About Us
Ecosse Tours Guides
Evelyn McKechnie (B.A. Hons)
I was born in Glasgow, Scotland and from an early age have always had a very keen interest in history. I studied a wide range of conflicts from the American Civil War, the Russian Revolution, the French Revolution, the Spanish Civil War, and the Vietnam War to the Second World War but my passion and fascination has always been the Great War.
This passion got me heavily involved in the National Scottish Monument in Flanders project which saw a Celtic Cross raised at Frezenberg to all Scots that served on the Western Front. I attended the inauguration in August 2007 and it was a wonderful experience, one which I shall always treasure.
I am a freelance writer (member of the National Union of Journalists) specialising in tourism, in particular, battlefield tourism.
Since my first trip to the Somme with my lifelong friend, a fellow Scot, Daniel Macrae, a photographer who has worked with me on many assignments, I have built up extensive knowledge of the battlefields of the Somme and Flanders. I have a great interest in not just military history but in other aspects of Great War history such as the war poets (and of those not so well known poets), the use of animals in warfare and women writers of the period.
Going on a battlefield tour is one of the most moving, fascinating and thought provoking trips anyone can have. Battlefield tourism has been my passion for years and I want to share that passion. No two tours are the same as we will have a degree of flexibility to ensure people who wish to go to visit a particular grave or memorial may be able to do so if the itinerary allows.
What has always impressed me about some of the battlefields is the peaceful serenity of the landscape and how the land has been healing all this time even though there are scars still visible to show the slaughter that was endured here. We can still see these scars and the 'silent cities' are the cemeteries that bear testament to the incredible losses. Years after these battles have been fought people are still drawn to Normandy, Verdun, Arnhem, the Somme and Flanders. Whatever your reason for visiting, everyone involved at Ecosse Battlefield Tours will endeavour to help you experience history in a way that you may be compelled to return.
Daniel Macrae
Daniel previously served with the 52nd Lowland TAVR. His hobbies are collecting medals and badges from the Great War, particularly medals name to Macrae and Glasgow Highlanders. He has been collecting for 42 years.
Daniel is a member of the Glasgow Highlanders Association and the Highland Light Infantry Association and he assists every year with poppy collecting.
He is also a freelance photographer and a member of the International Press Association. Both he and Evelyn have worked together on numerous assignments on the Great War for various publications.
Frans Hoijtink
Frans lives right next door to Essex Farm Cemetery just north of Ypres where John McCrae wrote his famous poem, 'In Flanders Fields' when he was serving with the Canadian Army Medical Corp in May 1915. The concrete bunkers built on the same spot where the original dressing station was located are still there.
He is a member of the battlefield archaeology group known as' De Diggers' and has been working on a section of the Western Front close to Essex Farm around the small village of Boezinge. This is the area where the Germans advanced to with the gas attack of 22 April 1915. They have found the remains of more than 210 German, British and French soldiers. They have unearthed dugouts, artefacts and whole trench systems from an area which has been cleared from industrial use.
In 2009, Frans came to Glasgow to the Royal Highland Fusiliers Museum and gave a wonderful lecture on battlefield archaeology. Frans was recently commissioned to help with the part construction of the Tank Memorial at Poekapelle.
His wife Mel (pictured below) is a piper and plays at regular events throughout the region.
