Ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne has today (Wednesday, October 17) linked up with musical maestro Fergie MacDonald to launch a new tune named after the company at the Royal National Mod in Dunoon.

The button box magician played the new tune, which was commissioned by the Company publicly for the first time. It appears as the first track on his brand new CD : Fergie MacDonald, Ceilidh King, and it will now be used by the Company in its promotional activities.

Speaking at the launch, CalMac’s Head of Communication and Customer Care Hugh Dan MacLennan said: “Fergie and I go back a long way to when he trained me as a stripling at FortWilliam shinty club in the 1970s. We have talked for a long time about the possibility of having a tune named after CalMac. It is singularly appropriate that Fergie has finally come up with such a splendid composition here in Dunoon, at such an important time for the Company when our name is right at the forefront of people’s minds at the Mod and in the wider context of the challenges we face with tendering. We are all delighted with the tune and with Fergie’s associations with the community we serve on the west coast, I have no doubt that we will be setting feet tapping, and all for the right reasons this time.”

Fergie’s new tune is, as he describes it himself “a cross 2/4 March/hornpipe kind of thing”.  It is, by his own significantly high standards, “one of the best”. The maestro said: “I am delighted to be presenting CalMac with this tune today and its completion marks a very special relationship I have with the Company.  I have used the ferries for more than 50 years all along the west coast and have had some great times with crew and passengers. Hopefully this will give everyone something special to remember the Company by and I am sure that people will remember it amongst their favourites when thinking of their pleasant experiences at sea on the west coast.”

During Mod week, Fergie is playing at the Lorne Hotel on Argyll Street in Dunoon, in a “west coach lunch-hour session” from mid-day to 3pm. His new CD will be on sale from Wednesday, at a special Mod price of £10.

Also on sale will be Volume 1 of Fergie’s special Clanranald Collection (Price £10) which includes 25 of his compositions. Twenty-one of these are brand new with the hugely popular The Jig Runrig included amongst the others.  

For further information on the contents of this News Release, please contact Hugh Dan MacLennan, Head of Communication and Customer Care, Caledonian MacBrayne.   Tel: 0776 435 4021; e-mail hugh.maclennan@calmac.co.uk.

Caledonian MacBrayne and CalMac are trading names of CalMac Ferries Limited

Issued: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 : 1000