Nigel Boyd

Passions

Fishing

Nigel loved fishing!

He was a wee boy on holiday in Arran with the family when he caught his first fish – a tiny trout in the Lagg Burn – he was smitten!

Nigel has fished all over Scotland and beyond – in his younger days he and his great pal Gordon would spend a lot of time together trying to catch that very special bar of silver.

He loved it when the family were with us fishing – choosing the kids tackle, fly boxes with their names on it and the special fly that would help them catch a fish – he loved showing them how to get the line out onto the water – and he loved telling them stories back at the hut – these special times have no doubt contributed to the youngsters love of Scotland.

For many years Nigel fished at Knockando on the River Spey – he was very fond of Sandy Smith who was the ghillie there – a very special man – and he loved fishing on the Dee at Cairnton. What is so special about fishing is that you can be at peace in beautiful surroundings – see the wildlife – be transported to a different world that in many instances hasn’t changes for years – you can enjoy the banter of the locals and of course enjoy the lovely food and have a dram or two.

Nigel always dreamt of one day being able to fish at Delfur – that dream was realised in June 2005 when we were able to join Brian and Betty Noel and their fishing party – that week was so special even though we were rained off on the first day – he couldn’t contain the excitement – he was like a child in a sweetie shop – it was the most wonderful week and we enjoyed every year there until 2020 when the pandemic hit – Nigel felt so lucky and privileged to be able to fish at Delfur for 15 years – it is a magical place and the ghillies headed up by Mark Melville are the most wonderful folks.

Knockando – Nigel, Avril & Sandy 1992

Tulchan – Nigel & Avril 1992

Knockando – Nigel & Avril 1992

Knockando – Nigel & Sandy 1992

Knockando – Nigel, Avril, Gordon & Sandy 1992

Knockando – Nigel 1993

Glentanner Estate – Nigel 1994

Florida – Nigel 1994

Knockando – Nigel 1995

Cairnton – Nigel April 2006

Delfur – Nigel & Avril June 2008

Delfur – Nigel & Mike June 2012

Delfur – Brian, Tom, Betty & Sarah June 2012

Delfur – Brian & Betty June 2012

Delfur – Nigel June 2012

Delfur – Nigel, Tom, Sarah, Dan, Jimmy, Betty & Brian June 2014

Delfur – Nigel, Tom, Dan & Jimmy June 2014

Delfur – Nigel June 2014

Delfur – Nigel, Brian, Betty, Jimmy, Tom, Sarah & Dan June 2014

Delfur – Nigel June 2014

Delfur – Nigel & Rory June 2014

Delfur – Nigel & Mike June 2014

Delfur – Nigel June 2014

Delfur – Nigel & Jimmy June 2014

Delfur – Nigel & Grant June 2014

Delfur – Nigel & Dan June 2014

Delfur – Nigel & Grant June 2014

Knockando – Nigel, Gordon & Sandy August 2015

Knockando – Nigel August 2015

Knockando – Nigel & Sandy August 2015

Knockando – Nigel August 2015

Knockando – Nigel & Gordon August 2015

Dess – Nigel with Steve, Mark, James & Steve May 2016

Dess – Nigel May 2016

Delfur – Nigel 16lb Cracker April 2017

Delfur – Nigel, Mark, Grant & Mitch April 2017

Delfur – Nigel & The Team April 2017

Delfur – Nigel & The Team April 2018

Delfur – Nigel & Dan April 2018

Delfur – Nigel April 2018

Delfur – Nigel with Hector April 2018

Park Fishing – Nigel July 2018

Delfur – Nigel April 2019

Delfur – Nigel & Davie April 2019

Delagyle – Nigel July 2020

Ballathie House – Nigel September 2020

Delagyle – Nigel July 2021

In 2020 we were invited to spend 3 days at Delagyle on the River Spey with Dan and his family – Dan’s mum and dad Tom and Sarah were part of the Delfur party with Brian and Betty for many years and latterly Dan also joined the Delfur week – he and Nigel were always teasing each other and after dinner they would nip down to the beat for a late-night cast followed by a beer and a blether at the hut – two peas in a pod when it comes to fishing. We had a great time at Delagyle – we had been asked to join their family fishing week many times over the years but had never been able to go – we had heard all their stories about Delagyle – now we could join them – great fun and Nigel was in his element – his happy place – fishing.

