Ibt Newsletter Jan 2013

www.theislandsbooktrust.com

INSIDEFrom the chairmanNews The Factor’s HouseThe Land StruggleLewis and HarrisUist and BarraAngus Macleod LectureBooks

and.................

2013 events programme

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g history THE ISLANDS BOOK TRUST

URRAS LEABHRAICHEAN NAN EILEAN

ne w s l e t t e r No.35 January 2013editorAlayne M Barton

THE ISLANDS BOOK TRUSTU R R A S L E A B H R A I C H E A N N A N E I L E A N

Tiree

Bliadhna mhath Ùr!

We wish all our members a very happy 2013!

TrisTan da Cunha the world’s most isolated island community

Our 2013 programme kicks off at An Lanntair Stornoway with Alasdair MacEachen looking back on an excursion to the South Atlantic

The highlight of our 2013 programme is a 3-day conference in Tiree from 30th May-1st June, the first time the Book Trust has organised an event on this island.

Another busy year has passed, and it is good to look forward to new horizons in the year ahead. Our programme for 2013 will I hope hold plenty of attractions for everyone. The centrepiece will be our 3-day conference in Tiree in late May/early June, the first time we have held such an event on this beautiful island. This will build on the friendships and contacts made last October when we were there to launch the new book by Mike Hughes and John Holliday about Tiree in World War 2. What an occasion that was – it seemed like half the island were present in An Talla, and all 300+ books brought across were sold! The idea of a conference about the history of Tiree, leading in due course to the first-ever full-length book about the island, took shape that weekend, and it is gratifying that so many leading speakers have already signed up for this year’s conference. I suspect this will be a really popular event, so do book early – the detailed programme will be available shortly.

But as you will see from the details of the events for 2013 elsewhere in this newsletter, there are many other boat trips, talks, and walks to look forward to, and I hope you our members will be able to take advantage of many of these opportunities. In many ways it is the people who come on the events who make them special, and indeed the chance to meet and learn from so many interesting people from different walks of life is in my view one of the greatest benefits of the Book Trust.

Our programme of publications planned for the forthcoming year is also a full one, building on the tremendous achievements of last year when a record level of sales was recorded. It includes further books on aspects of life in St Kilda, but also completely new subjects for the Book Trust - from a book about the Gaelic soap ‘Machair’ to the life of the great South Uist-born footballer Malky MacDonald who was born a hundred years ago next October. We also plan to publish the proceedings from our two most recent major conferences held in Shetland and Lewis – on the work of the School of Scottish Studies, and ‘Recovering from the Clearances’, respectively.

Previous newsletters have highlighted our fund-raising campaign to ensure that we can cover our ongoing costs, particularly our two staff posts. We have put a lot of effort into this over the last year, and I should like to thank all those who have supported us through donations or in other ways. At the end of last year, we received the good news that funding for the next stage of the exciting Hebridean Connections project – which the Book Trust will be managing - has been secured. This will make a useful contribution to our finances, and also mean an increase in our staff for the next two years, but the financial challenges are far from over. We are therefore considering an increase in membership prices after several years of standstill, and also ways of reducing costs such as introducing the option of electronic newsletters. Further details will be included in the May newsletter. I hope you will agree that membership of the Book Trust offers excellent value for money and will continue to support us as we take the measures necessary to ensure that our achievements can be sustained.

John Randall Chairman January 2013

the islands book trust january 20132

from the chairmanHebridean Connections

Hebridean Connections is an exciting project which has already produced a highly innovative and powerful multi-media website www.hebrideanconnections.com which brings together historical information about people and places for four areas of Lewis, drawn from the records of participating Comainn Eachdraidh (local history societies). Funding of nearly £300,000 has now been agreed for the next major stage of the project from January 2013 until March 2015 from the Scottish Government’s People and Communities Fund, HIE, and CnES. This will involve building a wider network of local history societies and heritage organisations throughout the Outer Hebrides interested in taking part, working with these societies to train volunteers in their communities in IT skills and making heritage information more easily available, and improving the website further through new software and support from Aberdeen University. The project will deliver benefits in terms of heritage, cultural tourism, Gaelic, economic and social development, digital inclusion, and improved health and well-being in remote communities. A new company Hebridean Connections Ltd has been formed to own the intellectual property rights involved, and the project will be managed on behalf of Hebridean Connections by the Islands Book Trust, who will employ three new members of staff. There will be close links with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar’s new museum and archives service for the whole of the Outer Hebrides, and indeed it is hoped that in the longer term Hebridean Connections can become integrated with this service. The Book Trust are very pleased to be playing a role in this pioneering project, which fits well with our

urras leabhraichean nan eilean am faoilleach 2013 3

of you who were not lucky enough to receive a copy for Christmas, we still have some available from our website – but be quick as they are selling fast!

An t-Eilean – Taking a Line for a WalkOn the afternoon of Saturday 8th December we launched our newest publication at the Aros Centre in Portree. ‘An t-Eilean – Taking a Walk through the Island of Skye’ is a remarkable new book in English and Gaelic by award-winning writer and broadcaster Angus Peter Campbell, with wonderful photographs by Cailean Maclean.

It is loosely based on a long walk the two of them – close friends since they grew up together in South Uist – made a couple of years ago from the south to the north of Skye. In that respect, it is a successor publication to their ‘Suas gu Deas’ (Up South), which is a diary of their walk from Ness to Mingulay and is also published by the Book Trust.

But the new book ‘Taking a Line for a Walk’ is much more than that. It is partly autobiographical, allowing Angus Peter to reflect on his childhood in South Uist and the main influences on his life, including his father and other local characters. It is partly about his people’s history, trying to recover from the clearances and emigration promoted by absentee landowners such as the infamous Lady Gordon Cathcart.

At every point there are insights into the treasures of the Gaelic language and the rich store of local heritage recorded by people like Donald Angie MacLean, who hand-drew his own map of Sleat with over 100 Gaelic place-names and their derivations; and K C Craig’s incomparable study of the Gaelic dialect, speech, and proverbs of South Uist.

And, as one would expect from Angus Peter, the book contains

islands-wide interest in furthering understanding and appreciation of the history and culture of Scottish islands.

Book Trust to extend Education and Research part of WebsiteThe Book Trust are introducing a new section on their website to encourage further education and research into the history of Scottish islands. This will allow selected research and working papers which contain information of value to historians and researchers but which are not in a form suitable for publication to be made more widely available. The first such item is an informative paper on the history of the crofting village of Taskavaig in Skye, compiled by David Hutchison. Proposals to add further items to this part of the website should be addressed to John Randall at [email protected]

Book Launches

Tiree – War among the Barley and BrineA wonderful new book ‘Tiree – War among the Barley and Brine’ by Mike Hughes and John Holliday, with many archive photographs and personal memories of Tiree during the Second World War, was launched in Tiree on Saturday 13th October.

Tiree might have expected to see out the Second World War in happy obscurity. Instead, the Battle of the Atlantic threw it into the frontline and a major RAF base was built in 1940, changing its landscape and wrenching its culture into the 20th century. One crofter maintained “Hitler was the best councillor Tiree ever had” as a three runway aerodrome was laid down, cart tracks became tarmacked roads and 2,000 servicemen from all over the world were stationed on the Hebridean island.

Although never under direct

enemy attack, the island saw its fair share of dramas –the destroyer HMS Sturdy was wrecked there in 1940, two Halifax planes collided in mid-air over the island, the weather report that postponed the D-Day landings by a crucial day came from RAF Tiree and plans for the Royal family to escape to Canada via the island were laid in the event of a Nazi victory.

However, the main star of this story is the island itself – how the service men came to feel about Tiree, how the islanders themselves felt about this invasion, and how two very different cultures met. The authors to a large extent let the people tell their own story - a story that goes far beyond the island itself to examine the profound effect the war had on the Gaelic-speaking island, an effect from which it is still recovering.

