Papers of Thomas Hunter creator of the West Highland Way
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TitlePapers of Thomas Hunter creator of the West Highland Way
ReferenceGD356
Date1969-2011
Archive creator Thomas Hunter
Scope and ContentCorrespondence, maps, photographs, news cuttings, publications
Extent1 box
Persons keyword Thomas Hunter
Subjecttrails, hiking, walking, Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, Fort William, Highland, Scotland
Level of descriptionfonds
Admin history/BiographyThomas (Tom) Hunter was born in Govanhill, Glasgow in 1926. His father was a draughtsman engineer from Dalmuir in West Dunbartonshire, and his mother was from Stanley in Perth & Kinross. He was an only child. As a teenager at the outbreak of the Second World War he was evacuated to Perthshire and attended Perth Academy. His family then moved to Edinburgh where he attended Boroughmuir School. At 18 years old he was called up to the Royal Air Force and served in Algeria, Italy, Yugoslavia and Germany. After he was demobbed he took a job with British Rail where he worked for 38 years until his retirement in 1986. Tom met his wife, Margaret, at a dance for railway staff and the couple settled in the Kings Park area of Glasgow.
Tom and Margaret joined the Glasgow Group of the Holiday Fellowship, a walking and climbing organisation. In 1969 the Honorary President of the Glasgow Group, Alex Gray (father of Scottish writer and artist Alasdair Gray), tasked Tom with looking at long distance walking routes. Tom convened a sub-committee with representatives from other Glasgow walking groups and in 1969 the area from Glasgow to Fort William was surveyed and the route plotted. In 1970 a report on the route was submitted to the Scottish Countryside Activities Council and the Countryside Commission for Scotland. Tom and four others then walked the length of the route from Fort William to Glasgow in four days. On arrival in Glasgow they delivered a letter to the Provost calling for recognition of their route, which was later named the West Highland Way. Tom wrote an article about the new route for 'The Buchaneer', the British Rail staff magazine in 1975. This article was picked up by Constable publishers who suggested Tom write a book, later published as A Guide to the West Highland Way in 1979. The West Highland Way route was formally opened in 1980. It is 96 miles long, beginning in Milngavie and ending in Fort William. Tom Hunter died in Glasgow at the age of 90 in 2016.
Tom and Margaret joined the Glasgow Group of the Holiday Fellowship, a walking and climbing organisation. In 1969 the Honorary President of the Glasgow Group, Alex Gray (father of Scottish writer and artist Alasdair Gray), tasked Tom with looking at long distance walking routes. Tom convened a sub-committee with representatives from other Glasgow walking groups and in 1969 the area from Glasgow to Fort William was surveyed and the route plotted. In 1970 a report on the route was submitted to the Scottish Countryside Activities Council and the Countryside Commission for Scotland. Tom and four others then walked the length of the route from Fort William to Glasgow in four days. On arrival in Glasgow they delivered a letter to the Provost calling for recognition of their route, which was later named the West Highland Way. Tom wrote an article about the new route for 'The Buchaneer', the British Rail staff magazine in 1975. This article was picked up by Constable publishers who suggested Tom write a book, later published as A Guide to the West Highland Way in 1979. The West Highland Way route was formally opened in 1980. It is 96 miles long, beginning in Milngavie and ending in Fort William. Tom Hunter died in Glasgow at the age of 90 in 2016.
Repository nameEast Dunbartonshire Archives - Bearsden