PETER McNEILL, governor of Campbeltown Poorhouse, referred to in Alan R. Harrow's article in the previous issue, 'A Pauper's Story', was appointed to the post in 1867 on an annual wage of £40, with £20 for his wife, Margaret Brown, as matron, and free 'accommodation, fire and light'. The advertisement for applicants, in the Argyllshire Herald of 4 May 1867, specified that 'Either Governor or Matron must be capable of communicating with the inmates in Gaelic', a condition which McNeill, who belonged to Gigha, understandably met.

ARCHIE SCOTT. In my article on the Kintyre song 'Boys of Calliburn' in the previous issue, page 23, I stated that Alex McShannon had heard the song from 'a farmworker at Amod, Glenbreackerie, Archie Scott' , about whom I knew nothing. Shortly after that issue's appearance, Andrew Ronald, who lives in retirement in his native Glenbreackerie, told me that the name was familiar to him, and that he had made enquiries and discovered that a cousin, Neil 'Crockan' Ronald, who was brought up at Culinlongart, had been a friend of Archie's, and that Neil's brother, John, believed that Archie had worked between Amod and Low Tirfergus. Does any reader have more information?

BARBARA McTAGGART. In 'William McTaggart's Siblings' (No. 81), I documented the lives of the artist's brothers and sisters, of whom Barbara was one. My wife did a good deal of genealogical research on the family, and the last record of Barbara she found was the 1881 census of Greenock, where she was living with her husband, Samuel Orr, and two sons. The explanation for her absence from later records is that they all emigrated in 1884 to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she died in 1906, aged 65. See page 8 for her granddaughter Gladys. I thank Cathy DiPietro for solving the mystery of Barbara's 'disappearance'.

DENNY LAINE, who died on 5 December, aged 79, was a member of Paul McCartney's Wings and co-wrote 'Mull of Kintyre', which, improbably, became a phenomenal commercial success when released in November 1977. Laine, who left the band in 1981, maintained that he was denied the royalties due to him as co-writer, an allegation McCartney robustly denied. Laine is still recalled by locals who patronised certain Campbeltown public bars, and a friend of mine witnessed his girlfriend - a policeman's daughter - being 'propositioned' by the musician in 1972 in the Kinloch. If Laine was soured by the disagreement over royalties, his retrospective verbal assault on Kintyre is less easily explained. He told Geoffrey Giuliano, author of Blackbird, an unauthorised biography of McCartney, published in 1991: 'The Mull was where this old lighthouse was, and for my money was actually the worst shithole in the world one could ever visit. You wouldn't go there with your worst mother-in-law. All it had was this lighthouse, a cemetery, and this shitty hotel where the band sometimes stayed. I wouldn't wish the place on my worst enemy.' This 'Mull' of Laine's recall is not a place I recognise, unless it's Southend, but I trust he is in a better place now with wings of his own!

FRANCES HOOD (nee Elder),of 'Craiglussa', Peninver, the Society's Honorary President died on 6 January in a Glasgow hospital, aged 87, and was cremated at Cardross on the 15th. Frances belonged to Strathaven, Lanarkshire and was a nurse by profession. She was stalwart of the K.A.N.H.S. and of the Friends of Campbcltown Museum, of which, with her close friend,. Lily Cregeen, she was a founder-member in 1991. Despite health problems during her final years, Frances remained socially active until several weeks before her death. Throughout her long membership of the K.A.N.H.S., she was an active presence and took on more than her share of the tasks essential in keeping a voluntary organisation alive: these offices included. secretary (until 2005), talks organiser (until 2006) and subscriptions manager (until 2011). She was also frequent contributor, on diverse subjects, to this Magazine, and compiled A Field Guide to the Archaeology of Kintyre, which the Society published in 1999. Her wide ranging interests included natural history, genealogy, and writing - she was a member of Kintyre Writers Circle - but archaeology was her enduring passion and her accomplishments in field were recognized in 2003 when she was elected to the Council Antiquaries of Scotland for a three-year term, She is survived by two sons, Harry and Allan, a third son, Iain, having died in 2014. Frances will be sorely missed by her wide circle of friends in Kintyre and beyond,. and by all the local organisations she supported. A fuller appreciation will appear in the next issue: should any of her friends wish to contribute brief tributes, please contact me for guidelines.

THE COVER ILLUSTRATION OF FRANCES, fittingly, archaeological theme, though it isn't obvious from the image itself. I took the photograph on Easter Sunday 7 April 1996, during a field walk - one of over the years - on the old Learside farm of Earadale, which had been ploughed for coniferous afforestation. The outing had been organised by Society, but only four persons joined me: Elizabeth Marrison and her son Robbie, Maureen Bell, and Frances with her dog Midge. Frances found shards of relatively modern crockery and some burnt limestone. Which was all that efforts yielded, but we were blessed with a sunny, warm day. The slide, which had to be drastically cropped to fit the cover, is of a view looking north and includes Elizaeth and Robbie on the right, with Shenachie and The Bastard them.

THE KINTYRE MAGAZINE. I reckon this is the fiftieth number of the Magazine since I became editor in 1998, after the retiral of A.I.B. Stewart; so I have spent twenty-five years in a role I consider myself privileged to occupy. During the early years, I struggled to fill the magazine, but as time went on and my contacts multiplied the task became easier. Without, the resources Of Campbeltown Library - local newspaper files, old parish records, and books - I would still struggle each issue. Thanks go to all past contributors, and - need I say? - I shall welcome new writers.