THE National Trust for Scotland’s decision to close down the Bannockburn site until at least 2022 comes as no surprise to anyone who has had dealings with that body to continue the long-established right to march there in annual commemorations.
They have to be continually reminded that they only hold the land in trust for the people of Scotland and not for the politics of the private landlords, titled people and political appointees, such as Kneel Oliver, who made a partisan public speech shortly before the annual event last year, praising the holiness of the so-called “Union” of 1707.
The annual commemoration to the site has continued from centuries before the “Trust” was born, including mass rallies by Covenanters, trade unionists, miners, Republican Chartists, Scottish nationalists and republican socialists, all to a pile of stones in a field. We did not need the NTS then, nor do we need them now to mark this historical and political annual event.
READ MORE: National Trust chief defends Bannockburn closure plans
Amongst the founding members of the SNP was Roland E Muirhead, a republican socialist and owner of a tanning factory near Wemyss Bay, which was visited by Theresa May in one of the Tory closed visits to Scotland. What Roland E Muirhead would have to say to his grandchildren inheritors leaves little to the imagination. What all of them would have to say to the present-day National Trust should leave even less to the imagination. Roland was also a founder of the William Wallace Society, which is now a residual “apolitical” charitable trust, opposed to political speeches, banners and stalls and out of the hands of the SNP.
Compare that to informative Smith Museum in Albert Street, Stirling, which has exhibits on ancient Stirling, in the heart of Scotland, through the ages, including the Scottish Wars of Independence, and from Jacobitism to Jacobinism, the 1820 Insurrection Martyrs whose leaders were hung near the castle, plus many more local and national historical iconic and important events n our beleaguered history. It is hoped this will continue after the retirement last year of curator Elspeth King.
READ MORE: Bannockburn closed until 2022 under Scots National Trust plans
The NTS chose to do away with public toilets at Bannockburn for the convenience of visitors, forcing rally organisers to hire Portaloos. As well as trying to place every obstacle imaginable in the way in support of Labour’s obstructive Public Order Act, they tried to charge for £1 million insurance last year.
The cross-party SRSM took over the responsibility of continuing the rally when the SNP gave it up, hoping the SNP would return to its politically, historical, social and cultural past. We passed it on the AUOB this year and hoped their internal restructuring would not get in the way of maximum unity, keeping the vent open to all.
As for the National Distrust, we also hope that something better will come out of this pandemic. The nation deserves better.
Donald Anderson
Glasgow
THE closure of the iconic Bannockburn Heritage Centre until 2022 in my opinion is an act of cultural and historical vandalism by the National Trust for Scotland, which I suspect is led by Unionists like Neil Oliver who really want to see it closed for good.
We Scots are defined by our history and the great historic victory in the Wars of Scottish Independence at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 gave us our freedom as an independent nation for several hundred years.
We as the people of Scotland will not allow our Bannockburn Heritage Centre to close down, as all Scots deserve to learn about the history of our nation. We have to as independence supporters campaign to save this iconic centre.
Sean Clerkin
Barrhead
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