Welcome to 'THE FRIENDS of the CRAIGALLIAN FIRE'.

Sit with us awhile – we'll tell you about an important beacon of history in the outdoors movement – the Craigallian Fire – and what it meant to many poor, out-of-work young people in the Great Depression years of the 1930s.

On the present-day path of the West Highland Way, beside Craigallian Loch, two miles North of Milngavie, Glasgow and two miles West of Strathblane, the Craigallian Fire became a legend and its heat warmed the hearts and spirits of the young men who were drawn to it (click for map).  Here was always an unspoken welcome; a mug of tea; stories of 'derring-do' and adventures in the wilderness of Scotland; and a wealth of knowledge to be passed on to the 'tenderfoot'.

The Fire was a beacon of hope and many of those who sat round its flames were an inspiration to the upcoming generation of walkers and climbers.  By its flickering light were born famous mountaineering clubs like the Creagh Dhu, Lomond and Ptarmigan clubs.   Some Fire-sitters became pioneers in the movement to open up Scotland's wild places to all people.

Few of we present-day walkers, climbers, cyclists and canoeists realise the debt we owe to so many of these Fire-sitters so we are going to commemorate their legacy by erecting a memorial on the site of the Fire.

The centrepiece of the memorial will be a granite monolith extracted from the Fire site sitting in a cast concrete Fire-bed of crossed sticks with text panels designed by our own Scottish sculptor Tim Chalk.   You can see the memorial design here.

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We're also trying to collect any anecdotal material relating to the Fire so that we can produce as comprehensive a record as we can before it's lost to us all.

If you have any photographs, stories, anecdotes, names of Fire-sitters or whatever - please contact us.  Your help to preserve these memories for future generations will be greatly valued.   You can see some anecdotes from people like Jock Nimlin, Chris Lyons, Bob Grieve and many others in Fire Stories.

Check out all the links above to find out more information about the Fire and our project.

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire (WB Yeats)