Today, ‘Story on Bikes’, the bike ride telling the story of Mamie Martin (née Telfer), arrived in Tarbet to remember Mamie, a daughter of the Manse, a teacher in Helensburgh and a missionary in Malawi in the 1920s. Mamie and her husband Jack left Tarbet in 1921 to go to Malawi. Mamie saw there the need to support the education of girls in Malawi and that work which she started is continued today by the Mamie Martin Fund. The cyclists were delighted to be welcomed to the very Manse where Mamie lived and an extract from ‘Salt and Light’, a book of Mamie’s letters, was read in the Manse garden by Mariot Dallas, Mamie’s eldest granddaughter.
Mamie’s family, the Telfers, are still remembered in Tarbet and their story is told on the Arrochar and Tarbet local heritage website – http://www.arrocharheritage.com/HistoryOfTheTelferManse1875-1925.htm. Mamie would be so happy to know that connections between Scotland and Malawi are stronger than ever and that her conviction about the necessity of educating girls is now widely accepted as true around the world.
The cyclists crossed the loch to Inversnaid with Cruise Loch Lomond and will continue through the Trossachs to Falkirk where some of Mamie’s family now live.
As well as those who are cycling the route, 42 people are doing the equivalent distance at home on the stay-at-home version which has been so popular. The stay-at-home riders are based in Scotland, Ireland and England – an international effort! You can encourage the riders on the fund-raising page.