We Canna live here any more
Couple attack National Trust over lack of new families
WHEN Gordon and Denise Guthrie moved to an island with their family, they looked forward to a quieter way of life away from the rat-race.
They believed other families would follow in their wake, but 18 months later the dream of a population boom on the Hebridean outpost of Canna has turned sour.
For Mrs Guthrie and her four children have returned to the mainland, claiming the family has been let down by the National Trust For Scotland which owns the island.
Last night, she said the charity failed to live up to its end of a bargain that would see more families become residents.
Mrs Guthrie said: ‘They told us they wanted to have families on the island because that’s the only way you can have a viable community.
‘Their pitch to us was we would be the first, the biggest hurdle would be getting the first family there –
‘You cannot force people to move there’
then there would be another six months down the line, and another six months after that.’
The Guthries would never have moved to the most westerly of the Small Isles, which along with neighbouring Sanday had a population of just 13, had there been no prospect of other children joining their own.
Mrs Guthrie, 34, said: ‘We were really very excited about moving to the island. We uprooted our family and moved there, thanks to the information they gave us.’
But the Trust changed its policy six months later. Mrs Guthrie said: ‘They handed a management plan to the islanders. It stated it wasn’t a priority to bring more families to the island.’
Before moving to Canna, the couple and their children Ryan, 12, Julie-Ann, ten, Erin, eight, and fiveyear-old Gordon, lived in Hamilton, Lanarkshire. Mr Guthrie, 37, had worked in banking for several years and realised he was being driven by money and materialistic goals.
He and his wife wanted ‘something different’ as their children grew up and when they saw a house advertised by the island community they applied to become its residents.
On visiting the property they found it was ‘perfect’ and had meetings with locals and Trust managers before moving to the 4.4 square mile island, which was gifted to the Trust in 1981 by patriot and scholar John Lorne Campbell. Mrs Guthrie said: ‘It’s a really close-knit, community, your personality has to fit. When you’re living there, especially when you’re cut off from the mainland for weeks, you rely on each other.’
Mr Guthrie worked from home while Mrs Guthrie coopened Hebridean Beauty, selling local products.
All six enjoyed island life, growing vegetables and keeping animals, and were welcomed by the islanders, particularly because they brought children. But when Ryan started secondary school this year, he boarded at Mallaig, and his two sisters would follow.
This would eventually leave Gordon as the only child on the island. Mrs Guthrie said: ‘More children there would have meant we wouldn’t have concerns about our children not being socialised.’
Although Mrs Guthrie and the children now live in Motherwell, Lanarkshire, Mr Guthrie remains on the island.
A Trust spokesman said: ‘It is prospective residents who make the choice about living on Canna – the Trust cannot force famililies to move there and in any case the residential options are very limited at present.’