After considerable effort by various staff, directors and volunteers of ScotWays, we have at last identified a location as a focus of our fundraising for a memorial to our late president, Donald Bennet. Many of you will be aware of the extensive damage on the Mar Lodge estate in the Cairngorms resulting from widespread flooding last summer. The destruction included the bridge over the Derry Burn beside Derry Lodge, which forms a key link in access to the Lairig Ghru and the Lairig an Laoigh.

The Mar Lodge Estate belongs to the National Trust for Scotland so we have been in discussions with them about the project. They will have the final say on the type of bridge which is put up, and it will not be in exactly the same place as the one which was lost as the banking has also been damaged by the floods, but we understand that it will be in the vicinity. They advise us that the cost of the bridge, including abutments, is likely to be in the region of £40,000, so this is our target. 

The Derry Burn crossing is an ideal location for a bridge in memory of Donald since it is on a right of way described in our book Scottish Hill Tracks and enables access to these two major routes. In addition to our own membership, we hope that members of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, the Cairngorm Club and other similar organisations will be willing to support the replacement of the Derry bridge. As well as being a key figure in ScotWays history, Donald was of course one of the founding members of MCofS, a keen mountaineer and editor of Scottish Hill Tracks.

If you would like to contribute towards the replacement of this important link, there are various ways in which you can do so. 

You can send a cheque or CAF voucher, payable to ScotWays, to our office. Please make it clear that your donation is intended for the Donald Bennet memorial fund.

If you use online banking, payments can be made to our Donald Bennet Memorial Appeal account. Please contact the office for the account details.

  You can also donate by card right here on our website. 

Many thanks from ScotWays to all who are able to contribute to the Donald Bennet Memorial Appeal.

***STOP PRESS***

ScotWays is pleased to announce that a temporary bridge has been installed over the Derry Burn. This temporary replacement was sourced by ScotWays and bought with the support of the Brown Forbes Trust and Scottish Natural Heritage; we understand that the National Trust for Scotland is likely to use it elsewhere on the Mar Lodge Estate once a permanent bridge is in place. ScotWays is continuing to raise funds for the permanent replacement –  we are now more than half way towards our fundraising target and all donations are very welcome. We anticipate the Donald Bennet memorial bridge over the Derry Burn will be installed next year.