Crossroads and Characters

51. FOUNDING A NEW DYNASTY.

The gentleman with the white beard is John Howie, a Dunning hotel-keeper and successful businessman. And until the end, a dedicated curler. In January 1908, he was curling in a bonspiel on the frozen Whitemoss. He was skipping, the other rink was lying one. He threw his final stone, and it turned out to be the winning shot of the game. John Howie never saw it arrive: he dropped dead before his stone reached the other end.

His family carried on his business success. Peter Howie on the right started as a joiner, went in to wood cutting and lorry haulage. Already the owner of one farm, he acquired more land when the Duncrub estate was broken up. Today, his heirs are among the bigger land-owners in the parish, and own much land immediately adjoining the village.