Mike Hughes has been researching the Second World War in Scotland for almost 20 years, publishing Hebrides at War in 2001 and Stornoway in World War II with John Davenport for the Islands Book Trust in 2008. Married to a Tiree woman, he has a particular interest in the island and has a huge archive of papers, letters and photographs about the RAF base there, sent to him by ex-servicemen. He is now a full time Principal teacher of Religious Education in Lanarkshire.

Dr John Holliday has been the GP on Tiree for 25 years. Fascinated by the island’s history, he set up An Iodhlann, the island’s historical centre, and has a particular interest in the place names of the island and oral history. From the collection of 400 audio recordings, he has selected the most interesting recollections about the war on Tiree.

Both authors were present at the launch, and they must have had aching hands from signing their autographs as more than 300 copies were sold on the day! For those


trenchant views on politics, the media, and the future of the Gaelic world. Finally, there are some absolutely stunning new pictures of South Uist, Eriskay, and Skye taken by renowned photographer, Cailean Maclean. All in all, this is a visual and intellectual feast, of compelling interest to people who love the Outer Hebrides as well as the island of Skye.

The launch was well attended and both author and illustrator were on hand to discuss the book and read extracts, as well as to sign copies. An –T-Eilean is available from the Book Trust website, priced £20.00.

Outline of 2-day Conference in Lewis: Friday 21st – Saturday 22nd June 2013The Book Trust is proposing to hold a mini conference at the Ravenspoint Centre, Kershader, on Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd June 2013. Entitled ‘Slighe Chaluim Chille - Exploring the Life, Legend, and Legacy of St Columba in Ireland and

Scotland’, this 2-day event will bring together speakers and interested people from Ireland and Scotland to discuss St Columba’s legacy and consider how best these linguistic and cultural links can be celebrated and strengthened, possibly using the Slighe as the basis for a series of annual events involving local communities on the Slighe. There will also be a visit to Eilean Chaluim Chille, a nearby island which can be reached on foot at low tide and which has the remains of an early ‘teampull’ dedicated to St Columba. We envisage that some of the talks will be in Scots Gaelic and some in Irish Gaeilge, with simultaneous translation facilities into English available.

St Columba is the best known of the early Christian saints who journeyed from Ireland to Scotland in and around the 6th century AD in search of personal fulfilment or to evangelise. He is believed to have been born at Gartan, Donegal, leaving Ireland in 563 to found a monastery on Iona, where he died

in 597. Many legends surround his activities, particularly in Ulster, Iona, and the Hebrides. His religious and cultural legacy is of great importance, and includes many early churches dedicated to his name in both Ireland and Scotland.

To encourage further understanding of this legacy, and the linguistic and cultural links between Ireland (both north and south of the border) and Scotland, the Colmcille Initative has recently established Slighe Chaluim Chille (the St Columba Trail) – from Glencolmcille, Donegal, in the south to Lewis in the north, including many sites in Donegal, Derry, Argyllshire, Easter Ross, and the Outer Hebrides. It is instructive to note that in St Columba’s time it was probably easier to travel along the route of the Slighe than it is today!

If you are interested in attending, please contact Alayne at [email protected] or Margaret on 01851 880737.

The Factor’s House, St Kilda Andy Walsh St Kilda Archaeologist

The National Trust for Scotland have owned the St Kilda archipelago since 1957and over that time have conserved and repaired a number of buildings. This year we undertook significant works on the Factor’s House. This was necessary as we had noted some worrying dips in the flooring and a gap between one wall and the ceiling. This together with poor electrics and plumbing meant that anyone staying there had to deal with a growing number of the building’s eccentricities. However before works began we had to take some things into consideration.

The building is a Scheduled Monument which means it is legally protected, and that all development work has to be agreed with Historic Scotland (HS). As part of the process for gaining permission from HS, desk-based research was carried out in order to understand when the Factor’s House was built, who used it and whether original features survived. The research highlighted how little we actually know about the building!

The floor plan appears very similar to the houses

built on St Kilda in the early 1860s, and it has been suggested by Mary Harman that it was constructed around the same time, although no building plans or records have been found. The Factor’s House is not marked on Sharbau’s plan of the village dating to 1858, or an annotated 1861 version. However, we do know it was finished by 1873 when Angus Smith visited the island.

Sharbau’s plan shows us that the Factors House was built in an area of ‘common property’ between the Manse glebe and the Dry Burn. This area probably represents the remains of two or three plots which, along with the other 18 which are still visible today, were laid out in 1834 as part of MacKenzie’s reorganisation of the village. By the time Sharbau drew his plan the plots were held in common because the families had ‘gone to Australia’, a poignant reminder of the disastrous emigration of 1852. The plan also records two small structures where the Factor’s House now stands. These were cleits and are recorded as belonging


Top: The Factor’s House on St Kilda

Right: The jam jar container which may

have been made in Newcastle (Photo: Gina

Prior)

Below: Removing the floor boards in the

living room revealed the rotting joists

to Finlay Ferguson, who was using them to store birds and peat.

The Factor’s House was used to house the resident teachers and nurses, the Factor during his annual visit, as well as the occasional important visitor. There was no internal staircase within the building so each floor could operate as a separate household. On each floor there were two main rooms and a smaller central room or closet. There were fireplaces in the gable walls on both floors.

From 1900 a room was set aside for use as the Post Office, but this was removed in 1913 to make way for a new wireless station, which had been funded by a Daily Mirror campaign. Masts were erected to the south and west of the building and in dry periods their concrete bases and anchors are still visible as ‘crop marks’ in the grass. The newspaper withdrew funding in 1914 and the station fell out of use, but a year later it was taken over by the Admiralty. When St Kilda was attacked by U-90 in May 1918 the wireless station was the main target, and the ‘Nurses’ cottage’, as it was described in a confidential memorandum, was severely damaged. The damage was repaired after the war and it continued to house the resident nurses until the island was evacuated in 1930.

After the evacuation it fell into an increasingly dilapidated state, but following the acquisition of St Kilda by the NTS in 1957, it was leased to the Ministry of Defence for use as the officers’ base. The MoD repaired the slate roof, replaced the external doors and windows, and undertook some refurbishment works inside.

From the early 1960’s the building became home to the Nature Conservancy Council and Scottish Natural Heritage wardens. During the mid-1970s the internal spaces were extensively refurbished: downstairs the closet was converted into a bathroom, the rotten floor in the kitchen was removed and replaced with concrete, and most of the kitchen lining boards were also removed and the walls plastered. Upstairs, a toilet was added.

The research we carried out this year indicated that the floor and wall panels in the living room, and a fireplace in one of the upstairs bedrooms, may have been original (or at least pre-1930) features. Most of the other features were thought to probably date to 1957 or later, but despite this it was decided that all the work would be undertaken to minimise the impact on the building. This meant that nothing would be permanently removed unless it was damaged beyond repair or it was a modern fixture or fitting. Some panels and floorboards were carefully removed in order to lay new pipes and electricity cables, or to repair rotten joists but once the work was completed they were put back in their original position. It was also decided to

reline the kitchen with wooden panels as this was a key characteristic of the rest of the building.

Under some of the floor boards in the living room were five pieces of a stoneware ‘jam jar’ type container. They were found lying in a rubble deposit between different joists, so the bottle had been broken before the floorboards were laid. This type of container dates to the late 19th or early 20th century, and the vertical grooves may indicate that it was made in Newcastle. No other artefacts were found during the work, but it is possible that other objects are waiting to be discovered behind the modern fixtures and fittings.

The works that were carried out this year have ensured that the building can continue in use and provide comfortable accommodation for staff and researchers carrying out important conservation works.


