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A Caledonian MacBrayne port assistant joined the Queen and Prince Philip at an exclusive gathering recently.

John MacDonald - who works at the Lochmaddy ferry office - attended a private reception at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.

The invite from the Queen was in recognition of his work to bring together an archive of David MacBrayne artefacts and memorabilia.

He was nominated to join a group of just 30 people from across Scotland.

 

 

Caledonian MacBrayne worker meets the Queen  

21 July 2016

Both the Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh spent plenty of time with the small gathering, chatting to all the invitees and hearing about the various items of interest which they have individually achieved.

“I spoke to both The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh individually,” said John. “The Queen was very nice and interested in what I had done. The Duke of Edinburgh was very chatty and had a great sense of humour.

“It was a real surprise – I hadn’t known anything about it until about a week before. The day I got home to find the invitation – which is now part of the exhibition at the port office – I felt honoured and really proud that the archive and exhibition had caught someone’s attention to the extent that they nominated me as a CalMac representative.

John has worked for CalMac for 10 years, but his interest in the company began years before that and has seen him amassing this special collection over more than two decades.