Youth leader looks to reunite with Buckhaven Tech College students from 1960s trip

“It’s nice to see that it’s all about to change again”, said Ian.

“I am now in my eighties, but it would be nice to know how the young people concerned progressed with their lives. I’ve always wondered how they had got on.”

One of the projects Ian carried out over almost a year was to build canoes, undertake lots of water practice drills and eventually skirt 100km around the island of Mors in the Limfjord of Denmark. To get there was a fair trek though, it meant a journey of 1000 miles via Dover in an old Bedford van.

Ian continued: “At this time we had established youth exchanges with Denmark to develop close ties between the two countries, so this canoeing venture was an extension of that programme.

"In Danish mythology, when God was making Denmark He decided to make a model which He called Mors. This model incorporated all life in Denmark, and when the main country and its many islands were completed, He flung the model into the Limfjord where it exists today.

“This island in the open sea of the Limfjord basin was regularly used for military training by the British Army of the Rhine, so right from the start the participants knew that their venture was not going to be a quiet sail across a Scottish loch! Our canoes may not have matched up to Viking longships, but in any case our invasion would be a peaceful one!

“As my ultimate intention was to widen the horizons of all young people interested in comparing their lifestyles with others from a foreign land, I decided to include this project as more relevant to an escapade beyond the British shores.”

Ian has asked the East Fife Mail to print the images in the hope that readers may recognise some of those who took part in the programme and will get in touch.

If you are one of those shown, or know of them, the Mail will pass on any information directly to Ian.

Please send any information to: [email protected]