Way back in 1979 when I was working for the local paper in Dumbarton I was sent out to take a photo of a young Highland Dancing champion, Nicola Glover, then aged six.
When I arrived at her house, I was amazed to see all the cups and plaques that she had already won. I took her to the banks of Loch Lomond along with her trophies and set up a shot with her leaping about in the middle of them all. One of the shots was a cracker and it was one of six that I entered for the press awards that year. I was lucky enough to be highly commended for my portfolio.
Life moves on and 14 years ago I found the only remaining print left as the negatives had been lost when the paper moved office and onto new technology. I tried to trace Nicola through dancing schools but to no avail, so I gave up. Recently, when I was setting up my new gallery, the photograph surfaced again. This photo was now beginning to haunt me.
On 16 August, I was covering a wedding at Luss Church and during a conversation with the minister, the beadle, who was clearing up the confetti from a previous wedding commented on a fantastic piper I was telling him I had heard at another wedding the week before.
I asked her how she knew of him and she told me that he had piped at many Scottish Highland Dancing Championships. When I then told her about the young dancer I was trying to find, her expression was priceless. "That's my daughter" she said and clearly remembered me from all that time ago. The minister and me could hardly believe it.
Nicola now 34, came to the studio last Thursday where she was reunited with a piece of her past. I also found a photo taken in 1980 at the awards ceremony with my boss and editor at the time Donald Fullarton. As you can see, I haven't changed a bit. ( That's me in the groovy pinstripe suit).
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