New Year's Eve 2003

IT WAS a bleak Hogmanay night, the snow was blowing
hard and the roads were closing faster than the time it takes to reach for a hangover cure on New Year’s morning. For 70 New Year revellers left stranded in the Highlands, the situation looked dire.

But a large dose of old-fashioned hospitality ensured
the weary travellers had a Hogmanay party to remember, complete with a ceilidh band and a bizarre version of Auld Lang Syne sung in Mandarin Chinese.

Loch Ericht Hotel manager Heather Sutherland was about
to close up for the New Year when she found herself sur-
rounded by New Year travellers forced into looking for shelter after the roads around Dalwhinnie were closed.

As the hotel bar and dining room gradually filled with a
random assortment of New Year revellers while fierce gales and drifting snow took hold throughout the Highlands, it became obvious to Ms Sutherland her own party plans were about to change.

By 5pm, when the news that the Fort William road was also closed reached the hotel, Heather’s party plans were well and truly put on ice as her previously empty hotel was now fully booked with frantic travellers. She said: “The hotel was empty and I had let the staff away early for the night. But the police were closing the A9 and
telling motorists to shelter in nearby villages. By 5pm I had over 70 people stranded at the hotel.”

However, the 42-year-old manager refused to take ad-
vantage of her unexpected guests’ plight and charged only £10 for a roof for the night, when the normal winter tariff is £35. But there was one major problem. There were no staff on duty. Thankfully, SiX good-natured staff answered her SOS and were back on duty within the hour to cater for the impromptu Hogmanay party.

She said: “This is not our busy season and many of the
rooms were not made up. However, everyone chipped in and we soon had the all 54 rooms ready. “Those who did not have rooms slept in the lounge with hotel bedding and the staff were back on duty in the morning to serve breakfast.”

But before everyone bedded down for the night, the travellers brought in the bells with a New Year party to remember. Stranded guest Mike Marshall, from Dallas, near Forres, said: “Among the travellers was a ceilidh band on the way to Skye but who had also been turned back. The band set up, and shortly after 10pm, we had
an amazing night of dancing and comradeship of the sort I have rarely experienced. Outside it was blowing a blizzard, while inside we danced and sang till 2am. “Then, to round off a surreal evening, a Chinese man stood up and sang Auld Lang Syne in Chinese. The band were ex-
cellent and a whipround was organised, with the hotel making a large contnbution.”

Ms Sutherland said the guests had such a great time that a reunion for next year has already been organised. Mr Marshall added: “What impressed me so much was the
hospitality of the management and staff at the Loch Ericht Hotel. “At a time when everyone else is making inflated profits out of Christmas and New Year, this
establishment put the interests of strangers above their own plans. “Not only did they give up their Hogmanay for a group of strangers, they charged each person a mere £10 for the night. They said they felt they had a duty towards travellers.” A spokesman for Highlands of Scotland Tourist Board said: “It is always a pleasure to hear such an upbeat story and this is a great example of
Highland hospitality at its best.”

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