Shinty stick made by John Macpherson of Macpherson's Sporting Stores, Inverness

ID: KIGHF_MACPHERSON_EXHIB_03 DESCRIPTION: Shinty stick, or caman, made by John Macpherson of Macpherson's Sporting Stores, Inverness. Hickory stick, solid wood, dating from the early 1900s. John was a shinty player and realised there was a need for a consistent supply of high quality shinty sticks. In the early 20th century no one was making sticks commercially. He took over his uncle’s shop in Inverness, and John Macpherson Sporting Stores soon became the leading supplier of camans. Before John developed the hickory stick, most camans were homemade from native grown ash, rowan or birch. Account from Hamish Macpherson, John’s son (supplied by Shelagh Macpherson Noble): “My father started making hickory sticks in about 1901. The camans were made in Inverness by 2 or 3 different people who were employed by us. One was a Mr Andrews, I forget his first name, a celebrated musician who also had a well-known furniture and cabinet making shop in Academy Street, and his son in later years, George Andrews, and in later years another former employee of theirs, Alec Fraser were all making our camans.” This caman was donated to the Highland Folk Museum by Shelagh Macpherson Noble; John's grand-daughter. The caman was played with by Shelagh's husband Alastair Noble's father who was goalie for the Strathdearn team. John Edward Noble, known as Jack, played for the team in the 1920s. PERIOD: 1930s SOURCE: Highland Folk Museum COLLECTION: John Macpherson Exhibition Asset ID: 47084 KEYWORDS:

• shinty
• sport