A Day to Remember
tune – The Waters of Kylesku

We travelled there by argocat and also by a quad
Crossing boggy moorland ground and a peat bog hag
Tumbled into hidden streams, climbed out the other side
Eventually we joined the path but still a bumpy ride.

The journey was a challenge the drivers showed their skills
Negotiating rocky screes and sliding down steep hills
As already mentioned cross wild and rough terrain
Minor injuries sustained from detail I’ll refrain.

The purpose of our journey – to visit Loch an Draing\
To speak about its history and a gaelic song to sing
To document in pictures its landscape all around
The film crew relieved when safe on firm ground.

A detour first we had to make to visit the Black Bay
Where many sailors perished before the dawn of day
After many photo shots the Wm Welch did sing
In tandem with the skies above the words deep gloom did bring.

With rain approaching from the West soon Loch an Draing to
leave
Across the windswept moorland our journey home to weave
The film crew well satisfied their day’s work near complete
And though the skies were dark and grey the team remained upbeat.

After loading all the gear we clambered on behind
But when we tried a right hand turn the argocat declined
Determined and unyielding it just would not respond
Raining now in Loch an Draing but blue skies far beyond.

The man behind the levers swift action he did take
To speed along the pathways straight with left hand curves to make
And when confronted with right turns slewed down to face the bend
In him we all had confidence we’d get there in the end.

Despite all the manoeuvring we soon could see Loch Ewe
To those charge with conveyance a vote of thanks is due
The film crew delighted their targets all were met
They thanked us all accordingly the day they’d not forget.

The Wreck of the William H. Welch

The William H. Welch was a Liberty Ship built for the US Maritime Commission. She became the vice-commodore ship of ten merchantmen and with these formed Convoy EN50. Their route was from London via Loch Ewe before going onwards to New York.
However, on 26 February 1944 there was one of the worst storms that local residents could ever remember and the William H. Welch became washed towards the south western shore as she missed the correct entry. Just south of the island Eilean Furadh Mor she was pushed further and further towards the shore and at 04.20 hours she struck a reef at the tip of the island. A British escort tug tried to fire a line to help save the William H. Welch but the wind was too strong. The Captain ordered the crew to put on life jackets and retreat to the area of the bridge because this was the furthest out of the water. By 6.00 hours the ship broke in two.
Although local troops, lighthouse keepers and some local people went for help. However, from a crew of 74 only 40 bodies were recovered and only 12 of these survived.

Loch an Draing
This is a deserted settlement reached by a rough track from Midtown and is an early named place. However the settlement itself could be very old as there are remains of a round house in the nearby woods.
On the 1841 census there was one household and today there are the remains of a substantial houses plus some other buildings and animal enclosures.
A side school, attached to Inverasdale School, was said to have been run from a room in the large house. It is not known when this opened but between 1879 and 1882 there were seven scholars on roll. The final mention of this side school in the Inverasdale School log books was on 7 April 1881. On the 1881 census for Loch ‘Druing’, there were two dwelling houses recorded. One was the Farm House, the house which had seven rooms with windows which showed that it certainly was much larger than the average croft house. In this lived two related families of McKenzies.

The film crew from Promontory Motion Pictures was in the general area for a week. Hector went with them on their hired argocat and quad bikes as they filmed in the Loch an Draing area. Their film can be seen on Youtube.

NOTE - THREE IMAGES MISSING FROM BOOK FILE!!