The Islands Book Trust annual conference is, of course, always an event to look forward to. Last year in Shetland had been so very special however, that here at IBT HQ there was a slight sense of being underwhelmed by this year’s occasion, to be held in the newly vacated Balallan School. When we arrived first thing on Wednesday 5th September the school itself seemed slightly sad, deprived of the shrill voices and thundering feet of its usual inhabitants, and their pictures left up on the walls made the silence seem louder.

Once the catering staff from the Ravenspoint Centre at Kershader came in though, things quickly changed. In no time the building was filled with the aroma of home-made soup, bread, quiches, pizza and fresh coffee. The IBT bookstand with its now hundreds (it seems) of books filled the empty space along with the makeshift reception desk. And dividing the room into lecture area and socialising area was the temporary exhibition about the Land Raiders put together by Proiseact nan Ealan some years ago.

Gradually people began to arrive, both speakers and delegates, and the atmosphere began to take on that special nature which attends all IBT conferences, wherever they are held; a mix of enthusiasm, conviviality, knowledge and interest.

This year our subject was ‘Recovering from the Clearances – Land Struggle, Re-settlement and Community Land Ownership in the Hebrides’, and Balallan School was the ideal venue, being the place where The Pairc Deer Raid, whose 125th anniversary took place this year, was planned. This was one of the seminal episodes in the Land Struggle by crofters in the Highlands and Islands to draw attention to the iniquities of the Clearances and the desperate plight of many landless cottars in Lewis and other parts of the Hebrides. A year earlier in 1886, and following the report of the Napier Commission Inquiry, Gladstone’s Government had passed the Crofters’ Holdings (Scotland) Act, which gave security of tenure to existing crofters, but did nothing for the thousands of families with no rights in land.

However, the Highlands and Islands Land Struggle of the 19th century, reflecting some of the contemporary developments in Ireland, certainly marked a growing confidence by crofters, leading to a change in public opinion more favourable to

land reform. Eventually, after many setbacks, this led to Government-backed re-settlement schemes and the legal re-occupation of some of the land lost at the time of the Clearances.

While much has been written about the Clearances, relatively little attention has been given to the long drawn out process of recovery, the often unsuccessful work of the Congested Districts

Recovering from the ClearancesLand Struggle, Re-settlement, and Community Land Ownership in the Hebrides

During the years of the Clearances throughout the whole of Scotland, the legal

authorities could not find one solitary argument as grounds for

intervention on behalf of the tens of thousands of human beings

whose land was stolen, who were subject to physical intimidation,

whose very lives were under threat.

The law protects the abusers. It protects their ‘rights’ as though by

design.

‘

ewen cameron


Board, and then - following the First World War - the use of compulsory powers by the Board of Agriculture for Scotland to create more land for crofters. In more recent times, community land ownership initiatives are bringing about profound changes, especially in the Outer Hebrides. Many see this as the final stage in recovery from the Clearances, even though the population of many of the islands is now only a fraction of their earlier populations.

So to some extent we would be looking forward as well as looking back during the conference. Who better to start things off then, than Emeritus Professor at the University of the Highlands and Islands, Jim Hunter, who gave the keynote address on the subject of land reform in the Highlands and Islands. Jim’s talk encompassed the Clearances, the Land Raids, Angus MacLeod and the formation of the Scottish Crofter’s Union, the Assynt Crofters and the beginnings of community land ownership, bringing in the poetry of Sorley Maclean and Norman MacCaig.

After a quick tea break, Professor Ewen Cameron from the University of Edinburgh took the stage. Ewen compared the Clearances with those in Ireland and Wales and this was followed by a robust discussion session before the group broke up to prepare for the conference dinner, which was held at Ravenspoint. We were honoured to have Booker prize winning author James Kelman, who, he recently discovered, had South Lochs ancestors, to give the after dinner address, which was a characteristically uncompromising examination of the Clearances:

During the years of the Clearances throughout the whole of Scotland, the legal authorities could not find one solitary argument as grounds for intervention on behalf of the tens of thousands of human beings whose land was stolen, who were subject to physical intimidation, whose very lives were under threat. Many did die whether then or later, in alien environments in Scotland, America and Canada, or in the hold of a rickety ship attempting

to sail the ocean. In the face of imperialism human life is an irrelevance. The law protects the abusers. It protects their ‘rights’ as though by design. Those who suffer as a result might wish to dispute such ‘rights’ or the exercise of such ‘rights’, and are free to do so - as long as they respect the law and challenge from within.

Thursday morning dawned bright and sunny and Allan Campbell was the first to speak. His talk, entitled ‘Dileab Saorsa (The Freedom Legacy)’ was a personal view of land issues in Glendale and Skye, given in Gaelic, however unfortunately we had a technical problem with the simultaneous translation which meant that some people missed some of the finer points Allan made. Joni Buchanan’s talk was next, also in Gaelic, so again the translators had to work overtime trying to make sure the non-Gaelic speakers understood the gist of it – and it was an exceptionally interesting talk about the Pairc Deer Raid.

After coffee Professor Donald Meek introduced us to the Rev. Donald MacCallum in a talk entitled ‘Preaching the Land Gospel’. Rev. MacCallum, ‘The Prophet of Waternish’, was a radical minister who began his career in Morvern before moving to Arisaig, where in 1883 he appeared before the Napier Commission, representing six crofters. The following year he moved to Waternish in Skye and became so involved with the land struggle there that he was eventually censured by the church presbytery:

‘The Presbytery express their great dissatisfaction with Mr MacCallum’s absence from duty today, more especially that they are informed he is going about the country as a political agent, a course which the Presbytery think is unbecoming in a clergyman.’

In 1888 MacCallum moved to the parish of Heylipol in Tiree, a post he held for a very short time, however he was well respected by the islanders who erected a cairn to commemorate his work there. From Tiree he moved to the parish of Lochs in Lewis, where he stayed until he retired in 1921. In later years he became very active in recruiting men for the huge estancias in Patagonia. He died in Glendale in Skye in 1929. Professor Meek gave a fascinating account of a man who was either loved or hated, and we look forward to reading his full length biography of MacCallum one day.

After lunch Professor Marjorie Harper gave a presentation about the Land Struggle and

emigration. Marjorie’s talk asked the question, did emigration offer an effective route of recovery – or escape – from the clearances, or did it simply involve a relocation and redefinition of the concept of land struggle? The answer depended on when the emigration took place, as Marjorie explained when talking about the clearance of Rum in 1825:

The first cohort of settlers, in the eighteenth century, did reasonably well. Many of them, with some capital in reserve, were able to secure Crown land freehold on generous terms, and established fairly productive commercial frontland farms, on which they enjoyed higher living standards than had been possible in Scotland. But those who came in the 1830s and 1840s, already impoverished by the potato famine, discovered both that the good land was already taken and also that stricter regulations made it almost impossible for them to acquire territory legally. Often squatting without title on scrubby backlands, they eked out a living in much the same way as they had done in the Highlands: reliant on a meagre farming base, harnessed to precarious part-time wage labour in fishing and mining, and dogged by the same potato blight from which they had just fled. The topography that reminded them of their Hebridean origins had come back to bite them, and, like the Canadians at Merville 75 years later, their land struggle was primarily a literal struggle with the soil and its limitations.

Dr Bob Chambers then took the floor to discuss land re-settlement schemes in the Hebrides, and he was followed by Iain MacIver, Factor for the Stornoway Trust, who spoke about the history and future of the oldest community land owner in Scotland.

That evening was the premiere of the play, We Have Won the Land, a collaboration between the Book Trust, Rural Nations Ltd and Community Land Scotland. The play is reviewed elsewhere in this newsletter, but suffice to say it was very well received and there was a vigorous discussion session afterwards.

