We are very sad to let you know that Friends of Craighouse member, supporter and friend, Douglas Hamilton, has died.

A tireless champion of the site and a great  supporter of the Friends of Craighouse, Dougie – as he was known to all –  did so much. Working hard flyering and writing letters, we particularly remember and have him to thank for the tireless work he did – out in all weathers – collecting signatures for our petition. Online petitions were just becoming fashionable at the time, but we deliberately decided to keep things local and go for a hard-copy paper petition – the old-fashioned kind – to demonstrate the amount of support in the local community for the site. Of course hand-signed petitions take a lot of physical legwork and Dougie was a huge part of this endeavour – out each evening, rain or shine to let people know about it.

We were thrilled when we collected nearly 6,000 signatures from the local community. So much so, that we were questioned for not looking cross enough in the resultant photo in the Evening News. As you can see we all look quite pleased with our enormous petition!Dougie was a central figure in our campaign and continued to defend the site up to the present time.

Aside from the great affection we all held him in, he was a well-known person in our local community and will be hugely missed – a great character and a lovely man.

We are so sorry he is no longer with us and we want to send all our good thoughts and sympathy to his family, including his wife, Gill, also a great friend of the site and who has been so supportive over the years.