Dan very kindly asked us back to join him and the family in July 2021 – Nigel also booked a few days at Invery & Tilquhillie on The Dee – we thoroughly enjoyed the company of Colin Simpson who has been the ghillie there for nearly 40 years – Nigel bought a new rod so he couldn’t wait to try it out – and he was hours up in the loft sorting out all his tackle – reading Trout & Salmon – looking at the catches and the weather – this was a yearly ritual – all part of the build-up – we stayed at Banchory Lodge – such a lovely spot and then drove over to Speyside, to The Dowans Hotel – a place we know well from our Delfur trips – the Murray family are lovely and always so welcoming – when I think back to this wonderful trip I can only smile – Nigel was so happy doing what he loved most – it turned out to be his last fishing trip – we had no idea what was ahead of us only a few weeks later.

Football

Nigel loved football – he played at school for the 1st Eleven and was selected to play for the Glasgow Schools' Team – he also played for The Glasgow Herald team back in the 80’s.

He was a fan albeit from the couch – he followed Rangers and Chelsea but could be found watching any match where he could enjoy great football – he loved a blether with the boys in the family about tactics, managers and players – and there was always lively debate with the team at P4P.

When it came to watching Scotland play, I would always join him on the sofa for the occasion – I often had to remind him that the referee was only human and that if he didn’t calm down then he might have a heart attack – I thought his antics were hilarious – he was never going to watch them play again – until the next time!

Painting

Nigel enjoyed painting – in 2020 he created 2 absolutely stunning paintings – he had always wanted to paint on a very large canvas – much bigger than any of his other paintings that we have in the house and in the studio – and that is exactly what he did – he loved to find paintings that inspired him and then paint his own version.

The large canvas was inspired by Joan Gillespie and Archie Forrest – 2 amazing Scottish artists and the other painting was inspired by another Scottish artist, Scott Naismith – a lovey scene of Seilebost Beach on the Isle of Harris.

Nigel went to Art School and then left after not being too keen on the tutor – although his career took off in a different direction, he always painted – he had a lovely collection of art books – a selection left in the studio and the rest with our niece Georgia who also loves to paint – Georgia now has the easel he used for over 30 years, his table and all his paints and brushes – I knew Nigel would be thrilled for Georgia to have all of his painting chattels.

Andrew from P4P photographed all of his paintings and has included them in the lovely notes section along with a painting by Joan Gillespie which we bought to celebrate our 1st year together and a painting by Jacqueline Orr to celebrate a milestone at P4P – he loved both these paintings.

Reading

Nigel would read every day – he loved to settle down with a good book on a sunny day out on the balcony with a cold beer or gin & tonic and there was always a couple of books on the bedside table alongside his well-thumbed dictionary and thesaurus – in the studio there was a steady stream of magazines – architecture, art, business, technology, fashion and lifestyle – he had a tremendous thirst for knowledge.

Nigel had a wonderful collection of old fishing books and a great collection of art books.

He was always encouraging the kids in the family to read – Nigel’s sister and family live in London and my family live in New York so you can imagine the smiles when he made Oor Wullie and the Broons come to life – they loved the characters and of course the funny Scottish accent – over the last 30 years as they were growing up he would often send them books that he thought they would like and he carried on that tradition with Leilani and Lochlainn the youngest members of the family – Leilani now 8 and Lochlainn aged 3 – he was in his element choosing books for them – and when the family were together he would love to read them a story – and yes we still carry on with the tradition of Oor Wullie and The Broons!

