Keil school centenary celebrated in Kintyre
MacKinnon-MacNeill Trust bursaries are still available
Last month, about 50 former pupils of Keil School made their way to Kintyre to celebrate the centenary of the founding of the school at Keil House in Southend.
Activities began on the Friday afternoon when Andrew MacKinnon, chairman of the MacKinnon-MacNeill Trust, unveiled a plaque on the statue of Sir William McKinnon in Campbeltown, to acknowledge his contribution, together with that of his nephew Duncan MacNeill to the establishment of the school.
Among those present were three Arran ‘boys’: Iain Glen (1953-58) and Donald Brown (1947-51) from Corriecravie, and Colin Fleming (1955-60) from Whiting Bay.
Sir William MacKinnon was born in Campbeltown in 1823, and it is believed that his parents, Duncan MacKinnon and Isabella Currie, came from Arran.
He became a businessman and ship-owner and built up substantial commercial interests in India and East Africa.
He established the British India Line and was the founder and president of the British East Africa Company.
He and Duncan MacNeill left bequests which were used to form the MacKinnon-MacNeill Trust with a mandate ‘to provide for the education of deserving Highland lads’.
By 1915, the trust had accumulated sufficient funds to set up Kintyre Technical School at Southend with James Mason as the headmaster. The school was to be open to boys from the counties of Argyll and Inverness, from Bute and Arran and the Western High- lands and Islands, with most being supported with bursaries provided by the Trust.
Among the first intake of 18 boys were four from Arran: G.C. Kerr and A MacMillan from Lochranza, John Craig from Machrie and David Cook from Sliddery.
Following a disastrous fire in 1924, the school relocated to Helenslee House in Dumbarton, where it remained, apart from 1941-46 when it evacuated to Clachan in Kintyre.
In later years, the school expanded to around 200 pupils and began to accept girls and day pupils from the surrounding area. Sadly, a declining number of boarding pupils and other financial pressures made closure of the school in 2001 inevitable.
Over the years, many Arran boys and latterly some girls completed their secondary education at Keil, but the expansion of Lamlash School from a Junior Secondary to a High School in 1974, and similar changes in other parts of the Highlands, reduced the need for a school like Keil. However, the MacKinnon-MacNeill Trust continues to support the education of students from the original catchment area by the provision of bursaries towards university or other college education.
The statue of Sir William MacKinnon was originally erected in the port city of Mombasa, but following Kenyan independence in 1963, the new government requested its removal. The Trust arranged its transport to Helenslee where it remained until 2001 when the Rotary Club of Campbeltown and others funded its return to his birthplace.
Further information on MacKinnon-MacNeill Trust bursaries can be found on the Keil School Old Boys website at www.keilschoololdboysclub.co.uk.