Achi news desk-
The couple are the owners of the Witherby Group, which includes a number of businesses including the Witherby Publishing Group, which specializes in operational guidance and technical standards for the shipping industry.
The latest accounts filed with Companies House show it has a turnover of £12.9m in 2023.
The donations were noted on the latest update to the Senedd’s register of interests.
Mr Hendry received £10,000 while Mr MacNeil was given £20,000.
The donation to Mr Hendry makes the couple one of the biggest living donors to the cash-strapped SNP.
However, their donation to Mr MacNeil means they are also supporting the campaign of a candidate standing against the SNP in what looks set to be a close three-way battle.
READ MORE: Angus MacNeil will stand as an independent in the Western Isles
Mr MacNeill, who has represented the constituency since it was taken from Labor in 2005, was thrown out of the SNP last August after he refused to take up the whip again following a one-week ban from the party group in Westminster.
Susan Thomson, who is currently a councilor for Uist A Deas, Eirisgigh Agus Benn Na Faoghla, has been chosen to run in the seat for Humza Yousaf’s party.
Labor are confident they can take back the seat and have chosen Torcuil Crichton, former Daily Record journalist, to contest the constituency.
Mr MacNeil – who was at school on Barra with Mr Macneil – told The Herald on Sunday the donation would help “level the playing field” between his campaign and organized, well-funded campaigns. by the big parties.
“I’m quite pleased about that. It was certainly a surprise.
“When he contacted me and said he wanted to donate because he wanted to donate serious money to a serious candidate for a serious campaign, or some words to that effect, I did not in my wildest dreams expect him to do that. be that kind of amount.
“Obviously, very happy, very grateful because I think he now puts me on a level playing field with the big parties and hopes to help me continue to go ahead with the election and continue to represent Na h -Eileanan an Iar.”
Mr MacNeil added: “Some people might think I’m the underdog against the organized parties but people warm to the underdogs.”
READ MORE: Specialist publisher weathers shipping industry storm to grow annual sales to £10m
In 2022, Mr Macneil, a former merchant marine, set a world record after he circumnavigated the globe through both southern capes in a converted Swedish search-and-rescue vessel.
The journey of around 27,000 nautical miles took just over five months and started and finished in Puerto Calero, Lanzarote.
Mr MacNeil introduced an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons recognizing the achievement.
Ms Heathcote is well known in music circles and serves as director of the RSNO and St Mary’s School of Music.
She was also part of the pro-independence group Business for Scotland in the run-up to the 2014 referendum.
The SNP is currently facing a financial crisis, with Electoral Commission records released earlier this year showing the centrist party receiving just one major donation from a living individual in 2023.
The party received £5,000 from Hugh Harkins, and received legacies worth £246,000 and £4,000 respectively from the estates of two late supporters, Estelle Brownrig and James Murdoch.
The donation to Mr Hendry is recorded on his register of interests as specifically for his election fund rather than for the SNP.
Under Electoral Commission rules all donations of more than £500 need to be declared.
Mr Macneil, Ms Heathcote and Mr Hendry have been contacted for comment.