Favourite Book

Must Read

Last Book

Download PDF

Music

Nigel loved music – please enjoy his playlist below – some of his favourite songs.

Writing

Nigel always had a great command of the English language.

Nigel’s career in the newspaper industry also sharpened his skills – and of course his love of reading – he learned so much from his books – knowledge, literacy, creativity, fluency and of course being exposed to new ideas and different ways of thinking.

Nigel had a reputation for being a wordsmith – at P4P he was always excited when he could delve into a project and then bring it to life with captivating words – he loved working on a storyboard and then discussing it with the team – he was an ideas man and the fact that he was very much into the arts meant that he was also able to play a key role in the design process.

Back in October 2000 when we were discussing the way forward until we could reach a settlement with Scottish Enterprise we had what can only be described as an epiphany – leading Nigel to write a screenplay – it took him a year and a half – 11 months to learn how to write a screenplay and then 7 months to write it – I helped too – we sent it to Scottish Screen in May 2002 and their readers report was very encouraging – we also uploaded it to Triggerstreet, an online community of writers and filmmakers in December 2003 and on 3rd January 2004 we reached the ‘Top Ten’ out of 1,211 screenplays – the story is about a boy, a fish and a fly – a romantic highland adventure – they do say you should always write about what you know – so a fishing tale was perfect – P4P was in its infancy and needed all our attention so we put the script on the back burner – the plan was that when we retired we would revisit the script with a view to getting it made – and that is now my plan – to make it happen.

During lockdown Nigel wrote and finished 2 children’s books and nearly finished the 3rd – they were inspired by a conversation we had with Georgia our niece back in January 2020 when she was visiting with her mum – Georgia was telling us all about an idea she had for a book about a scarecrow that cared – she called it Carecrow – we all thought it was a great idea and pitched in our own thoughts – Nigel did some research and found that unfortunately a book already existed with the same name and theme – so that was that – but that wasn’t the end of the story – a year later unbeknown to us all Nigel decided to take the concept and try and do something with it taking a different approach – he spent the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 writing what was to be a trilogy of books aimed at children with Callum the Crow as the main character – he didn’t tell me what he was up to – it was a complete surprise when he handed me the first draft in April 2021 – I am well used to him working up in the loft on projects – I had no idea that this was one of them – I read it and burst into tears – I thought it was wonderful – the second book was also brilliant – we sent them both to all the family and was so pleased to hear that they loved them too – this was to be another retirement project for us – I have spent the last few months gathering everything together to help make it happen – Nigel had an illustrator in mind – fingers crossed she likes his words – I am so looking forward to the day we can see the first book ‘Callum and the Murderous Scarecrow’ on the bookshelves – I know Nigel would be absolutely thrilled.

Travel

We have been lucky enough to travel to many wonderful places in the world – Nigel loved exploring and meeting the locals – always with a guide book and map in his pocket – he enjoyed doing a bit of research – the best places to visit, the best places to eat – which would be where the locals would eat, places of interest, museums, the best walks, beautiful beaches, art galleries and the best food markets and delis for me to visit and of course he would check out where the best fishing was. He enjoyed skiing and although not sure at first about cruising he ended up loving it.

His favourite place was Rome – the archaeology, the atmosphere, the culture, the ancient history, the art – and of course the pasta and the wine – and he loved the sun!

Nigel would have been an amazing tour guide for Scotland – whenever folks came to visit or come here on holiday, he would surprise them when we were out and about with his wealth of knowledge – there were very few questions that he wasn’t able to answer – and when any of the team at P4P were going somewhere he would get the map out and recommend places of interest, routes to take and lovely places to stop for a cup of tea and a scone.

Travelling all over Scotland was an absolute joy – driving to Applecross, on the ferry to Harris, over the bridge to Skye, walking around Iona, climbing Suilven to name but a few. Nigel’s favourite time of the year was springtime but he also loved gathering wood for the fire in the winter and marvelled at the ever-changing weather and landscape that as we know in Scotland can be spectacular.