Iain Robertson from the University of Gloucester started proceedings off on the Friday morning, talking about the design and building of the Land Struggle memorial cairns, and then we were lucky enough to have Rob Gibson MSP with us to talk about Donald Macrae, the schoolteacher at the very school we were sitting in, who was the leader of the Pairc deer raiders. Prior to his appointment to Balallan, he had been active in land reform in Alness, and was sacked by the school board for his pains, earning himself the title, ‘the Alness Martyr’.

That afternoon there was a bus trip to visit some of the sites associated with the Pairc Deer raid, including various places on the Eishken estate and the memorial cairn, followed by dinner and a ceilidh at Ravenspoint.

The final day, Saturday, was for looking forward. We had representatives from two local community land owners, the Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn (Galson Trust) and Stòras Uibhist, and David Cameron from Community Land Scotland talking about the future, both in the Hebrides and further afield. As ever, the close of the conference came upon us too quickly, when there was still so much to discuss, but it had been a typically inspiring Book Trust event and everyone went on their way, heads buzzing with ideas and new numbers in their contacts lists, leaving Balallan school empty once more; empty, but for the strange feeling that Donald Macrae would have approved.

As mentioned in our September 2012 newsletter, the Book Trust has been involved in a partnership with Rural Nations Ltd and Community Land Scotland to present a new play about land ownership and communities. Entitled ‘We Have Won the Land’, the play was premiered in Balallan during our ‘Recovering from the Clearances’ conference in September, then toured throughout rural communities in the West of Scotland before finishing with performances in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The company worked with factual material collected from historians and key people and communities in Scotland who were or are involved in processes of buying their land. Dramaturg/writer Toria Banks from London pulled the various strands together into a credible script along with director Muriel Ann Macleod, and the actors (David Walker, Ruth Tapp, Cameron Mowat, Hazel Darwin Edwards) themselves were also involved with the development of the play as it evolved. There was a discussion session with the audience after each performance which also shaped the play as it


We Have Won the Land

toured. Set design was beautifully managed by Bristol based Philippa Thomas and the music was composed and performed by Hector MacInnes.

The play was set on a fictional island, named Murg, and we were introduced to the community, played by only four actors, right from the start. Fred Silver

wrote the following review for Events in Lewis and Harris, and we are extremely grateful to him for permission to reproduce it:


Story of a community with its back against the wallWe Have Won The Land: Balallan Hall

Balallan has probably not seen the première of many plays - but this honour fell to it in September when We Have Won the Land, produced by Lewis-based Rural Nations, started a Scotland-wide tour there.This production brought to life on stage in an effective and vivid way the conflicts between and within

communities about land ownership, development and actual survival. And yes, it was fun as well! The cast of four wore many hats, skirts and other items, switching roles,

accents and costumes with sometimes confusing speed. I was left slightly unsure if the process of converting a man to a woman by partly wrapping a too-small dress round him over his clothes was a serious comment about the politics of gender or just a result of leaving the correct garment in a wardrobe in town!

The public meetings that formed part of the plot were brilliantly and simply explained by having the small group of performers simply change accents and sitting positions. It is hard to pick a single example out of this melée of debate and activity but David Walker in the storm comes to mind, mimicking the style of conversation and stance which would be taken up in a high wind, with a background of storm sounds. The way the wind appeared to snatch away his words made you almost want to look round to see where the draught was coming from.

We Have Won The Land is about a community on the made-up island of Murg buying the land they live on (as happened in Eigg and on Assynt, Gigha and many places in the Western Isles) in order to take control of their own destiny. As the play begins, there is only one child left on the island, one child left in the school. The landlord is still up there in his big house while the islanders’ houses crumble - which is precisely what happened in Gigha, which prior to the buyout, had the highest proportion of substandard housing in Scotland. One of the characters, an incomer who has been widowed, is left living in a caravan because the landlord would not let her stay in the house she had shared with her husband.

The people of South Harris might well recognise another part of the scenario as a struggle develops in the community over a plan to turn a mountain into road rubble with a vast quarry. The problem of the shortage of local jobs is pitted against the survival of a local mountain. Talk of buying the island for the community founders on the simple fact that Murg is not for sale.

A new crisis erupts as the quarry plan is dropped. The landlord is going to sell - some residents have already lived under three owners. But support grows behind the concept: “History should not be of the harm done by rich men’s whims but the history of what we do to help ourselves.” Helped by a stroke of luck, the buyout succeeds in the end and the play moves on to look at the varied impact of this success on some of the individuals involved. Overall, the excellent performances, brisk plot and clarity of philosophy, made this an enjoyable performance and the company went on to take it throughout the Hebrides and on to the mainland, encountering problems with weather on the way - at least two performances had to be cancelled because of the impact of stormy weather.

Underlying this play is the message of the former 7/84 Theatre Company and the statistic that around 50 per cent of Scotland is owned by 1550 people. (The theatre company name came from a statistic, published in The Economist in 1966, that 7% of the population of the UK owned 84% of the state’s wealth.)

The play was developed by Rural Nations in collaboration with the Islands Book Trust and Community Land Scotland. The performance was devised by a company of experienced theatre performers working with director Muriel Ann Macleod, dramaturg/writer Toria Banks, from London, and designer Philippa Thomas, from Bristol. The company worked with factual material collected from historians and key people and communities in Scotland who were or are involved in processes of buying their land. Performers included David Walker (Uist), Ruth Tapp (Ayrshire), Cameron Mowat (Aberdeen), Hazel Darwin-Edwards, (Edinburgh) and Hector MacInnes (musician, Skye). New music was commissioned from Hector MacInnes.

Faclan 2013 A Personal View by John Randall

The Hebridean Book Festival (Faclan) took place this year over the period 30th October – 3rd November, mainly at An Lanntair in Stornoway. The Book Trust are represented on the organising committee and took responsibility for arranging a series of illustrated talks on Scottish Lighthouses by John Love which were held in Barra, Uist, Harris, and Lewis. The talks were based on John’s book ‘The Island Lighthouses of Scotland’ published by the Book Trust. They were well received, each talk focussing on a particular local lighthouse. For the Stornoway talk, focussing on the Flannans lighthouse and the mystery of the disappearance of the lighthouse keepers in 1900, John was joined by poet Kenneth Steven.

A problem for Faclan in the past has been limited publicity and attendance numbers, but this year there was a much higher profile, mainly due to the predictable and sensationalist interest of mainland-based media in the talk by Richard Dawkins about his book ‘The God Delusion’. Having built up the story of Professor Dawkins daring to set foot in a deeply Sabbatarian and hostile island, the media then expressed surprise at his reception under the headline ‘Dawkins Cheered in Stornoway’. Certainly, listening to Richard Dawkins and some of the other speakers with opposing views (for example, Francis Spufford and the Reverend David Robertson) was a most interesting experience in relation to changing social and religious attitudes in the island, although these sessions sometimes resembled political rallies which generated more heat than light.

What was missing from these exchanges in my view was any recognition that Christianity has been

and still is a very profound part of the culture of the islands, and that intellectual attacks on religion – however justified in abstract theoretical terms – will be seen by many as an attack on traditional island beliefs. The balance was redressed to some extent by the erudite and sensitive contributions from Professor Donald Meek and Morag Macleod on the Gaelic Bible and Gaelic psalms, respectively. These sessions demonstrated what Faclan should be about – an opportunity to reflect, discuss, and learn about issues relevant to Hebridean life and culture in a relaxed environment.

