New MCDC Board Directors

At the recent AGM, five new directors were welcomed to the Board. Sam Firth, Keith Laidlaw, Kevin Laurie and Angus Robertson were elected as new board members and Clara Montgomery joined as a new Morvern Community Council representative. Kevin has since resigned as a director due to the pressures of his work load and therefore not being able to dedicate as much voluntary time to MCDC as he would have liked to. We thank him very much for his useful input during his time. Below is an introduction to each of the remaining new directors in their own words. If you would like to contact any of the directors, please email admin@morvern.org and your message will be passed on. 

Sam Firth

I’m originally from Walthamstow in East London. I’ve worked in the film industry since 1996 and have my own production company. I produced, directed and edited a feature film which is now on Amazon Prime as well as numerous short films. 

 I’ve also delivered over 13 community film projects to schools and community groups across the Highlands funded by the BFI, Community Land Scotland, HIE, and the Highland Council amongst others so I’m used to raising and managing publicly funded projects with a wide range of budgets and scope.   Some people might remember the film I did with the Lochaline children about freshwater pearl mussels.

For the last seven years I’ve taught the MA Filmmaking at the University of the West of Scotland and was programme leader for the BA Filmmaking and Screenwriting for a while.  I also help look after Rhemore Croft with my husband Alasdair which is a site of scientific interest and has some of the best examples of Hazelwood rainforests in the UK.

Before moving to Morvern, I lived in Knoydart for seven years and spent a lot of time on Eigg. I still have a strong connection to these communities. So, I have a good understanding of the long term benefits community land ownership can bring to a place, particularly for local young people. I was chair of the Knoydart Trading company while there as well as being involved in lots of other community projects like making films with community archives.

I met Jake Willis while I lived in Knoydart and so got roped into being involved in Morvern Community Woodlands as soon as I arrived which I have been involved with on and off ever since. I love doing community projects because you get to work with people from all different backgrounds and walks of life which is also what I loved about growing up in east London. 

Keith Laidlaw

I had put myself forward to serve on MCDC to assist in areas where I think I can add value to the board and therefore the community I live in. After an interesting AGM with an even more interesting deadlock, I suggested I step down from the election to allow the process to move forward and was then appointed until the next AGM to serve. 

MCDC really does punch above its weight class.  With approx. £8 million of assets with only 2 full time employees and 2 part time.  The rest of the work provided by the volunteers we have in the community. 

 My impression and part of the personal push for me to apply to serve was my perception that although MCDC really is an asset to the community there was a lack of communication with and from the community. A lack of governance within the group companies and stakeholders and a need to improve the transparency of all of our activities. With the new board now in place as from 6th January the new Chair suggested I take on the role of Treasurer for MCDC which is in effect a group CFO role.  I have shared this interesting development with some of my old colleagues from my corporate days… The general reaction was one of mirth, rolling on the floor laughing and general ribaldry.  However with my numerate background in running large IT  groups of people and managing small to large budgets I do feel I can serve in this position and support Angus the chair, the MCDC board and the associated companies of Morvolts and MCTC .

Clara Montgomery

 I am currently secretary of the Morvern Community Council and am on the MCDC board as a community council representative. I was born and raised in Morvern and have lived here most of my life. I moved away to study Zoology when I was 18 but continued to come back to Morvern to work in my holidays, building fences and removing rhododendron. I took to city living like a fish out of water, so those summers were my respite. 

After receiving my BSc degree, I moved to Thailand to work for the Karen Wildlife Conservation Initiative. This is a small organisation working with the Karen ethnic group in Eastern Myanmar to help them to protect their remote and highly biodiverse forests and local livelihoods. I worked for this organisation for 6 years, in a particularly politically sensitive environment. 

I have always known that I thrive being out and about on hills and in jungles but during this time in Thailand I also garnered a deep appreciation for working with small communities. Working with the communities living in the nature I had originally gone to protect was what made the job so special. This is a people fighting for the preservation of their traditions and their sustainable land management practises, which by default keep people connected to nature. Since then, I am deeply interested in how people are part of the landscape as opposed to simply an ecological disaster on it, and how a balance can be struck for everyone to thrive. 

During the covid-years I was living in Sweden, undertaking my Masters in Conservation Biology, making the most of pre-Brexit free top-quality education and adapting my work experiences gained in conservation to a northern European environment. Ultimately it has always been my own home that I wanted to protect and work in, so having completed my MSc in June 2023 I moved straight back to Morvern. Currently I work for the John Muir Trust as the Wild Places Data Officer, learning about Scottish land management policies and gathering evidence data linked to these, with everything from historical ecological data to UK-wide opinion polls. 

At 28 years old, I am primarily interested in simply learning how a community development company works, and using my community council role to get engaged in understanding what the wider community wants to see happen locally. Personally, I am interested in how to keep Morvern a vibrant place for young people to live in (I don’t say ‘make’, because I already think Morvern is vibrant). I am keen to think about working with developing and maintaining what we have already got, bringing the best to Morvern while also changing as little as possible. Having lived in several really wonderful places, I have only grown to appreciate Morvern more. It is home as it is and has always been. 

Angus Robertson

 I have been actively involved in community things in Morvern ever since I arrived here in the spring of 1984.

I worked as manager of Ardtornish Estate until my retirement  in 2018, when Jennie and I moved from Garden Cottage, Ardtornish, to our own home at Sruthan. I have engaged with all manner of community activities and initiatives throughout all of that time, so that makes 40 years of volunteering and still counting. 

Highlights have included: renovation of the old pier in Lochaline with LOPA (Lochaline Old Pier Association), a long early stint as Sec of MCC and another shorter one recently, the setting up of MCDC and construction of the community petrol pumps. Then the growth of MCDC with the help of project officers and including projects such as: the community hazelwoods in Lochaline, setting up the allotments, building and operating Lochaline Harbour, Miners Court housing and the Hub and playing my part in the birth of the Live Life Morvern plan. The low points have probably been all those other exciting ideas and projects that failed or haven’t yet seen the light of day. 

My biggest project and the one I am most proud of, so far, has undoubtedly been the Barr Hydro, not least because Hydro development has been such a large part of my working life and Barr is up there amongst the best of the lot.  Maybe ten years in the early development stage followed by around five in actual financing and development and now, three years to date of actual and successful operation. The consequences and potential of this scheme for the development of the communities aspirations for Morvern has yet to be realised or even properly understood, but the potential makes me very excited. I am very pleased to  have recently been re-elected onto the board of MCDC, and honoured that the board has elected me to take the Chair, for the time being at least. My own hopes are that  MCDC can work together with other key groups and all the amazing, skilled and dedicated members of our community to realise the most out of the opportunity we have to deliver as much of Live Life Morvern and other such good things as we can over the coming years.