Sally SpavenChair of the Highland Mainline Community Rail Partnership is Sally Spaven. In her working life she encompassed hospitality and tourism, covering hotels, the whisky industry, VisitScotland and finally was a registered “Blue Badge” guide for Scotland, becoming Chair of the Scottish Tourist Guides Association during its formative years and hosting the WFTGA International Conference in Scotland in 2003 on Sustainable Tourism, the only time it has been held in Scotland. She is currently also Administrator for the Pitlochry Partnership.
Sally was an early member in 1994 of “Pitlochry in Bloom” which achieved great success in both Scotland and Britain in Bloom, Entente Florale and Communities in Bloom in Canada, chairing the group from 2004 to 2015. An early project was the restoration of the Armoury Park behind Pitlochry Railway Station, the first such project to receive ERDF funding and opened by John Swinney MSP in 2002. The “Bloom” group adopted Pitlochry Station and were involved in the Pitlochry Station Liaison Group headed by the late Priscilla Lorimer, who instigated the famous Pitlochry Station Bookshop. Since that time Pitlochry Railway Station has gone from strength to strength winning three Heritage Awards in 2014 and in 2019, the NRA for Best Medium Station in the UK. This pretty Grade A listed station always looks stunning in Spring and Summer with wooden and metal planters, hanging baskets and a wooden barrel train. This group took part in the recent document sponsored by the Rail Delivery Group on The Value of Community Rail.
Sally was appointed as the representative of Pitlochry to the newly formed HML CRP Steering Group during its formative years of 2013/14 whilst celebrating the 150th anniversary of the line opening and in 2015 was appointed Chair by the Executive. Sally worked on the Heritage Line Guide, the restoration of the MacFarlane Fountain, “Highland Fling”, numerous smaller events up and down the line and most recently “The Travelling Classroom”. She also worked on the two HML CRP websites and is a passionate champion of Community Rail. Stakeholders are kept informed by her regular newsletters.
Roy BrownRoy Brown is currently Vice Chair of the Highland Mainline Community Rail Partnership. A passionate environmentalist and member of the Green Party; a Woodland Trust volunteer warden for the local Glencharnoch Woods in Carrbridge; and campaigns for a dedicated Non-Motorised Route (NMU) to link Carrbridge with Aviemore and beyond.
Roy has a company distributing and selling environmentally friendly paints and wood finishes. He also works for the Black Isle Brewery, which makes delicious organic beer in the Highlands.
Roy was a founder member in 2007 of "The Friends of Carrbridge Station" along with Gus Carnegie and Shona Rankin. The group numbers seven couples and families who plant and maintain the floral displays in winter and summer at Carrbridge Station. They take on the watering on a roster throughout the summer months. A great credit to Roy's foresight, as this delightful station always looks stunning with wooden planters, whisky barrels and in summer hanging baskets. All planted up by the "Friends" in the old waiting room at the Station. This group took part in the recent document sponsored by the Rail Delivery Group on The Value of Community Rail.
Roy was appointed as the representative of Carrbridge to the newly formed HML CRP Steering Group during its formative years of 2013/14 and in 2017 was elected Vice Chair by the Executive. Roy has formulated the Station Audit document, kept Network Rail on the spot with their prolific use of weedkiller in the Cairngorms National Park and taken on the social media for the CRP. Firstly Facebook, then Twitter and more recently Instagram to promote and communicate the partnership’s work. He also regularly gets involved in litter picking and questioning the increasing proliferation of graffiti on the iconic Highland Main Line.
In 2018 Roy won the first ‘ScotRail Community Volunteer of the Year’ award.
Kate M HowieKate was elected to the Highland Ward of Perth & Kinross Council and served for nearly 10 years. She previously had a 37 year British Army career where she developed strong leadership and communication skills, gained experience in human resources and managing public funds, as well as expertise in transportation and logistics. She has a strong interest in ensuring local communities are fully involved in the decision making process and that there is a sustainable rural economy and a thriving tourism industry in Highland Perthshire. Since retiring from the Council she has continued her interests in the community as Chair of Pitlochry in Bloom, Trustee of the local radio Heartland and Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Secretary and Treasurer of the only community owned ex railway bridge in Scotland at Logierait and Treasurer of the Highland Main Line Community Rail Partnership since its inception.
