We get many interesting tour requests from visitors who come from all around the world.  Often they are people who have traced their ancestry to this area, maybe with the surname Wemyss or MacDuff or variants. But recently we were contacted by a granddaughter of Ann Watters. Ann was one of the founder members of SWACS and the society’s first secretary, and it was an honour – and a particular pleasure for us – to give a special tour to a whole group of her relatives, including some who were visiting from Canada.

We owe so much to Ann for her actions back in 1986. A car had been pushed into Jonathan’s Cave and set alight. The flames destroyed a whole frieze of Pictish carvings featuring a swan flanked by Pictish beasts. We know exactly where those carvings were, but nothing now remains of them.

In response to this horrific act of vandalism, Ann called a meeting which was attended by (among others) local history enthusiast Frank Rankin and local postie Bill Barker. The three of them decided that night to form the Save Wemyss Ancient Caves Society and all three put in a great deal of effort over subsequent years to build the society and do what they could to protect and preserve the Wemyss Caves and the remarkable heritage they contain.

Time moves on and there are no longer very many of our current volunteers who knew Ann personally and had the privilege of working alongside her, but we all remember her name and we continue to take inspiration from the huge contribution she made to our cause. It was wonderful to celebrate her memory with this gathering of her family members.