Shinty is an ancient sport having been played for centuries across the highlands and islands before the standardisation of rules with the formation of the Camanachd Association in 1893. There have been several teams constituted on the Island of Bute with the earliest established in 1907. The present Bute Shinty Club was formed 1946.
The club’s 1st team competes has just won promotion to the Marine Harvest National League for season 2019 1 whilst the 2nd team competes in Marine Harvest South Division 2. Bute also has teams at Primary, Under 14 and Under 17 level who play in various leagues, cups and 6 aside tournaments. Recently the club have started up a ladies section which has grown in numbers from the early training sessions and are no playing several friendly matches. with the view to entering as team into the ladies development league. All home matches are played at the Meadows on the Island of Bute, which has been the club’s home ground for over 100 years.
Bute have enjoyed success in several competitions winning the Sutherland Cup in 1972, the Balliemore Cup in 1985, 2004, 2006, 2011 & 2013 and South Divison 1 in 2006, 2011 & 2015. Between 2007-2011 Bute competed in the Premier league, the highest level of shinty and also reached the semi-final of the most prestigious trophy in the shinty world, The Camanachd Cup, on 2 occasions.
At youth level Bute Primaries won the Tulloch cup (National 9-aside) and McKay Cup (National 12-aside) in 2016. Shinty is now part of the curriculum and being taught regularly in schools.
The club has its own clubhouse which has a newly refurbished and enlarged bar, extensive catering facilities and a large function room capable of accommodating up to 150 guests. We can host all types of social occasions such as weddings, birthdays, retirement, fundraising, etc.
Membership
The membership fees of £50 for senior players and £10 for juniors will be due before or at our AGM in November 2018 and we will accept payment in stages. We would also like to stress the importance of our Club Lottery in contributing to our income and would ask you all to play this weekly, its a way of supporting your club and an opportunity to win some money.
To all Members
It is not only the players and coaches who contribute to the success of our club, a lot of work goes on behind the scenes that we sometimes take for granted . A team on the park depends on the hard work and efforts of all club members.
We turn up on match days to a clean clubhouse and the away teams are treated to excellent meals prepared and served by Margaret Whitelaw, the soup is always delicious as is the home baking supplied by Nancy Gourlay, sadly Nancy will not be at the clubhouse this year but the good news is she will continue to supply pancakes and fruit cake. Margaret ensures our playing strips are washed and ready for each match. Sincere thanks to you both.
It takes a great deal of money to run our teams and maintain our clubhouse, in David Herriot we have a treasurer who looks after our finances with great skill, he ensures money is made available whenever necessary and also that we have funds in the bank, we actually finished last season in the black for a change.
This money comes from three main sources of income, we receive a payment from Argyll and Bute Council for providing changing facilities for other local clubs. We also receive welcome income generated by the efforts of two other club members who provide a constant income stream.
Our Chairman Barry Martin puts a great deal of effort into gaining and arranging various lets for our clubhouse including weddings, birthday parties etc. as well as dog training lessons and fitness classes for adults all providing good monetary income, this takes up a great deal of his time and often goes without notice, our thanks and well done Barry.
Last but not least we have Muriel McGarry running our Club Lottery, she goes round the various outlets every Monday collecting the tickets and money, supervises the draw and pays out the winnings. Without this source of income we would struggle financially. Thank you Muriel, We would ask once again for your support by buying tickets for this lotto draw, it offers good prize money to those who participate.
In addition we very much welcome the support given by our main sponsors, Anthony McMahon of the John Paul Retreat, Greg and Mara Fisher of McIntyre Butchers, David Kilpatrick of the Bike Shed and Colin and Mags Lockhart of Ardbeg Mini Market.
We also received grants and from various sources over the course of the year and generous donations from members and supporters, many thanks to you all.
Once again my apologies to anyone I have omitted from this list, the fault will be entirely mine.
