 years.
Retiring from the pub trade at the age of 62, Duncan returned to Dornoch where he had owned the Eagle Hotel. He was shocked to see how run down the town had become.
The secondary school roll had fallen to 38 and it was under threat of closure; Skibo Castle had 13 holes in its roof; the slaughterhouse had closed causing job losses amidst difficult market conditions; unemployment was running at ten per cent during the winter months; there was no provision for further education or training in Sutherland; and the population was unbalanced because the only houses being built were for the well-off retired or social housing - there was nothing inbetween.
Duncan was determined to try to do something to improve the situation and, aged 65, he won an election to Sutherland District Council and kept his seat for 15 years.
He set about a methodical programme to restore Dornoch’s fortunes with the help of members of the local community and public bodies such as CASE, HIE and North Highland College who supported his efforts, which were based on encouraging population growth.
He was determined to restore the parish population to its level at the first census.
He used to say: “It is people who make things happen and we have not got enough of them.”
At the age of 81, Duncan received a quite unexpected invitation to visit India with his wife, Alison.
They revisited tea gardens in North Bengal, the Terai and Assam, and Duncan found to his great delight that his once exceptional command of the Gorkhali and Hindi languages had not deserted him.
Chatting with the locals was always his way of finding out what was really going on. His heart was in India.
As well as devoting himself to the community, Duncan was a dedicated family man, a loving husband of Alison, dear father of Patricia, Victoria and the late Ian, and cherished grandfather of Gemma, Charlotte, Kirsty and Amy
Duncan passed away peacefully in Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, on Sunday, July 28, and his funeral service was held at Dornoch Cathedral on Monday, August 12.
Cllr Jim McGillivray, who gave the eulogy, said: “There can be few men in modern times who have made such a personal impact on the appearance of any town as Duncan achieved in Dornoch in his time as councillor.”
EULOGY by Cllr Jim McGillivray
“What about the Dornoch Place Plan?” These were amongst Duncan’s final words, I was told.
I first came across Duncan when I was chairman of the community council and he had just been elected to the Burgh Ward of the old Sutherland District Council in May 1992.
I’d heard of this gruff, stern, imposing, no-nonsense and allegedly boorish gentleman who had just been elected district councillor for the Royal Burgh, and was interested in seeing him in action.
Action there certainly was! In no time at all, Duncan, in his own inimitable manner, had disturbed the equanimity of important community council office-bearers to the point of resignation, and there was turmoil and there was disharmony.
It was decided to reprimand Duncan as best we could, and, at the instigation of two upstanding community council members, we approached the door of Craigroyston one evening with the avowed intention of sorting him out.
We knocked with some trepidation, and prepared ourselves for the storm that was sure to follow. The door flew open and we were met…. with the most affable, amenable and disarming kindness, and generous and gracious hospitality.
It was then I realised that we were dealing with a man of great depth of character, who could stand outside his own position and see the much bigger picture. Duncan the diplomat.
We never did properly sort him out, but the matter was discretely and timeously remedied, and the community council was happy to support him when he resurrected the historic and venerable title of Provost of Dornoch during his tenure on the district council.
It was shortly afterwards in 1994 that the first rumours started to emerge about the possible closure of Dornoch Academy, then a two-year school of some 40 pupils.
The school board reacted to the situation by pursuing vigorously the opt-out status favoured by the Tory government of the time, and, aided by the considerable efforts of Provost Allan, eventually sustained Dornoch’s ancient educational heritage.
The rest is history, and we now have an excellent six-year school on our doorstep, by its reputation attracting pupils from well outside the catchment area, and an academy which is a credit to the man, without whose courage and support, would never have flourished.
I was next in Craigroyston in early 1995, in response to an unexpected social invitation, along with some civic worthies of note.
The purpose became clear when at the end of the evening we were invited to sign Duncan’s nomination papers for the new unitary authority, Highland Regional Council. This we did without hesitation. He was duly elected that year.
There followed a sequence of initiatives quite remarkable coming from a gentleman now of senior years, at a time of life when most others are content with superannuated tranquillity.
The Common Good lands, so long taken for granted, were given status and protection. Duncan negotiated additional significant rentals for the Common Good from the new sewage treatment plant, and the golf club borehole.
The appearance of the Square changed as the new paving went down, and down also came the ageing and increasingly hazardous trees which bordered the Court House.
The Embo road, so long a frustration for generations, was given another mile of dualling, and would have been completed if Duncan had had his way.
Also produced at this time was his Millennium Review, Dornoch’s modern equivalent of the Domesday Book. I still use this as a reference because of the local crofting information it contains, Duncan being one of the very few people ever to get any information of substance out of the Crofters Commission.
The most outstanding development was yet to come, and the more I think about it, the more I realise just what a remarkable achievement it now is.
Duncan convinced the management of North Highland College that not only should they have a campus in Dornoch, but that campus should feature the first degree course in golf management.
Not only did Duncan have the vision to bring higher education to the county of Sutherland, but he also introduced an entirely new degree discipline in the process, with four students qualifying as Bachelor of Arts in the first graduation ceremony in 2004.
Based at Ross House initially, there were some 40 plus undergraduates on the first three years of the thriving golf management degree, another 15 first year undergraduates studying for the new Scottish History degree under Professor Jim Hunter, and a further five students on the first year of the new cultural studies degree, as well as students doing hospitality courses and evening classes.
The place was bursting at the seams and going like a fair. All arising from the foresight, vision and singular determination of one man.
Around us today the face of Dornoch is changing as new buildings appear to complement our traditional architecture.
There can be few men in modern times who have made such a personal impact on the appearance of any town as Duncan has achieved in Dornoch in his time as councillor.
He would have been the first to admit that it was not to universal approval, but Duncan never sought approval or popularity, preferring always to do that which he saw as right and honest and fitting.
“You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs” was his contention. Duncan was very good at making omelettes, not least pushing through the development of the townhouses at the east end of Dornoch Square. Though highly controversial at the time, these buildings have become an accepted part of the streetscape of Dornoch.
His support for me personally was unstinting and I have tried to maintain the continuity of his many initiatives. His influence stretches far beyond his time of office, as his plans for the expansion of Dornoch with new housing at Dornoch West (Deans Park) and Dornoch North (Springfield) being implemented in recent years.
Though some may bemoan the changing character of the Burgh which has resulted, there can be little doubt that there are many young couples who have benefited from the improved access to good affordable housing, as the significantly expanding school roll will testify.
And it must be observed that the first new street in the Springfield development was named Allan Gardens in his honour, by common acclamation.
His contribution to the progress and wellbeing of this community over his term in elected office, whether it be streetscape flower baskets, the millennium Hogmanay street party, The Burgh Conservation Area, the Dial-a-Bus service for rural areas, and even personally locking and unlocking the public toilets every day, was quite simply outstanding.
In that time he bore the ancient and meritorious title “Provost of Dornoch” with dedication, with diligence, and with supreme distinction. Dornoch was his cause. Dornoch was his mission.
But Duncan is not yet finished. He has one more civic duty yet to fulfil. His words will sound from beyond the grave at the Coul Links Hearing in Embo in November as part of the “4 Provosts” submission for the Coul Golf Course. One more ambition left to achieve for both of us.
And we’d better see the Dornoch Place Plan done and dusted before then.
Thank you, Duncan, for all that you were and all that you achieved.
