New Onich picnic site opened by special guest Ruet Deas
Nether Lochaber now has a new landmark with the recent opening of its new Onich picnic site, christened Camus à Chòis (Bay of the Nook), writes Mark Entwistle.
The project was a mammoth community effort that transformed an area of scrub land adjacent to the filling station.
Nether Lochaber Community Association, which was behind the project, said: ‘Thank you so much to all of you who attended and to all who made the day possible, from bakers to flower planters, tea and coffee makers to bunting dressers and thank-you-card creator.
‘Without you it just does not happen. Thank you also to the folk who put in the graft and heft to transform a scrubland corner into what we are all beginning to see the true and beautiful potential of.’
Ruet Deas and Kate Ward were the distinguished guests who kindly cut the ribbon.
Ruet, who is now in her 100th year, came from Dollar with her daughter Evelyn Roe, to join residents for their cele- bration, which was blessed by kind weather as well as shared memories and reunions.
Ruet’s links with the area run deep.
Her family originally moved to Onich in the 1930s, where her father, James, was involved with the starting of a new quarry in the mid-1930s.
After marrying Frank Roe in 1944 and spending periods in Kinlochleven and Falkirk, Ruet and her family moved to Fort William.
And the story comes full circle as the new picnic area is situated on a flat site originally constructed in 1938 by Ruet’s father, James Deas.