Timespan in Helmsdale came up with the wonderful idea of gifting enough Kildonan gold for an Olympic gold medal for the 2012 Olympic Games. The idea has fired the imagination of everyone up here, including me, and after a little research I decided to give them a gram of my Kildonan gold. After chatting to my gold panning mates, a few of them thought this would be an excellent idea and have pledged to give a little of their gold too.
As it turned out, I was the first person to walk into Timespan’s shop and museum in Helmsdale and contribute to their gold appeal. Not only do we get the satisfaction of knowing our gold will be in an Olympic gold medal but we’re going to receive official certificates, and a replica of the medal will be made for the museum!
The story has caught the eye of the media too, and I made the front page of our local paper, The Northern Times. A few days later I was invited to Kildonan as ITV were going to film a report for national Scottish television and they wanted a local gold panning expert on hand. And what a wonderful day it turned out to be! Local primary school children were given panning lessons at which yours truly was only too happy to help them pan quite a few specks of gold. It was an incredible experience which was rounded off nicely when I was invited to say a few words for television.
The report was aired during prime time Friday evening viewing after the main ITN news and if you live in the UK you can watch the report from their web site.
The first picture shows where the report was filmed, then you can see the film crew with the land owner and representatives from Timespan. This is followed by the film crew in action, the children enjoying their gold panning and yours truly looking rather conspicuous in his bright yellow dry suit!