Lachlan MacEwanLachlan MacEwan was born in 1962 in the Aberfeldy Cottage Hospital (where second babies were born if you lived in Inchmagrannachan). Lachlan has lived in the PH8 area all his life and became involved in community groups from an early age. Lachlan’s mother was a teacher at the Royal School of Dunkeld for many years, which he and his sisters attended before moving on to Breadalbane. Both Lachlan’s sons attended RSD and both attend Breadalbane now. Along with Gillian (his wife), Lachlan has run their business, Lachman Friday, from Inchmagrannachan since 1992. Both their sons also get involved with the business and help out during school holidays. Lachlan is currently the Chair of the Dunkeld & Birnam events group, which is responsible for organising Santa Day and is also a local community councillor.
Simon HinsleySimon Hinsley is the newest member of the Highland Mainline CRP and is the representative for Aviemore station.
Simon is a chartered civil engineer by profession albeit has now retired (a little early!) and relocated from Manchester to Kingussie. His working career has been spent in delivering major projects in the water industry and, for the last 6 years prior to retirement, as senior project manager with HS2 responsible for the 30km route section north of Birmingham to Lichfield.
Since relocating to the area in 2022, Simon divides his time between home improvement projects and volunteering as part of Kingussie Community Development Company's small army of footpaths volunteers, the Strathspey Steam Railway permanent way gang and, of course, the Highland Mainline Community Rail Partnership.
Viv CreeViv Cree is currently Chair of the Friends of Blair Atholl Station, the most recent member of the HMLCRP. She is Chair of Blair Atholl & Struan Community Council and a trustee of the Blair Atholl & Struan Initiative. Viv lives in Blair Atholl and is passionate about history, trains and railways, and, of course, books. A retired academic from The University of Edinburgh, she has been a committee member and volunteer at the Pitlochry Station Bookshop for the last three years. Last winter, she created a series of podcasts on the History of Pitlochry Station bookshop. The podcasts tell the story not just of the bookshop, but of the wider context within which it emerged. You can access the podcasts for free here.
The Friends of Blair Atholl station came together early in 2023, when a group of local people decided that they wanted to do something about the station and the stationhouse, a grade B listed, stone building, which had, in its day, been very grand indeed, but which had now been empty for 40 years or more. It wasn’t that nobody had cared about it. Kate Howie had kindly managed four planters on the platforms for some years, but otherwise, the station felt neglected and decidedly unloved. We decided to try to do something about this! So, six of us have taken over the planters – painting, planting, watering and weeding – and we pick up litter and generally keep the station looking as welcoming as it can be. We also hope – with ScotRail’s help - to refurbish the small waiting room on the ‘down’ platform. But longer term, we have plans to re-open the stationhouse for community use and affordable housing. To do this, we need institutional support and, with that in mind, we are now constituted as a subgroup of Blair Atholl & Struan Initiative. We also need a much bigger group of people, and there are currently 30 people actively engaged in taking this project forward, working on publicity (through social media and email); on applications for funding; and on a heritage project to raise awareness of, and interest in, the stationhouse. We have a long way to go, but with so many committed ‘friends’ to help us, who knows what’s possible?
Lara FaheyRaised in Australia before moving to Scotland for university, Lara graduated with a BSc (Hons) Biology degree from the University of St Andrews, specialising in marine biology and ecology. She then started work as the first Campus Cycling Officer, and subsequently Sustainable Transport Officer, with Transition University of St Andrews. After a brief period in the Netherlands, Lara worked for Sustrans Scotland on the Active Travel Champions project.
Lara joined the EAUC Scotland team in August 2022 as Scotland Sustainability Project Officer. Her role involves running events and creating resources for EAUC’s Further and Higher Education members, on topics such as transport, climate adaptation and waste. You can find some of her latest publications on the EAUC website, including the Business Travel Guide for FHE, Climate Risk Register and Tool and Reducing Aviation Emissions in the Tertiary Education and Research Sector Briefing Paper.
Lara now lives locally in Kingussie and is involved in a number of community projects including being a member of the Highlands and Islands Climate Hub, volunteering with Caberfeidh Horizons, part of the Kingussie Bikeathon organising committee, along with running a social board gaming group. Her lifelong passion for trains and sustainable transport has meant that being part of the Highland Main Line Community Rail Partnership was a natural fit.
If you are interested in getting involved with the rail partnership in Kingussie and sustainable transport projects more generally, please reach out to Lara via LinkedIn. She hopes to create a group of interested individuals to improve sustainable transport in the local area.
The latest Highland Mainline Community Rail Partnership seasonal newsletter
