Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Recreating Jacobite retreat to Angus to help Kirrie girl’s battle against sight loss

Alex Robbie, from Kirriemuir, beside the Ogilvy Clan flag at the McManus Galleries in Dundee. DC Thomson.
Alex Robbie, from Kirriemuir, beside the Ogilvy Clan flag at the McManus Galleries in Dundee. DC Thomson.

In April 1746 the Jacobite forces were decisively defeated by loyalist troops at the Battle of Culloden.

For the Ogilvy regiment it meant a miserable five-day 92 mile trek back to Angus.

This summer the retreat will be recreated by a 14-strong troop to raise funds for charity.

The trek has been inspired by a Kirriemuir family’s efforts to save their three-year-old daughter’s eyesight.

Caitlin Wilkie was born with rare genetic disorder Bardet-Biedl syndrome which means she is likely to lose her sight by the time she is a teenager.

She already wears glasses and struggles to see in low light.

Her parents, Liam and Ashley, have dedicated this year to fundraising for BBC UK, the UK’s only registered charity dedicated to the disorder.

Leading the charity trek is Alex Robbie, who previously camped at the summit of Ben Nevis for a week for charity.

He said: “I love history, especially local history and I got the idea after reading a book about the Battle of Culloden in the bath one night.

“When it went wrong for the Jacobites on the field, everybody scattered home.

“The Ogilvy regiment was the only one that remained as a unit and they retreated back over the hills before disbanding at Clova Kirk at Glen Clova five days after the battle.

“I thought it would be fun to recreate our local regiment’s retreat and tie it in with raising money for a great cause as well.”

Alex said he hoped to raise around £4,000 with the adventure, which will start from the battlefield, east of Inverness, on June 1 and last for six days.

The group is planning to train together over several weekends.

The fundraising campaign for Caitlin has far exceeded the family’s initial target of £5,000.

Dad Liam said: “We’ve been completely overwhelmed by the generosity. Kirrie’s a small community but it comes together when it’s a good cause.

“We are sitting at £18,000 just now, £20,000 with gift aid, and there are three or four fundraisers to come.

“The charity BBS UK is very small. It receives about £15,000 a year from grants and donations, so this is a huge amount of money for them.

“The chairman of the charity has been in touch. They said they’ve been keeping tabs on it and are over the moon at what we’ve done.”

Part of the funds will be used for research into gene therapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

“The hope is that if the gene therapy gets a solution quick enough then Caitlin could be an ideal candidate for it if the sight degeneration hasn’t struck too far,” Liam added.

“If it doesn’t help her then it will help plenty of others in the future.”