To all my old friends in Mallaig, It's been nearly 40 years since I left for New Zealand, but I am still a Mallaig village girl at heart. When I left home for the final time I was 19 years of age, but am now the mother of 5 children (four daughters - Marie, Angela, Jacqui, and Roni-Anne, and a son Robert (named after Robert Hannah), and am married to Maurice. My regards to my friends - the Smith family, the Johnson family, Bunty McDougall (nee Muir) and family, and all the other friends I knew in the village. To the friends left in Mallaig a hello from New Zealand. I am staying for a week at Angela's home in Auckland, helping her with her twins - Hannah (named after May Hannah) and Keegan. Angela has been reading me an excerpt from her diary of her and Michael's travels and their 4 days spent in Mallaig with you all in '93; with Bunty, Christine King, Charlie and 'old Charlie', Alan Johnson and people they met, and how welcoming everybody was to them. It brought back lots of memories for me. As old Rogie Gillies would say "the Mallaig people are the salt of the earth". If anyone would like to drop us a line please send a message to my daughter's email address. "Haere Ra" from New Zealand - Veronica Gillies