Iain Petrie

It is my pleasure as Beauly Shinty Club President to present an update on our activities so far in 2023. While this list is not extensive, it will hopefully give you a flavour of some of the work that has been going on across all age groups at the club.

I’d like to take this time to also thank all of our sponsors for ensuring that such a breadth of activity is able to take place.  I extend that gratitude to our dedicated coaches, volunteers, and supporters who selflessly devote their time and energy to ensure the smooth functioning of our club. Your unwavering commitment and boundless enthusiasm are the pillars that hold Beauly Shinty Club together.

Yours in shinty,

Iain Petrie

Girls rule…

Beauly Shinty Club are delighted to announce that we are  now running girls only sessions to encourage more girls into the sport with a long term aim of starting a women’s team. Coach Barrie MacDonald runs the sessions for girls 5-14 on Monday evenings between 6:30 and 7:30, the first of which took place towards the end of April in preparation for Beauly entering a Camanachd Association run girls only tournament at Braeview Park.

The club are delighted to say that uptake has been great with over 25 girls turning up to training most weeks, this meant that Beauly were able to enter two teams to the tournament and ideally, we will have our own women’s team in the coming years. We would really encourage parents who might have young ones interested to get in touch with the club either on social media or beaulyshintyclub@gmail.com.

Steady progress for senior teams…

At the time of writing, Beauly senior team have amassed 8 points in 10 games which sees them in 9th position midway through their first season in the Premiership. 8 hard earned points means the start of the season has been a relative success but still with much work to do in the 2nd half of the campaign to achieve their start of season goals.

The second team are also adjusting to life in a new league and boast 12 points after 12 games leaving the club sixth in the division. Stepping up a level is always difficult but the commitment shown by our crop of (mostly) young players is admirable, however, with the teams only around halfway through their season, there is still plenty of time to make 2023 an even greater success.

Junior sides enjoy successful 1st half of season

Both the U14s and U17s have enjoyed a successful first half of the season.

U14s:

Beauly won 100% of their competitive matches this side of the Summer break and have put themselves in a great position for the 2nd half of the season, the club topped its League with 8 points from 4 games, beating local rivals Lovat and Inverness home and away. In the cup it has also been a strong start, first knocking out handy west coast outfit Kinlochshiel before triumphing against Lovat again at home to book their place in the semi-finals.

We were also delighted to win the George Phimister 6s at Strathglass for U14s, picture below.

U17s:

The U17s got off to a tumultuous start this season with a change in management on the eve of the season and that was reflected in the first two results, a defeat at Glenurquhart away before being put out of the MacTavish Juvenile by a strong Inverness side at home. Since then however, it has been 5 games, 4 wins and a draw which has put a positive spin on what looked like it could’ve been a tricky campaign.

Beauly players recognised with International call-up

The club were delighted that no fewer than 6 (yes six!) of our U17 squad were selected to play for Scotland U17s on their tour of Ireland in July. The players are:

  • Lennox Stewart – Sponsored by MKM Building Supplies
  • Charlie MacRae – Sponsored by PeterGow.co.uk
  • Callum MacIver – Sponsored by M Murray Roofing
  • Torrin Cairns – Sponsored by J Stewart Property Services
  • Finlay “Stork” MacLennan – Sponsored by Watson & Carrel
  • Thomas MacKinnon – Sponsored by Ferries Kitchens & Bedrooms

Everyone at the club is extremely proud of the boys for being selected to represent Scotland. Current Beauly U17 Co-Manager Aarron Duncan-MacLeod said:

“It’s testament to the ability of our youngsters that they make up 38% of the Scotland squad, there are over 50 clubs in shinty and for our village to have 6 U17 Internationals this year is incredible. Credit must also go to current 1st Team coaches Niall MacLennan & Gregor MacCormick who have moved these players up through the ranks from Primary, through to U14s and U17s and have progressed the boys both technically but also mentally to get them to the highest level.”

Shinty Memories continues to connect generations

We were delighted to host our 2nd Shinty Memories event of 2022 in May as over 25 locals came together to enjoy a talk from Shinty Academic and Historian Dr Hugh Dan MacLennan. The talk centred around the history of broadcasting with a supplementary focus on Beauly and how shinty developed in the area. The club is keen to connect to people of all ages and the Shinty Memories project has enabled us to reach out to ex players, coaches and fans, bringing them together to bond over shared memories. Thanks to Church of Scotland Hall for providing the venue and to Donald “Clechan” MacLennan for all of his hard work.

Highland X success for team green

Beauly Shinty Club’s Vice President, Steven MacKenzie, Junior Club President, Jamie MacLennan and Child Protection Officer, Rhona Morrison once again took on the Highland X in aide of charity. The team raised over £1600 for the various charities that were supported by the Highland Cross this year and, importantly, managed to survive the harsh sun on the day. We are very proud that despite the challenging financial times for the club we are still able to dedicate time, energy and money to worthy causes across the Highlands of Scotland.

Junior Club Skills Night Success

The club once again held a successful skills night at Braeview Park to mark the transition to another school year for all of our Primary Players. You can see a whole selection of photos below.

P6/7 Winners

Coaches POTY – Brodie MacMillan
Players POTY – Hughie Evans
Technical Ability – Ryan Mellis
Most Improved – Rajwinder Singh
Skills Night – Rajwinder Singh

P4/5 Winners 

Skills Night – Evie MacDonald

Coaches POTY – Jack Noble

Players POTY – Evie MacDonald

P1-3 Winners

Coaches POTY – Lexie Ross
Players POTY – Luca Ross
Skills Night – Luca Ross

GILLIAN MACDONALD SPIRIT OF SHINTY AWARD WINNER

Lexie Ross

Something old, something new

The club are determined to maintain and enhance their position within the local community and that has led to an old favourite being refreshed and a newcomer being resurrected!

The annual shinty club sale of work has long been a fixture in the village calendar but had to be suspended in 2021 and 2022 due to COVID concerns.  This allowed the club time to rethink the format and it reappeared in 2023 with fewer stalls but offering teas and coffees.  All involved agreed the new format was more sustainable and there are plans to add an auction section for 2024.  Our thanks to all the supporters and local businesses for their donations and making it such a success.

The club also held their first Burns NIght in 2020 but again COVID forced its cancellation in 2021 and 2022.  The evening is a traditional Burns Supper with Burns themed songs, music, poems and speeches but with a shinty flavour to all the proceedings.  Thanks to all the performers who made the evening a roaring success.