Four ‘extraordinary people’ from Argyll and Skye were recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list this year, exemplifying ‘the very best of our nation’.
Archibald MacMillan, founder of The Kintyre Smokehouse, has been made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire ‘for services to the Scottish seafood industry’. Mr MacMillan, from Carradale, East Kintyre, may receive his medal at the Palace of Holyroodhouse garden party on Wednesday July 4. During more than half a century in the industry, Mr MacMillan, 72, has moved from working on a fishing boat, ring netting herring, to fine tuning a £60,000 computer-controlled smoker to create smoked products for worldwide export. Mr MacMillan has six employees, one of whom said: ‘Archie was awarded an MBE for being the best boss.’ The man himself is the first to acknowledge that the flrm’s success is a team effort.
He said: ‘It is the same in every business. You rely on having great staff or, on a fishing boat, a good crew and everything runs smoothly. ‘I never thought I would get anything like this. I am going to work at this till I drop. What else am I going to do? I am not going to sit in the house.’