The first we knew of Golspie's Manifest was when, during yesterday's walk through the woods below Beinn Bhraggie, we came across small parties of attendees in full Scottish dress carrying saltires, some of whom seemed rather lost and weary, and had to ask us the way to the summit.
They were on their way to the main event of the three-day Manifest when banners were unfurled and speeches made to promote Scottish independence, with the Duke of Sutherland - known locally as the Mannie - the centre of their protest. The event drew together supporters from all over Scotland though, both from what we observed and from comments in the report in The National newspaper - link here - the turnout was disappointing.
While many Golspie residents seem to have a very tolerant attitude towards the duke, despite his reputation as one of the leaders of the clearances in the early 19th century, they certainly aren't royalists. To our knowledge, no jubilee parties took place in Golspie, only one shop in Main Street sported a Union Jack, and the only house decorated for the occasion was one of our neighbours, where a couple of strings of plastic flags lined the front of their house.
This local lack of enthusiasm seems to mirror Scotland as a whole where many areas showed scant interest in the celebrations. Some argue that support for independence is increasing and this may have had an effect on people's attitudes to the jubilee.
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