Alastair McIntoshIt was a great pleasure to welcome the influential writer Alastair McIntosh back to Lewis on Tuesday 2nd October, to give a talk entitled ‘The Island’s Greatest Export – A Personal

Exploration of Spiritual Values’ at An Lanntair.Alastair grew up in North Lochs where his

father was the doctor, and was educated at Leurbost School and at the Nicolson Institute. He holds degrees from the universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Ulster, including a PhD on liberation theology and Scottish land reform. He is a Fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology, a Visiting Professor at the University of Strathclyde, and has lectured in divinity schools in British and American universities, at the Holy Trinity Sergyev Monastery in Russia, and at the World Council of Churches in Geneva. His books include Soil and Soul and his writing has been described by Michael Russell MSP as “profoundly important”; by James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool, as “life changing”; by Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, as “very helpful indeed” and by Thom Yorke of Radiohead as “truly mental.” A Quaker by convincement, he lives with his wife, Vérène Nicolas, in the Greater Govan area of Glasgow, where he is a founding director of the GalGael Trust which works with poverty, the recovery of meaning, and boat-building.

Recent Events in Lewis and Harris

Richard Dawkins


phoTo: murdo maCleod

phoTo: murdo maCleod

Alastair began by declaring his passion for the beauty of the island’s spirituality, whilst recognising the religious difficulties that history has often thrown up, and his conviction that there is something here that constitutes the island’s greatest export to a wider world. He went on to explore the spirituality of the island of Lewis and Harris as a place, comprised of many meaningful places, that have long given life to and sustained a deeply spiritual community.

The talk then moved on to Westminster Calvinism which became the outward religious face of that inner spirituality. Alastair explored some challenges of the TULIP formulation of Calvinism and reflected on the distinction that some island Evangelicals make between Calvin and his Institutes of the Christian Religion of 1536, and various “Calvinisms”. He then looked at some of less-well-known aspects of how Westminster Calvinism came to Lewis in the 1820s, and especially the roles of Lady Hood Mackenzie and the Rev Alexander Macleod, given a recent history of brutal conscription and clearances.

Finally he celebrated the deep spirituality of the island that runs beneath historical variations in outward religious expression, exploring the island as a place that sustains a deep experiential awareness of the spiritual realm founded in strength of community. He concluded by looking towards the miann, the “ardent desire” for God, as having the potential both to bridge religious differences, and to be the island’s greatest export.

Visit to Butt of Lewis Lighthouse

On Saturday 20th October, the Book Trust held a most enjoyable and instructive event to mark the 150th anniversary of the Butt of Lewis lighthouse, one of the best known and most iconic structures in the Outer Hebrides. This took the form of talks and lunch at the splendid new premises of Comunn Eachdraidh Nis in the former Cross School, followed by a visit to the lighthouse courtesy of the

Northern Lighthouse Board.One of the many lighthouses built around the

Scottish coast under the auspices of the Stevenson dynasty of engineers to the NLB, the brick-built Butt of Lewis lighthouse was first lit on 15th October 1862. The earlier history of lighthouse building in Scotland was ably covered by Dr Alison Morrison-Low of the National Museums of Scotland in her illustrated presentation. There then followed a personal contribution from Donald Mackenzie of Ness, who recalled his earliest memories of the lighthouse and some of the keepers and their families who have contributed so much to Ness over the years. This led on naturally to a discussion chaired by Iain Gordon Macdonald with some of the former keepers, which provided a unique insight into the challenges of life and work in a pretty exposed location.

After lunch, we made our way to the Butt itself, passing en route the remains of the buildings at Stoth where materials for the lighthouse were landed. We also met Tony Marr, ornithologist, who gave us a short talk on the importance of the site for migrating birds. At the lighthouse we were greeted by Murdo MacAulay, Relief Lighthouse Keeper, who was on hand to accompany us – in small groups – up the tower. It was a most beautiful calm and sunny afternoon and the view from the top was stunning, particularly of Ness and the coastline – although North Rona was not visible despite much eye-straining. Murdo said he had never seen it from the lighthouse, so it must be just over the horizon.

It was most appropriate for the Book Trust to return to Ness during our 10th anniversary year, and we would like to thanks all speakers and participants, CEN, and NLB, for making this such a memorable event.

Aidan O’Hara. Atlantic Gaels: Cultural and Historic Links between the Western Isles and Co. Donegal

The cultural and historic ties between the Western Isles and Co. Donegal was the subject of an illustrated

presentation at An Lanntair, Stornoway on Tuesday 20 November, by well-known writer and


phoTo: rob farrow

broadcaster Aidan O’Hara.Aidan is a native of the Inishowen Peninsula,

Co. Donegal. As a boy he spent his holidays with an older married sister on the northernmost part of the peninsula. People pointed out the outline of the southern part of the island of Islay and the Paps of Jura further off in the distance to the northeast. From his earliest years, therefore, he was not only aware of the proximity of Scotland but was familiar with the distinct accents of its people, visitors from Glasgow and the lowlands, mostly, many of them the children of Donegal people who had emigrated to Scotland. It’s just under 40 miles from the north of Inishowen to Islay, and because of its location and long coastline, Inishowen was easily approached by sea either from the northern coast of Ireland or from the west of Scotland.

At the beginning of his talk Aidan reminded us that for centuries there have been close cultural links with Donegal. Historians have pointed out that our people are of the same stock and speak the same language – or languages, indeed. Close trading links, inter-marriage and cultural contacts strengthened and sustained the relationships on both sides of the sea.

Aidan also included stories of times when Donegal exported whiskey to the people of the


islands, who in turn came over with barley, corn, herrings and ponies! Music, song and dance, too, played a vital part in a shared heritage.

A major part of the presentation dealt with the Scottish soldiers from the islands known as gallóglaigh in Gaelic and gallowglasses in English. These mercenary warriors were attached to powerful Donegal clans – among them the O’Donnell and O’Doherty families – and they eventually settled in Ireland. In fact, like so many natives of the county Aidan himself has gallóglaigh blood in his veins, with ancestors whose names include Mac Colla (Coll), Mac Suibhne (Sweeney) and Mac Ruairí (MacRory and Rogers).

In the centuries before the Tudors came to power, Donegal and the northern part of Ireland in general was terra incognita to the centre of power in Dublin Castle. There was active and constant communications with the West Highlands and the term “the Wild Irish” was applied not only to the Irish in Ireland but to the Islands and Highlands as well, as Edinburgh and London sought to bring them under their control.

Aidan was a very engaging speaker and despite it being a wild wet night there was a good turnout of people who must have felt it was well worth the effort of getting to an Lanntair!

Recent and Future Events in Uist and BarraUist and Barra events for 2012 were rounded off by our popular speaker John Love. John gave two talks, one in Barra and one at Taigh Chearsabhagh, Lochmaddy, at the end of October, as part of the Faclan Book Festival. The subject for both talks was Scottish lighthouses, each of the venues having its own association with two well-known Stevenson lighthouses - the Monachs (Heisgeir) in the case of North Uist and Barra Head lighthouse at the most southerly tip of our island chain.

The final talk for 2012 was an interesting account of the northern isles of Orkney and Shetland given by John at a well-attended event in Claddach Kirkibost Centre on 6th November.

The Trustees are grateful to everyone who supported the Book Trust events throughout the year.

We now look forward to another full programme for 2013. Hopefully it will be third time lucky for Ronay. We have brought the trip forward to April on this occasion, as the September weather conditions have not been in our favour over the last two years, resulting in the trips being cancelled.

The Wiay trip is back on the programme. Those of you who were on this trip last year may recall that we were accompanied by Gregor Ewing and his dog Meg, as they retraced the steps of Bonnie Prince Charlie following the Battle of Culloden. Not only did Gregor and Meg complete the trip in good time, but Gregor has now completed writing his account of the venture and he hopes to launch his book at Culloden on Saturday 13th April, that is after returning to the islands to give us an early preview and a presentation about his expedition. Details of the dates and venues are in the events programme.

