Corrie Church, Torridon

[Peter Finlay]

John, more from you and others - so much - and I was so wanting to add some photos. I even have one of the Mackenzies in front of Bayview about 1977. I am sure you would love to see it. Tried posting it but was told too many pixels and I haven't a clue how to reduce them! I could email it to you if I had your email address - I tried putting mine in, just told - not allowed! Perhaps you could explain the mysteries of pixel reduction. (my son just tried on phone and it became totally complicated and confusing!) I have spent at least 2 hours trying to do it myself! You've got lots of good size photos up there - lovely one of view from Bayview and another of Donnie Merchant's charming shop. One minor point - my name is Finlay with no 'D'. As if it matters! I should use the Gaelic spelling which looks so much more interesting - Fhionnlaidh! I have pictures of the Ploc service too but so many of the pictures on that site are wonderful records of old Torridon and I can see old men I knew when I was there as schoolboys! So thanks to all who have contributed - just wish I knew how to add a few more photos of Torridon in the seventies. Maybe chance will eventually take me to pixel reduction! Otherwise I'll try again when my son comes here!

[john]

Ooops, sorry, Peter. I should have been more careful with the spelling of your name.

Pixel reduction is no real mystery. In whatever application you use to view your images, you will probably have a way to resize these. You may find that you have various size options listed - cms, inches, pixels, etc. Simply choose pixels and save the image as 690pixels [the longest side]. Before doing this, it would be safest to make a copy of the image before resizing to leave you with the original unaltered.

However, if you do want to email them to me, I will send you a private message [PM] here with an email address for me. Hopefully, your email service does not limit image size. If you do this, I can resize and either return them to you or post them here on your behalf.

[Peter Finlay]

John, I might - or might not have found a way to do it! This is to go with your picture of Donnie's merchandise shop over the road. It was completely simple with only the minimum of what local people wanted and perhaps what they would have wanted for generations before, and the kind of things you would never find on Amazon however long you searched! He was just as he looks here - full of a quiet goodness and the sort of whom there were not a few in Torridon - they would never think of themselves as 'worthy' to go forward to the communion table at the Lord's Supper, which was only held once a year. Very different times. Good times. If this doesn't work I will email it to you and perhaps you could attach it to what I have written.

[Peter Finlay]

I am going to have to be very careful in what I write as, very strangely for a site which people use for climbing our highest mountains, if you happen to mistakenly write something that could lead someone to danger you cannot edit out what you have said. I think this is irresponsible. I can see nothing to tell you you cannot edit once you have submitted your post. After much hard searching I found that apparently you could edit - so long as you did it less than 10 (TEN!!!) minutes after you had submitted! Unbelievable!!! And even though they say this I can right now see no edit button anywhere!

I was about to continue with why I wanted to edit something I have written. It would only have made sense if it was connected to what I wanted it connected to - on the same page at least - only to find that the whole of the first half of this topic has disappeared! Without that it would make no sense! I shall try 'Preview' and see if the absent half re-appears..........Now I have previewed and it is as I feared. I am going to submit in the hope that someone on walkhighlands will get back to me so that I can do what I feel needs to be done to correct the impression I may have given in something I said about Corrie Church.

[Peter Finlay]

I have tried to re-do this by going on to walkhighlands again, double checking that I was connecting to the FULL stream on this topic. I could see that it was ALL there. As soon as I clicked on the 'Post a reply' button immediately ALL OF THE STREAM DISAPPEARED. II feel totally frustrated by this wretched site.

[Peter Finlay]

I have at last got a reply from a walkhighland official, Paul Webster, who thinks by removing one unintended word from a post I will throw the whole thing into confusion! The word was 'casino' and it was unfair of me to use it. In fact the new owners of the Corrie Church have been in touch with me and they are very friendly people. I apologise publicly to them here in case they should ever see that thoughtless word. They clearly love the place and they definitely have saved the building from going to wrack and ruin. For this I thank them.

I would have liked to remove my last two posts as their critical note on walkhighland is out of tune with my feelings for Torridon. Of course this would not be allowed as they have both been there long over 10 minutes. I think walkhighland needs to be more sympathetic to folk who are just starting out with them and allow them to correct any unintended things they might have posted. Totally incomprehensible that dangerous advice could easily be left for ever.

[Peter Finlay]

And of course I should have thanked John who explained to me the very hidden ways in which you might just be able to contact someone in this so difficult-to-access organisation. Thank you very much indeed John, and I have very much appreciated all your contributions and your kind words to me!

[Sunset tripper]

Peter. After you have put something up for everyone to read I think it is fair that you are unable to remove it. People may have read it and replied to it and if you then change things it does get confusing. I'm not sure what you meant by casino but you wrote it and folk read it. If you have changed your mind or a word appeared by mistake you can point that out in a subsequent post, which you did to an extent.
But you are right it is good to think about what you say and be careful before you say it.
Especially in real life where you have no option to delete it.
All the best

[john]

Peter has contributed considerably to this topic and provided a wonderful insight to the history and recent development of Torridon. Like many of us, he may have expressed his disappointment of how things and places have changed instead of being preserved for others to appreciate as they originally were.

I think that is the important part of the topic and the way those views have been expressed, by not only Peter, can be recognised as such.

[Paul Webster]

Just to correct any misunderstandings in this thread, Peter asked us to remove sections of what he has written in past posts - not just a word - and also complained strongly that users cannot retrospectively alter their old posts in discussion threads after others have posted replies.

We responded to his request yesterday (Sunday) within 3 hours, explaining that you can't usually edit old posts in public discussion forums on websites, as it enables people to change what they have said based on subsequent responses and breaks the discussion. Instead I explained it is usually better if you have changed your mind to make another post explaining this. This makes for an open forum where it is clear to everyone what is happening.

If a post is in breach of the moderation policy then that is a different matter and such posts may be edited/ removed regardless of the posters' wishes.

As sunset tripper says do think about what you say before you post - and we'd encourage people only to post things they'd be happy to say to others face-to-face.

[Peter Finlay]

Perhaps let the last word be with this picture of Corrie Church as she was in 1974 with her little turret still in place. Behind is Beinn Dearg - 914m and the nearest Corbett to being a Munro (according to walkhighland). I would wish the peace and the blessing that this church stood for to continue here for all who might walk by - or climb these wonderful mountains.

[Peter Finlay]

And just one last last word! John helped me with improving and sizing my photos as with much else. This is the last he did for me and it is the church one year earlier than the last picture when its woodwork was still brown. It was repainted, blue the following year by a group of young folk from Edinburgh. Somehow they even reached the little turret! I know it has become very different now, however I can only wish the same peace and blessing on the new folk who will be making it their home. Nor should we forget the person living in the old manse beside it. She has called it Kyriakon which is from the Greek Kurios Oikos which translates as the Lord's House or the Lord's Family. And family is what a church should be, so it is a lovely name and reminds us of the last verse of the 23rd Psalm: 'Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the House of the Lord for ever.' That is true peace.

[john]

Many thanks, Peter, for this little walk through history with you. I have thoroughly enjoyed it.

When I return to Torridon on 14 October, you can be sure I will be thinking of you as I take a walk along the track, past the old church, to Alligin.