A shinty stick belonging to a former prisoner of war who escaped the Nazis by speaking his native Gaelic is on display at a new exhibition celebrating the "overlooked" sport.

Dating from 1923, the stick was made by Lance Corporal James "Ginger" Wilson who fled Hitler's clutches in 1940 with his comrades Private William Kemp and Corporal Sandy MacDonald.

After initially escaping the trio were captured by the Germans again at a checkpoint and taken to a prisoner of war camp.

But they used their native Gaelic which confused the Germans and the Scots were able to convince their captors they were actually from the Soviet Union.

A new exhibition charts the evolution of shinty in the Highlands A new exhibition charts the evolution of shinty in the Highlands (Image: West Highland Museum) The stick is on display at the West Highland Museum, in Fort William, where the Camanachd Cup Final will take place today with Kingussie and Lovat battling it out for shinty's greatest prize.

Camanachd: Geama Aosda nan Gleann Abrach” (Shinty: Ancient Game of the Lochaber Glens) focuses on the history of shinty, its Gaelic connections and the three local teams - Fort William, Lochaber and Kilmallie.

Brae Lochaber, taking in the villages of Spean Bridge and Roy Bridge, was one of the first clubs to join the Camanachd Association and was influential in drafting the rules.

In his memoir, Private Kemp said: “In the morning we were brought before the German commander, whose first action was to point his revolver at each of us in turn.

“We took this to be a warning to speak the truth or take the consequences. A French officer, acting as an interpreter, asked us to state our nationality.

(L to R) Corporal MacDonald, Lance Corporal James Wilson and Private William Kemp in 1940 at Glencoe(L to R) Corporal MacDonald, Lance Corporal James Wilson and Private William Kemp in 1940 at Glencoe (Image: © SWNS.com)

“I replied in Gaelic: ‘I do not know’. When he asked what country we were from, I then said: ‘Ardnamurchan’.”

The Scots were released and made their way through occupied France to Spain, where they discovered a British consulate and boarded a vessel.

Once out of Spanish territorial waters, they transferred to a British warship and returned to Scotland.

News of the soldiers’ escape spread and German forces, angered by being made to look stupid by the Scots, were said to have sent any Gaelic speakers straight to labour camps as punishment.

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The stick was gifted to Peter McIntyre, who grew up living next door to the war veteran in Claggan, in Fort William.

"My mum reckoned if he came in sober he wouldn't discuss it at all but if you got him with just a couple [of drinks] he talked about it many times - of being captured then escaping and being captured again.

"It's an amazing story," said Mr McIntyre, who recalls watching his neighbour craft the sticks.

"He had an old boiler and the sticks were made in one piece in those days," he said.

'Ginger' Wilson was a prolific maker of shinty sticks 'Ginger' Wilson was a prolific maker of shinty sticks (Image: Peter MacIntyre) "He had the rough piece of wood in the boiler, obviously to soften it up, then he would bend it and he would shape it.

"He had no family so he left the stick to me. I put it into the museum so that more people could see it.

"It's great to highlight everything - especially in the run up to the Camanachd Cup." 

Mr McIntyre, who won the Camanachd Cup twice while managing Fort William, now coaches in the area's primary schools where he said the number of girls taking up the sport had increased significantly.

Earlier this month Lochaber Ladies won the Valerie Fraser Cup - the equivalent of the Camanachd Cup - beating Badenoch with a single goal.

Among the other notable items on display at the new exhibition is a cup runner-up medal from 1897, when Brae Lochaber lost the final game 5 – 0 to Beauly in Inverness.

(Image: West Highland Museum)

Other memorabilia includes two MacTavish Cup medals on loan from broadcaster and musician Gary Innes, a talented shinty player himself.

The exhibits are accompanied by the stories of the players themselves including James MacDonald, a Camanachd Cup winner who died during the last days of the First World War.

"There's been some phenomenal stuff handed in," said Kenny MacIntosh, who was the driving force behind the exhibition.

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 "We have in the permanent exhibition a runner-up medal from the 1897 Camanachd Cup Final, the second ever final.

"It was won by a man from Inveroy and we think it's the only medal surviving from that age."

"Brae Lochaber was one of the first clubs to join the Camanachd Association," added Mr MacIntosh.

"They were very, very influential in drafting the first rules but the town itself in Fort William was later coming, it was more of a football town.

"They never really came to prominence until the 1980s."

Shinty sticks on display at the West Highland Museum - Brae Lochaber was instrumental in creating rules for the sport Shinty sticks on display at the West Highland Museum - Brae Lochaber was instrumental in creating rules for the sport (Image: West Highland Museum)

Vanessa Martin, curator of the West Highland Museum, said shinty as a sport did not always “get the recognition it deserves” in Scotland.

She said: “It doesn’t really and it’s an important part of the area’s intangible cultural heritage.

"For us it’s been really good for getting the community involved and getting local people into the museum and engaging with their heritage.

"The James MacDonald story is poignant because he died during the last days of the First World War. We have a shinty stick of his. It’s been modified but it’s assumed to have belonged to him - it's lovely having that.

“That’s what really good about this – we have the stories behind the faces."

Shinty is thought to have been imported to Scotland from Ireland alongside the Christian faith and Gaelic language, where its place within Irish mythology suggests that the sport has been played, in one form or another, for thousands of years.

The eminent shinty historian Dr Hugh Dan MacLennan, who contributed to the exhibition, has also shown that Scots emigrating to the industrial cities of England set up shinty clubs that also incorporated football (soccer).

Some of these clubs, such as Chelsea and Manchester United went on to become some of the biggest football teams in the world.