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Why our name......

SS Clan MacQuarrie Grounding at Borve 31st Jan 1953

SS Clan MacQuarrie beached 1.jpg

Our Story

On January 31 1953, the night of what became known as the Great Storm that wreaked havoc and brought tragedy to much of Northern Europe, the Stornoway LSA Team and local volunteers from the Borve area of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides rescued 66 crew from the grounded cargo ship, Clan MacQuarrie. In driving rain and ferocious winds, gusting to 100mph, it was the biggest ever rescue carried out using breeches buoy in a single operation. Miraculously, there was no loss of life. 


As a gesture of thanks for the community's amazing efforts, the ship's owners paid for a village hall to be built.


Fifty years on, the hall had passed its useful life. Plans were made to replace it with a multi-purpose £850,000 community centre to serve the whole of the West Side of Lewis. The area's ambitions were realised in April 2009, with the completion of the modern and spacious Clan MacQuarrie Community Centre at Borve, named after the famous incident in the community's history and in recognition of financial support towards the construction costs of the new Centre by the owners of the Clan Line Shipping Company. 

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For more information, check out:

One Dark and Stormy Night – Cayzer Family Archive

More Photos

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