Smoo Cave tour guide appeals to public for help to save his business
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The operator of Smoo Cave Tours in Durness has launched a JustGiving appeal in a bid to tide his business over the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
Fraser Eadie (51) said the move was a “last resort” after he was unable to access any of the streams of funding set up to help struggling small businesses weather Covid-19.
The business is seasonal and Mr Eadie, a retained firefighter with the Durness unit, has not worked since the tours closed down for the winter last October. In a normal year, he would have begun operating again in April.
His wife, Najma, is four months pregnant, which is exacerbating the couple’s financial concerns.
He said: “I was not too worried at the start. I was confident I would sort it all out and would be able to claim some sort of grant but there are so many loopholes and I have been sent from pillar to post. It became pretty clear pretty quickly I would not get anything.”
He has set his target figure at £7500 - the amount he calculates he would have received had he been eligible for coronavirus funding - and earlier this week had raised £1987.
A former BT engineer, Mr Eadie moved from Glasgow to Durness six years ago to help his friend and fellow caver Colin Coventry run Smoo Cave Tours, which had become busier due to the growing popularity of NC500.
He took over the business after Mr Coventry died in February last year. The main reason he cannot access Government funding is because he cannot show three years’ tax returns.
In 2019 some 80,000 people visited Smoo Cave - a counter is in place to record numbers. Hundreds of those take the tour.
Mr Eadie’s 20-minute geological boat tour takes visitors from the outer sea chamber to the “waterfall chamber” and from there underneath a side archway into a third chamber, where people can disembark for a walk round.
When lockdown is finally lifted, Mr Eadie, who continues to clean the cave regularly, does not think he will be able to restart the tours in the current year because of self-distancing rules.
“The tour is very intimate - there are maybe six to eight people all climbing into a boat and the back of the cave is narrow. It is hard to think how I could do it safely,” he said.
But he added that the Justgiving funding would enable him to be present in the cave to answer any visitors’ questions and give explanations about the three different cave sections.
He is also keen to restart a project he undertook with Mr Coventy - digging a tunnel with hand tools in the hope of finding a rear chamber. He has had to stop amid concern that if he had an accident, it would take NHS resources away from coronavirus patients.
“We think there is a hidden chamber because, when the waterfall dries up, there is still water pouring from the back of the cave,” said Mr Eadie, who is a member of the Scottish Cave Rescue Organisation.
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To make a donation, visit justgiving.com and search Help Smoo Cave Tours survive.
