MY relationship with the conservationist author and broadcaster Rennie McOwan (Herald Obituary, October 11), started rather badly. Rennie was a devoted defender of wild places and the natural world and the basic right to roam in the Scottish countryside. He heartily disapproved of the West Highland Way and the other marked walkways which I took on, and it was only when he realised that these were a mere glitch in my love of the outdoors since boyhood,

that we began to talk. I invited him to Macgregor's Gathering to express his views, which he did very effectively and we had several discussions which resulted in him describing me as a "very fair man" and I'm glad to say that we became friends.

He was a fierce defender of Percy Unna who had contributed at his own expense to stretches of wild land, with the proviso that they would be left in their natural state. What would he have thought of flamingos on Loch Lomond? In Rennie McOwan we have lost a charming man and a valued protector of the natural world.

Jimmie Macgregor,

Holyrood Crescent, Glasgow.

YOUR obituary of Patrick Reilly (October 12) reminded me of the time he visited my house, about 20 years ago, to meet my mother Mrs Mary McCartin, an old teacher and guiding light in his efforts to better his educational qualifications.

As his Primary 7 teacher mum obviously made her mark on him, as he had on her. Fifteen years after she had taught him he sought her out to ask her advice as to whether he should take the huge step of leaving work to go to university given that he was, by that time, married with children. Mum gave him great support and encouragement at that time, and he never looked back.

All those years later it was a privilege to meet him, and to see the mutual respect which Patrick and my mum had for each other, even after a time lapse of 40 or 50 years.

Eileen McCartin,

13 Greenways Avenue, Paisley.