Hundreds in farewell to Gaelic hero Noble

MORE than 300 people fought their way though blizzards yesterday to attend the funeral of the former businessman and Gaelic activist Sir Iain Noble.

The founder of the Gaelic College in Skye and co-founder of the Edinburgh-based merchant bank Noble Grossart - who died aged 75 on Christmas Day - was buried in a private grave at his estate on the island.

Before the interment at Eilean Iarmain, in Sleat, a largely Gaelic funeral service was held in the 20 million pound college which he founded in 1972.

The service featured harp and bagpipe playing from some of Scotland's most best known traditional performers, including harpist Mary-Anne Kennedy, piper Allan Macdonald and singer Christine Primrose.

The college, Sabhal Mor Ostaig, which overlooks the hills of Knoydart, formed a powerful backdrop to the emotional proceedings, which were conducted in the main catering hall, later used to host an extensive gathering that featured more informal music and sampling of the Gaelic whisky produced on Noble's estate.

He had bought the 23,000 acres of largely sub-leased crofting land in 1969 for a mere 120,000, and aged only 34, set about establishing a Gaelic fiefdom based on a number of often loss-making initiatives in fishing, knitting and whisky marketing.

His most successful venture was to turn an old stable block into a small college for Gaelic which taught both language and also traditional skills in music and crafts.

After the service former Runrig lead singer Donnie Munroe described Noble as "a hugely significant champion for the Gaelic language whose main legacy will be that he helped bring stability to the culture through his work supporting the language".

The later version of the college, which has extensive sub-branches involving the teaching of music crafts and media management, now has an annual turnover that has been estimated to be more than 5 million a year.