Alasdair MacEachen


The annual memorial lecture in honour of the late Angus ‘Ease’ Macleod of Calbost, South Lochs, was given this year by Emeritus Professor Donald Meek, a native of Tiree and an outstanding Gaelic scholar at Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh Universities. This important lecture, extracts from which are reproduced below, argued that the history of the Highlands and policy for the development of the Highlands have mainly been told or framed by non-Gaels. As a result, the distinctive Gaelic perspective, embodied in the writings of people such as the Rev. Thomas Murchison, has been largely overlooked:

‘Our understanding of the history of crofting in the Highlands and Islands has come a long way since the early 1970s. Thanks to the pioneering efforts of Dr (now Professor Emeritus) James Hunter, Highland crofting discovered that it had a history, and one worth telling from the crofters’ perspective. In the course of the 1970s and 1980s, Professor Hunter was joined by other researchers, and gradually the course of events a century earlier became much clearer.

During the 1990s, the focus of research began to move away from the 1880s and the 1890s to the twentieth century. In the light of research published over the last 35 years, it is evident that the broader framework for crofting stability was constructed in the 1870s and 1880s, but that the most pressing of all requirements, namely the need for land, remained to be addressed after the passing of the Crofters’ Holdings (Scotland) Act of 1886. Post-1886 agitation was aimed at the division of farms, the initial protest taking the form of land-raiding

and ‘illegal’ occupation of farmland in many parts of the Highlands and Hebrides, including Tiree and Lewis. The struggle for ‘land settlement’, as it was called, was further fomented by the First World War and the Leverhulme debacle in Lewis and Harris. The main phase of land settlement, conducted by the Board of Agriculture, was over by 1930, although there were intermittent occupations until after the Second World War.

Government, which had been much involved in land redistribution in the first quarter of the century through the Department of Agriculture, seems to have become less interested in the matter, or more remote from it, by 1930. Economic challenges to crofting and other aspects of Scottish life multiplied in the era of the ‘depression’. Investment was minimal, and official ‘deafness’ more than evident. Those who had received crofts from the Department of Agriculture before 1930 were now in financial distress. As the growing problems of new smallholders began to be addressed, it became evident that co-ordination of policy, effort and action was required across the Highlands and Islands.

It is in that context that I wish to address the role of the Rev. Dr Thomas Murchison and his part in creating the Highland Development League in 1936, alongside Dr Lachlan Grant. I would wish to draw attention to the Highland Development League’s function and significance, because I believe it was of fundamental importance to steering the Highlands and Islands through the difficult years after 1935. Not only has the Highland Development League been overlooked to a large extent, but when it has been noticed, its significance has been minimised, most notably by Professor James Hunter in his account of crofting in the mid-1930s, which forms part of his book, The Claim of Crofting. Professor Hunter has very little to say about the League, ascribing its foundation to Dr Lachlan Grant alone, whose contribution, in his view, seems to have been largely incidental to Highland development. The League and Dr Grant were ‘charging at a door which the Secretary of State for Scotland, Sir Godfrey Collins, was already holding open’.

The Angus MacLeod Lecture 2012 Professor Donald Meek A Gaelic View of Highland History and Development

the centuries-old droving tradition, and it had maintained a ferry until it was wrecked in a gale in 1915. So matters remained, until T.M. Murchison began a campaign for a replacement vessel and slipways on both sides of the channel. These were eventually provided, after a struggle with the relevant landowners, and Murchison was given the honour of opening the new service in 1936. The Glenachulish, which still plies between Glenelg and Kylerhea, is thus a lasting memorial to Murchison’s initiative and his practical organisational skills.

As his role in establishing the Glenelg-Kylerhea ferry demonstrates, Tom Murchison was involved in a practical manner in many of the economic initiatives of the time. He was not an armchair planner. For example, he was a powerful advocate of Highland interests when hydro-electric schemes were being mooted in the 1930s, and consortia were jockeying for opportunities to cash in on the potential boom. Murchison and the Highland Development League wanted Highlanders themselves to have the economic benefits of the scheme, and he was prepared to travel far and wide to make the case.

In fact, so strident and comprehensive was the League’s role that, in 1938, he and other representatives of the League were summoned to the House of Commons by the Committee of Privileges for holding the House in contempt. When they arrived in London, they found that the committee, under Clement Attlee’s chairmanship, had no mind to convene, since it had found (presumably by precognition) that there was no case for Murchison and his colleagues to answer. It had not as much as bothered to tell them, and they had a wasted journey. This tells us a great deal about the way in which the Highlands and Highland development were viewed in those days. There were no medals then for ‘champions’ of the

I would beg to differ from that interpretation. In so doing, I would suggest that there is a ‘hidden history’ here which must be recovered and put on record – a history hidden, that is, from the eyes and ears of those historians who do not have access to Gaelic sources. Indeed, it is appropriate to sound a warning that, in providing crofting with a history, scholars do not always provide a history that Gaels themselves would recognise, because it is not written from within their experience. Nor is it written from within the existing Gaelic evidence. To be fair, however, that evidence is sometimes hard to access. Only within the last two years has a selection of Murchison’s Gaelic essays been made available in print, together with his invaluable autobiography.

Thomas Moffat Murchison was a minister of the Church of Scotland from 1932 until his death in 1984, serving first as parish minister of Glenelg from 1932 to 1937, and then of St Columba-Copland Road, Govan, Glasgow. The latter merged with the Summertown church in 1966 to become St Columba-Summertown, from which he retired in 1972. He was also a household name in the Highlands and Islands when I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s. There are at least four reasons for his prominence:

(1) Murchison was the editor of the Gaelic Supplement of Life and Work, the journal of the Church of Scotland, from 1951 to 1980. (2) Murchison was a regular broadcaster on Gaelic radio from the mid-1940s. (3) Murchison wrote articles on Highland economics and crofting issues in Gaelic journals, and particularly in Gairm (1952-2002). (4) Murchison was a well-known, practical supporter of the crofters’ cause. He got into his stride in the mid-1930s, when, as minister of the parish of Glenelg, he campaigned for justice for crofters in Glenelg who had incurred serious debt on their holdings.

The Kylerhea-Glenelg area was of fundamental importance to Murchison’s formation as a campaigner on behalf of crofters, as well as to the creation of the Highland Development League. His roots lay there, but so also did his first parish, as well as his first practical challenges. These included the provision of appropriate transport arrangements linking Glenelg and Kylerhea, and the creation of a through route by ferry to and from Skye. The narrows of Kylerhea had been a significant crossing-point for cattle within

I would suggest that there is a ‘hidden

history’ here .......... – a history hidden,

that is, from the eyes and ears of those

historians who do not have access to

Gaelic sources. .......scholars do not

always provide a history that Gaels themselves would recognise, because

it is not written from within their

experience.


Highlands, and certainly not for those who dared to raise their voices against the status quo.

The Highland Development League was of considerable importance in its own day, but it is evident that Grant and Murchison had bigger, wider goals for the Highlands than merely to support crofting. They did not want to deal with individual economic challenges, or with only one strand of the ‘Highland problem’; rather, they wished to develop a means of dealing with the Highland economy as a whole. It was in this context that Murchison began to articulate his vision of a single body responsible for the economic regeneration of the Highlands and Islands. As far as I am aware, he was the first person ever to describe what later emerged as the Highlands and Islands Development Board, and he did so in print in 1938, in an important article entitled ‘Wanted – a Broader Outlook: The Highlands To-day and To-morrow’, published in a booklet celebrating the Empire Exhibition of that year.

Murchison was ideally equipped to chair the 1955 Crofters’ Commission, but the Government chose a career diplomat, Sir Robert Urquhart, in keeping with the colonial perspectives of the period. Although there was a noticeable element of condescension in government attitudes to native Highlanders, Murchison’s lack of prominence in the annals of Highland development may have been partly his own choice – some might say even his own fault – as he was a shy, self-effacing man in private, who may never have wanted recognition.

