Wester Ross is remembrance spotlight
The community around Wester Ross are in the spotlight for this year’s Remembrance Day coverage, with two major TV programmes covering the WW2 Russian Arctic Convoys.
The BBC filmed recently around Loch Ewe for the main Cenotaph programme which goes out on Sunday, November 13.
Fronted by David Dimbleby, the coverage will include a four-minute section on the Arctic Convoys, with several local people being interviewed, including John Murdo and Chrissie MacKenzie from Cove. Mention is also made to the plans for a Russian Arctic Convoy Museum in Aultbea on the shores of Loch Ewe to honour the veterans and tell the story of this remarkable part of WW2 history. The museum will form part of the regeneration plan for the area, together with a new community centre.
Museum project chairman Francis Russell is delighted with the coverage. "The group here in Aultbea are working hard to fundraise for this important project and we are so pleased with the media coverage that the area, and our museum plans, are receiving."
The second major coverage will be a BBC documentary filmed around Loch Ewe shown on the BBC News Channel and World TV. The half-hour documentary interviews many of the convoy veterans and some of the local Wester Ross community who attended the 70th anniversary memorial service held on the shores of Loch Ewe in August. This programme goes out on the BBC News Channel on Saturday, November 12 at 5.30am, 2.30pm, 9.30pm and on Sunday, November 13 at 3.30am, 2.30pm and 11.30pm. It will also be shown as a shorter version on BBC Breakfast Television over the Remembrance Day weekend.
For further information about the Russian Arctic Convoy Museum go to www.russianarcticconvoymuseum.co.uk or email info@russianarcticconvoymuseum.co.uk or telephone 01445 731093.
Highlighting the legacy of the WW2 Russian Arctic Convoys is central to the project plans for a Russian Arctic Convoy Museum in Aultbea, Wester Ross. The museum project is a key part in the Aultbea Regeneration Plan, together with a new community centre.
Loch Ewe i was where nineteen of the convoys leaving for Russia departed. A further 23 left from Liverpool, Clyde, Oban and Reykjavik and 36 sailed from Russia to the UK.
Over 3,000 men lost their lives in the convoys.
The community around Loch Ewe held a 70th anniversary Memorial Service on August 20 this year to commemorate the first convoy to leave for Russia – "Operation Dervish" which took Hurricanes and RAF pilots to Murmansk. It was attended by HRH Prince Michael of Kent, top diplomats, fourteen veterans and over 300 from the local community.
Aultbea Village Hall is holding a special Remembrance Day Film Night on Friday, November 11 at 7pm. Showing is the new film Hurricanes to Murmansk – the story of the first convoy to Russia. Admission is free.
