Big Winter Raffle 2017

Each year during Februaryfest we pledge to raise as much cash as we can for worthwhile local causes. This year we’re concentrating our efforts on the provision of defibrillators for the local communities of Glencoe, Ballachulish & Onich. 

Throughout the month our staff have been busy selling tickets for our Big Winter Raffle. Not many folk escaped Katie & Ann Marie who were present during all four lectures, the gin & whisky tastings and on busy Saturday nights. Our frontline team were also on hand to twist a few arms. The swag room this year was bursting at the seams with a cart load of beer, cider, whisky, accommodation, gear, food and activity vouchers along with t-shirts, umbrellas and golf balls galore all up for grabs. 

To give an extra boost to our fundraising we cleared out the attic and held a Yard Sale providing a great opportunity to bag some Clachaig (& Grog) memorabilia

We are very grateful to our sponsor Mammut who pay for the Winter Mountain Safety Lecture Series and also a big shout to our suppliers and local businesses who get right behind our fundraising efforts with incredibly generous products & activities. But the real heroes are our customers & guests who donated generously once again and dug deep for their hard earned cash.

So a big 'Thank You' in no particular order to: 

Mammut UK

Nevisport

Letterfinlay Specialist Foods

Ice Factor

Holroyd Gallery

Dragons Tooth Golf Club

Cairngorm Brewery

Loch Lomond Brewery

Thistly Cross Cider

West Brewery

Strathavon Brewery

Orkney Brewery

Glencoe Mountain Resort

Benromach

Gordon &Macphail

J M Breckenridge 

Not forgetting Karl from Glencoe Photography for taking the snaps
Ann Marie and Will for assisting with the draw

Special thanks to the lecturers:

Andy Spink

Dave Anderson

Rich Parker

Mike Pescod

 We are still counting the pennies but we have raised over £1700 so far.

.....and the winners are!

Top prize - Rab sleeping bag. cosy cosy!

Careful what you wish for Jess

Will is always good to his mum!

Its all downhill (skiing) from here!

Beer in a bag

My neighbours look chuffed with their haul....must call round

Merlin casts a winning spell

Brolly, whisky & golf balls....new sport?

Art attack

Wow!.....suddenly this lucky lady had lots of new friends

Nice!...that will help with the bar tab

You can get a lot of smoked salmon for £50

£50 to spend at Nevisport....and there's a sale on!

 18 holes of golf - he's never been so happy

Well done Ann Marie & Will

And the band played on. Great tunes from HoRo

See you all next year

35 years and counting...

So there we are waxing lyrical about how the Daynes family are celebrating 25 years at Clachaig, only to be upstaged by our longest serving member of the Clachaig team.

It seems we have another 10 years to go before we catch up with Doris, Clachaig's keeper of the books. Doris let slip that she came to work at Clachaig in May 1974, for Rory MacDonald (who originally hung the now famous No Hawkers, No Campbells sign in reception) and hasn't been able to escape since.

There's not much that Doris hasn't seen here at Clachaig over the last 35 years. However, we did manage to surprise her with a big bunch of flowers, a bottle of bubbly and a '3 Sisters of Glencoe' cake (made by another of our multi-talented office staff). Not much got done that afternoon!

Fishy Tale!

When it comes to lost property we’ve probably seen it all over the last 25 years. From ill advised bobble hats, gloves, jackets, boots & walking poles to mobile phones, wallets, specs & car keys, you wouldn’t believe the things our customers leave behind.

We recently received a desperate email from one of our self-catering guests trying to locate her sons pet sharks. The poor lad was beside himself as he had inadvertently left them behind in the bath. With the theme from Jaws ringing in their ears our housekeeping staff were pleasantly surprised to find they were only the plastic toy variety. They were quickly dispatched courtesy of the Royal Mail – you should have seen the look we got from the local postmistress when she asked what the contents were.

Happily they are reunited with their grateful owner who kindly sent us a little thank you note…Say Ahhh!

Evening on the Pap of Glencoe

So after 25 years in Glencoe (see entry below), doesn't it get a bit boring? The standard answer is that you've certainly got to want to be here, and it won't suit everyone. But here's a quick reason why it suits me.

Last night after a long day in the office I decided to go and have a wander round the garden. Spring being the time of year when you get into your garden again. Thing is, my back garden extends all the way up the Pap of Glencoe.

Despite having had a fairly lethargic start to the year, with far too many pies and far too few training sessions, I was quite pleased to be still able to get to the top in 51 minutes from the door. Mind you, there's still a whole lot of training to squeeze in before the Ben Nevis Race comes around again in September. From the summit, the sun and cloud over Loch Linnhe was working well, so it was worth taking 10 minutes to soak it all in before heading back down. 20 minutes later and back in the house once more.

Beats Eastenders any day!