In the new Highlands which we all know today, and which T. M. Murchison and Lachlan Grant strove to bring into existence from the mid-1930s, his achievements would have been recognised more readily – or at least we trust so. In Murchison’s time, however, Highland development was very far from being a fashionable subject of the kind it is now, with a quasi-‘populist’ view of crofting as a way of life intrinsically worthy of government support and generous official recognition (in the Honours lists) of non-Gaelic-speakers who administer the existing structures. Native Gaels who showed vision and enterprise before Labour’s ‘new deal for the Highlands’ was unveiled as the HIDB in 1965 were treated with little respect. They were a thorn in the flesh of the government and its wider establishments, but they were not exactly viewed with favour even after 1965. Indeed, Murchison himself pointed rather sharply to the lack of native Gaels on the HIDB when it was created, and asked how such men as Sir Robert Grieve could have

access to ‘real information about the real Highlands’, if the Board contained no Highland ‘insiders’.

It may well strike us as quite breathtaking that an outstanding native Gael, thinker and planner like T. M. Murchison, with unrivalled practical and intellectual knowledge of the field of Highland development, was not a member of the Board. Colonial attitudes to the region and its culture, and especially Gaelic and Gaelic speakers, lingered long, as did the concept of a board which was a medium for government intervention, rather than a transmitter to government of native Gaels’ considered views of the needs of the Highlands and Islands. To government across the centuries, Gaels were ‘outsiders’ and somewhat subversive, and this perspective has been hard to eradicate.

A most telling story in this regard comes from Andrew Murchison, son of T.M. Murchison. When I was discussing his father’s achievements with him on one occasion, Andrew told me that he would never forget the day a policeman in uniform appeared at their home. Andrew was then a small boy, and the arrival of the ‘bobby’ frightened him. However, the ‘bobby’ did not come with bad news or to arrest anybody. In fact, he had come with ‘good news’! And what was the ‘good news’? It was that the file held by the Special Branch on the Highland-related activities of the Rev. T.M. Murchison had now been closed!

I am not sure how the Rev. Dr Thomas Moffat Murchison would have reacted to that. As one of the most gracious and courteous men ever to have engaged in Highland development, he must have had wry smile at the very least, knowing that one particular door was now closed. He himself made the point more than once that the only ‘door’ that was potentially open to him, particularly in the fraught days of Highland hydro-power schemes when he was summoned to appear before the Committee of Privileges of the House of Commons, was that of the Tower of London! ‘Charging … at an open door’? Yes, there was indeed an ‘open door’, but it was not perhaps the one that would have given Tom Murchison or Highland crofters more freedom!’

A full illustrated account of Professor Meek’s lecture entitled ‘Charging at an Open Door? – An Alternative View of Crofting History and Highland Development’ has been published by the Islands Book Trust and is available price £6 plus P and P from www.theislandsbooktrust.com or by phoning Margaret on 01851 880737.



Tiree – War among the Barley and BrineMike Hughes and John Holliday

Tiree’s inhabitants had fought to master the seas for centuries. Tiree’s soil had nourished a large population, along with other islands. In World War Two, Tiree was required to offer sustenance and shelter to arrivals from a multitude of cities and states.

In the early 1940s, as country after country fell to Hitlerism, Tiree became a sentinel for the Clyde and other vital, west coast sea ports. Convoys crammed with servicemen and women and crucial supplies skirted close by, while U boats lurked just out of view. The military commandeered chunks of almost every Hebridean island - if invasion came, would there be fighting on the machair?

And so a vital role developed for Tiree, in an enormous Allied endeavour. Without victory in the Atlantic, how would a second front be prepared for and launched to liberate Europe?

Was there more than stubborn, enduring or endearing stoicism linking Tiree and Winston Churchill in wartime? Was there something more than loyalty connecting the island with the Royal family at this time? How might Tiree offer rescue to those in peril on the seas, in time of war? What was it about the weather; the turbulent, sometimes

chaotic weather patterns of Tiree’s Atlantic shroud, which educated and informed the planners of Allied victory? The authors have sought to capture here some memories of this momentous time, while memories still prevail, just; recollections of youth; RAF, Royal Navy and islander alike.ISBN: 978-1-907443-38-1 | 160pp | 76 B&W illustrations | Paperback | £15.00 | Available now

An t-EileanTaking a Line for a Walk through the Island of Skye

Angus Peter Campbell with photograhs by Cailean Maclean

This is an account in words and pictures of a walk taken through Skye by the award-winning writer Angus Peter Campbell and his friend the photographer Cailean Maclean. Both were brought up in South Uist, so the journey here extends well beyond Skye to their pre-electric upbringing in the Outer Hebrides: a beautifully written and photographed memoir of people, places and times.

Tha iomadach seud taisgte anns an leabhar bhriathran is dhealbhan seo. Chan e a-mhàin cunntas air cuairt tron Eilean Sgitheanach, ach cuimhneachain air daoine, àiteachan agus amannan. Am measg nan ulaidhean a gheibh sibh an seo tha

briathrachas mu àiteachan a dh’fhàg Dòmhnall Angaidh MacIlleathain nach maireann aig Aonghas Phàdraig, a-bharrachd air deagh iomradh air faclan a thog KC Craig ann an Uibist-a-Deas.English and Gaelic | ISBN: 978-1-907443-39-8 | 152pp | 33 illustrations | Paperback | £20.00 | Available now

Alexander MacDonald, Bard of the Gaelic Enlightenment

Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, Bàrd an t-Soillearachaidh Ghàidhealaich

Camille Dressler and Domhnall Uilleam Stiùbhart (Eds.)

Modern poetry in Scottish Gaelic begins with the brilliant, controversial figure of Alexander MacDonald, better known as Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair. Alasdair belonged to the Clanranald heartland of Moidart in West Lochaber and his life followed the fortune of his clan at the time of the ‘45. A larger than life character, he was a heroic figure, inspirational and visionary in turn, his heartbeat in tune with the events of his time. Hailed as the most original and innovative poet of the 18th century, he brought new life and vitality to Gaelic poetry. Alasdair was at once an antiquarian revivalist and formal

New and forthcoming books

9 781907 443046

ISBN 978- 1- 907443- 04- 6 l

ivin

g history THE ISLANDS BOOK TRUST

URRAS LEABHRAICHEAN NAN EILEAN

£15.00 ISBN 978-1-907443-04-6

Modern poetry in Scottish Gaelic begins with the brilliant, controversial figure of Alexander MacDonald, better known as Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair. Alasdair belonged to the Clanranald heartland of Moidart in West Lochaber and his life followed the fortune of his clan at the time of the ‘45. A larger than life character, he was a heroic figure, inspirational and visionary in turn, his heartbeat in tune with the events of his time. Hailed as the most original and innovative poet of the 18th century, he brought new life and vitality to Gaelic poetry. Alasdair was at once an antiquarian revivalist and formal innovator, a committed writer about the politics of his time and a literary craftsman, interested in the development of poetic form.

This book brings together papers from a series of conferences which took place at Glenfinnan, Strontian and Canna. Shedding light on various aspects of Alasdair’s rich life and work, the book will also enable the reader to explore the locations associated with him in West Lochaber through the eyes of one of the most fascinating and complex characters in Scottish literature.

