THE HUNTERSTON FUND

All members received a copy of the very costly brochure detailing Charles's aspirations for the future of the castle and surrounding area. This was produced, without prior consultation with the Clan Chief, and has proved an expensive failure and the proposals are not being pursued at the moment. The cost of the brochure and preparation of maps etc. has been borne by the Chief as he felt that the Clan Members could not be expected to fund such an abortive production.

MAIL ORDER

Please note that as the brochure was produced approximately four years ago, the prices listed are now substantially incorrect. A new price list was prepared at the endof 1988 and is available but, as a rough guide, the overall increases are of the order of 6%.

As- mentioned, elsewherein the magazine weare endeavouring to, reduce the substantial stocks of items held at theCastle,'consequentlysonmeitems may have to be'Ordere,d frem suppliers and a number of other items, such as

glassware and china, Win for the time being at any rate, notbeavailable.

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Please note, that to assist in the profitability of the Mail order, all' orders will be sent by surface mail and charged separately. Consquently, if you wish mail sent by airmail, please bring this to our attention on your order and the charge will be noted. The previous operation of quantity discount on orders in excess of one has been discontinued and will only apply where there is an order for at least ten of any specific item.

NEWS FROM SCOTLAND

Hamish and Angus, the Highland bullocks, were sold in December as they had reached maturity, and weighed 1,250 kg each. They had become too big to live permanently in the Castle paddock, and took exception to grazing with other cattle elsewhere in the Estate. This attitude manifested itself in either the jumping of fences to return to the Castle paddock, or trying to establish a 'pecking order' with the other cattle, which were less endowed with horns and protective coats. Luckily there were no serious incidents, but the risk became too great.

It is hoped that breeding Highland cows can be acquired in the near future, to produce calves each year, and the profits from their subsequent sale will be put to the Castle fund.

Any visiting Clan members can still have photographs taken of themselves with traditional Scottish livestock in front of the Castle, as the field is currently being grazed by two Galloway bullocks. Although the Galloway is as hairy as the Highland, it does not have the spectacular spread of horns.

An experiment with 80 ewes lambing in January 1988 proved successful, consequently this year 150 ewes started lambing on 2nd January (at the time of going to press 10 have still to lamb). We also experimented using ::In TIe de France ram on the crossbred ewes, which has resulted in leaner, heavier lambs being presented at market. Whilst the lambs sold successfully, we found that they were much less hardy at birth than the lambs from the more traditional Suffolk ram. The He de France ram was again put to the ewes last autumn, and we shall monitor his lambs for a second year. If it is again found that they are inactive immediately after birth, but good strong lambs later, we will next season only use him on the early lambing ewes, as they all lamb indoors where a closer watch can be kept on the ewe and attention given to the lamb in the event of difficulty.

During the last twelve months Estate staff have celebrated two major anniversaries:

In April Bob and Jean Perratt celebrated their golden wedding anniversary, and Ian and Lily Menzies celebrated their silver wedding anniversary in October. In addition, the Clan chiefs younger son Richard married Charlotte Bonar-Davies in Antigua, with a reception in London. Also, Angus, the Chiefs second-youngest son, will marry Rebecca Burrell in April.