In 1967, the Scottish Women’s Rural Institutes was celebrating their Golden Jubilee and had asked members to record the story of their parish as a National Competition. The Killearnan Story was written by Mrs Margaret Oag and creates a picture of what life was like in the area at that time. Apart from a few minor alterations, it has been left in its original form so as not to detract from the authors style and the personal point of view, of someone who, at the time, had been part of the local community for many years.
The original book was mislaid for over twenty years and it was thanks to Miss Sandra Bain that its whereabouts became clear. The original copy remains in the possession of the Killearnan S.W.I. until such a time that the group no longer exists.
Nigg SWRI won the National competition and you can also find it amongst our Nigg webpage entries. Rosemarkie SWRI and Ullapool SWRI also have their entries on their relevant community pages.
The book was republished in 1997 with assistance from the Ross and Cromarty LEADRER II Programme from the European Structural Funds and Ross & Cromarty Enterprise.
The relevant part of an Ordnance Survey Map of Scotland was reproduced by kind permission of Caledonian Books, Aberdeenshire in the 1996 reprint.