December 29th 1914 saw the birth of a Scottish legend, Tom Weir
Tom was born in Springburn, Glasgow the son of a locomotive engineer fitter, he belonged to the first generation of working-class outdoor men and began his career tramping the hills near the city whenever he could escape from the grocers shop where he worked.
The adventurer, is credited as introducing thousands of people to Scotland’s great outdoors through his tales of climbing, walking, nature conservation and campaigning. Tom is also fondly remembered for his long-running STV series, Weir’s Way, and his Scots Magazine column, which he wrote for 50 years.
Tom Weir was a writer, broadcaster, hill-walker, rock-climber, historian, naturalist and explorer. Unmistakable in his woolly bobble-hat, he was a popular sight traipsing across the Scottish countryside in his red bobble hat and Fair Isle jumpers since the 1930s.
There’s probably not a single glen or mountain that he hadn’t visited. Tom didn’t just climb in Scotland, in 1950 he was a member of the first post-war Himalayan expedition and in 1952 was one of the first mountaineers to explore the hitherto closed ranges of Nepal, east of Katmandu.
His travels took him to the High Artic of East Greenland, the peaks of Northern Norway, the High Atlas of Morocco and the troubled frontier of the Iran, Syrian and Turkish Mountain lands known as Kurdistan.
He was the best of Scots and represented all that is good in our Nation. He spread enlightenment and joy wherever he went and will live on in our memories.
To this day the legend lives on with his statue, as seen in the last pic, at Balmaha on the shores of Loch Lomond, who hasn’t visited and not had their photo taken beside it?
Tom Weir passed away at the grand age of 91, on July 6th 2006, he was buried at in Kilmaronock Parish Church, near Drymen. He was buried in the same plot as the ashes of his big sister the actress Molly Weir, it’s a shame he never got his wish to see an Independent Scotland.
