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Kenneth Mackay (Hatter), Bettyhill





Kanneth 'Hatter' Mackay.
Kanneth 'Hatter' Mackay.

Kenneth Mackay, or "Hatter" as he was better known, was born at the Old Post Office, Skerray, on 6th February 1960, the only child of Annie Mackay and Hendry Macleod.

There were quite a lot of children in Skerray at that time, including his younger cousins, Christy, Leslie, George and the late Hugh.

Taken together with the older "Crow" boys, and his great mate, Ian Bob, there were enough youngsters to keep the old primary school open for a few years and it was there that Kenneth’s education began.

Not that it was confined to school as it was in Skerray that he developed two of the greatest interests in his life, one being fishing by various methodologies and the other tinkering with things mechanical.

It was also there that he acquired his nickname though not, as some may have suspected from that old expression "mad as a hatter", but because, as a small boy, he took to wearing a woolly hat when he went to bed and was christened "Hatter" by his uncle, Willie Mackay.

His first three years of secondary were spent in Farr School, Bettyhill, where his main interest lay in the technical department while in others, RE in particular, he did his best to divert the teacher on to more exciting topics, like fishing – and as the RE teacher (also the head teacher) was Donald Macleod, himself a keen fisherman, Kenneth was often successful.

He attended Golspie Tech for his final year and from there went on to Castletown in Caithness where he began a car mechanic’s apprenticeship in the local garage.

His foray in to the "flat land" wasn’t entirely successful as he didn’t complete his apprenticeship but he did find a wife and married Angela Sinclair of Scrabster in 1980.

The couple set up home in Bettyhill and went on to have three children, Bethany, Kirsteen and Lindy-Ann, all three of whom grew up to share their dad’s love of fishing and explored a variety of local lochs and burns, as well as the lower reaches of the Naver, with him to practise the art.

During that period he found work with the Forestry Commission, together with odd jobs round the village like minor electrical work, grass cutting and sweeping chimneys but his main occupation was in the little garage which he and his great friend, Andy Munro, ran in Kirtomy fortified by plentiful tea supplied by Andy’s mother, Ena.

His marriage broke up in the early nineties and he went off to London to join a squad of young north coast men who were working in the building trade in the booming city and that sustained him until declining health in recent years forced him to return to his home.

After fishing, Kenneth’s greatest recreation was music, particularly in the country and country/rock genre. He loved attending music festivals and followed his favourite band, Runrig, to gigs all over the country, always wearing cowboy boots and often a special hat – not that old woolly one but a Stetson!

In recent years life was very hard for him as not only did he lose many members of his close family in Skerray, including his mother, but he became increasingly ill himself and was eventually confined to a wheelchair.

Indeed, it would have been impossible for him to remain in his home at Munro Place had it not been for the many close friends who supplemented the attentions of his NHS carers and allowed him to stay in the place where he was happiest almost to the end.

He even held the occasional ceilidh, though latterly these were few and far between.

Kenneth "Hatter" Mackay passed quietly away in his sleep at Caithness General Hospital on 28th May with his daughters around him.

His funeral, at Skerray Public Hall on 3rd June, was conducted by the Rev Hugh Ferrier, minister of the Free Church of Scotland’s North Coast Parish, and pall bearers at the Skerray Cemetery were: Bethany and Kirsteen Mackay, daughters; Darrin Sutherland, son-in-law; Christy Mackay, cousin; Uisdean Mackay, Tim Matheson, David, Angus (Loppy) and Alistair (Crow) Mackay; Ian (Bob) Mackay; Alistair (Turkey) Munro and David Henderson, all friends from childhood.

Characteristically, Kenneth managed to make a bit of a ceilidh even out of his own funeral as he had asked his old garage companion, Andy Munro, for a song and a set of tunes to liven up proceedings.

As a result the crowd that had gathered via the highways and byways from miles around to pay their last respects were treated to Country Roads, one of Kenneth’s great favourites, from Andy and his daughters Eilidh and Lynsey, followed by a selection of lively Irish and country tunes.

A fitting send-off for the much loved, greatly missed, and one and only Hatter! –

Jim A Johnston.


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