Port officer is honoured at meeting with the Queen
A CALMAC port assistant was invited to join Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at an exclusive gathering at the start of the month.
John MacDonald, who has worked for CalMac for 10 years and is based at Lochmaddy Port Office, was one of just 30 Scots invited to the reception at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in recognition of his work to bring together an archive of David MacBrayne artefacts and memorabilia.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh spent time chatting with each of the invitees about their individual achievements.
Mr MacDonald said: ‘I spoke to both the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh individually.
‘The Queen was very nice and interested in what I had done.
‘The Duke of Edinburgh was very chatty and had a great sense of humour.’
He went on: ‘It was a real surprise. I hadn’t known anything about it until about a week before.
‘The day I got home to find the invitation – which is now part of the exhibition at the port office – I felt honoured and really proud that the archive and exhibition had caught someone’s attention to the extent that they nominated me as a CalMac representative.
‘It was a real day to remember and I’m humbled to have had the opportunity’ he added.