Ian Hamilton

Another Ian - a common or should I say popular name. This Ian was born in Ayrshire (Robert Burns country), and spent his formative years there. Growing up close to an Aunt who was passionate about horses he spent a lot of spare time attending equestrian events throughout the area. This became a lifelong interest, and he readily admits that much of the knowledge he has regarding horses came from people he met back then.

Upon leaving school he attended the Nautical College at Greenock, and at the age of seventeen went to sea as a ships radio officer - at that time the youngest radio officer at sea. Most of his naval career was spent on Shell oil tankers, and of course it took him all over the world, including beautiful places, interesting places, and occasionally dangerous places, such as Vietnam during the war years when delivering fuel to US military forces.

Shortly after coming back onshore his career took a completely new direction when he joined the City of Glasgow Police. Bearing in mind his early interests it will come as no surprise that within a short time he moved to the mounted police team, and later became the senior horse trainer for Strathclyde mounted police. As you can imagine he became fairly well known and respected in equestrian circles so in the early nineties he retired from the police and moved north to train and look after horses on a more commercial basis.

About twelve years ago Ian met up with Jim Johnstone, and on the odd occasion started to assist with tours in the role of driver/guide. It was immediately obvious to both that Ian is a complete natural when it comes to this line of work. Since then his tremendous knowledge, boundless enthusiasm, and interesting life experiences have helped him guide many visitors round Scotland in a way that informs and entertains.

Now in his mid sixties Ian has, to a certain extent, cut back on his work with horses, though there are still many who rely on his expertise. However, this means that he has a little more time to spend working as a driver/guide, which for us, and the guests he travels with is a very, very good thing.

Though Ian is now firmly settled in the North of Scotland there are times when he disappears for short intervals. However we know where to find him as he is almost certainly in Glasgow where he has been captivated by a relatively new and abiding interest - his grandson lives there.