A lexander MacDonald, Bard of the Gaelic EnlightenmentA l asdair mac Mhaighstir A l asdair , Bàrd an t-Soillearachaidh Ghàidhealaich

A l e x A n d e r M A c d o n A l d

A l asdair mac Mhaighstir A l asdair , Bàrd an t-Soillearachaidh Ghàidhealaich

o Edited by Camille Dressler and D.W. Stiùbhar t

bard of the gaelic enlightenment

THIS PROJECT WAS PART FINANCED BY THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT AND THE EUROPEAN COMMMUNITY HIGHLAND LEADER 2007 – 2013 PROGRAMME

Alexan

der M

acDo

nald, Bard of the G

aelic Enlightenment

Front cover : Castle Tioram and Loch Moidart by David Robertson © www.scot-image.co.uk


innovator, a committed writer about the politics of his time and a literary craftsman, interested in the development of poetic form.

This book brings together papers from a series of conferences which took place at Glenfinnan, Strontian and Canna. Shedding light on various aspects of Alasdair’s rich life and work, the book will also enable the reader to explore the locations associated with him in West Lochaber through the eyes of one of the most fascinating and complex characters in Scottish literature.

ISBN: 978-1-907443-04-6 | 160 pp | 15 illustrations | Paperback | £15.00 | Available now

The Carrying Stream Flows OnCelebrating 60 Years of the School of Scottish Studies

Bob Chambers (Ed.)

In the summer of 2011 the Islands Book Trust held a three-day conference in Shetland to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of the School of Scottish Studies and assess its contribution to our knowledge and understanding of Scotland.

The School of Scottish Studies came into being at the University of Edinburgh in 1951 as a research unit dedicated to ‘the study and conservation of the folk culture of Scotland’. In that year Calum Iain Maclean was seconded from the Irish Folklore Commission to continue his collecting in Scotland, while other pioneers such as Hamish Henderson and Alan Lomax were also beginning the monumental task of systematically recording the rich oral culture of Scotland in Scots and Gaelic.

The conference attracted an exceptional array of first-

class speakers, many of whom had worked for or been closely associated with the School over the years. Their topics included the examination of some of the pioneers who are no longer with us, as well as reflecting on other key figures who played a seminal role in the history of the School. There were also scholars from outwith Scotland, who placed the School’s work in a wider international Celtic and Nordic context, helping to evaluate critically the significance of the School’s work and history, and to look forward to consider future priorities.

This volume gathers together all the contributions to the conference and is a fitting tribute to the first 60 years of the School.ISBN: 978-1-907443-40-4 | 42 illustrations |Paperback | £10.00 | Available early 2013

Defending St Kilda Ron Morris

In this book, based on new research and with archive photographs, Ron Morris tells the intriguing and little-known story of the role which St Kilda played in World War 1, including the establishment of a wireless station and Royal Navy base to monitor enemy movements in the North Atlantic. In May 1918, a German U-boat entered Village Bay and opened fire, following which a gun was erected on St Kilda next to the Manse to respond to future attacks – although this was never used in anger. A flavour of how the islanders responded to this unexpected threat can be gained from the following extract: ‘Finlay MacQueen like some of the other islanders was still under the impression the submarine was a friendly craft and intended to row his little boat out to it for a

chat with the sailors and hoping to replenish his dwindling stock of tobacco in the process. He grew annoyed when the submarine failed to stop, but continued in its circle putting his intended visit out of reach.’ ISBN: 978-1-907443-41-1| c. 130pp | Paperback | £10.00 | Available Spring 2013

Na Pìobairean/The PipersDolina Maclennan

The Hebridean islands have a rich store of traditional Gaelic stories, transmitted by word of mouth through the generations. They have also produced incomparable story-tellers. In this beautifully crafted book, well-known actress, singer and writer Dolina Maclennan from Lewis relates in Gaelic and English a simple but powerful story about Highland piping, love of music, family intrigue, and banishment. The book includes many evocative colour illustrations by Lewis artist Sandra Kennedy which capture the spirit of the islands, and a CD of Dolina telling her story in both Gaelic and English. It will appeal to children of all ages, Gaelic learners, and everyone to whom the islands are a source of wonder and inspiration. ISBN: 978-1-907443-42-8 | Hardback | Price tbc | Available Summer 2013

from The Islands Book Trust

All books available from the Islands Book Trust www.theislandsbooktrust.com phone: Margaret on 01851 880737.


The American Connection to the Sinking of HMS Dasher

Noreen and John Steele

This book is a cracking read which will appeal to anyone who enjoys real life mysteries. It battles through a shocking cover up, which has kept this story quiet under the Official Secrets Act ever since the war. The American Connection to the Sinking of HMS Dasher by John and Noreen Steele is the final book on this subject by these persistent and resourceful authors, whose years of investigation uncovers scandals from American - British politics to a determined naval cover up, and ends up in a true life James Bond story. The scandals include; The MOD maintaining secrecy regarding what happened to 379 of the crew from HMS Dasher, bodies disappearing, the American connection to the loss of 379 lives and the sinking of a Royal Navy aircraft carrier…Read the survivors firsthand accounts. Over the years the authors met with relatives of many of the 379 victims of this disaster, which involved no enemy action, and their contact with these distressed relatives has driven their determination to uncover what really happened that day in 1943.

This is a gripping true story which has been shrouded in secrecy for almost 70 years. ISBN: 978-0-9532637-1-4 | 192pp | Paperback |£9.99 |free P&P | Available now from J.Steele – phone 01294 464917 or email [email protected]

Three Years in Tristan da Cunha

Katherine Mary Barrow

K. M. Barrow was the wife of the Rev. J. G. Barrow, Missionary Clergyman in Tristan Da Cunha and fellow-worker with him on that island. The Barrows went out to the island from Britain in 1905 and Mrs Barrow kept a diary throughout her time there, in order to ‘give a simple and true description of daily life among a very small community cut off from the rest of the world’. Re-published recently by Tredicion Classics.

‘Tristan da Cunha, a British possession, is an island-mountain of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic ocean. Latitude 37 deg. 5’ 50” S.; longitude 12 deg. 16’ 40” W. Circular in form. Circumference about 21 miles. Diameter about 7 miles. Height 7,640 feet. Volcano extinct during historic

times. Discovered by the Portuguese navigator Tristan da Cunha, 1506. Occupied by the British, 1816. Nearest inhabited land, the island of St. Helena, 1,200 miles to the N.

In the autumn of 1904 we saw in the Standard a letter which arrested our attention. It was an appeal for some-one to go to the Island of Tristan da Cunha, as the people had had no clergyman for seventeen years.

Now, Tristan da Cunha was not an unknown name to us, for as a child my husband loved to hear his mother tell of her shipwreck on Inaccessible, an uninhabited island twenty-five miles south-west of Tristan da Cunha.

She, then a child of four, and her nurse were passengers on the Blendon Hall, which left London for India in May 1821, and was wrecked during a dense fog on Inaccessible, July 23. The passengers and crew drifted ashore on spars and fragments of the vessel. Two of the crew perished, and nearly all the stores were lost. For four months they lived on this desolate island. A tent made out of sails was erected on the shore to protect the women and children from the cold and rain. They lived almost entirely on the eggs of sea-birds.

After waiting some time in hope of being seen by a ship, they made a raft from the remains of the wreck, and eight of the crew set off in it to try to reach Tristan, but were never heard of again, poor fellows. A few weeks later a second and successful attempt was made. The men reached Tristan, but in a very exhausted state. Then the Tristanites, led by Corporal Glass, manned their boats, and at great personal risk succeeded in fetching off the rest of the crew and passengers, who remained on Tristan till January 9, 1822, on which day a passing English brig took them to the Cape of Good Hope.

This was eighty-four years ago. And now the son of that little shipwrecked

Books from Other Publishers


girl was seriously thinking of going out to minister to the children of her rescuers.’ISBN: 978-3849153168 | 232pp | £14.99 | Available now from Amazon and others

Bearing the People Away - The Portable Highland Clearances CompanionJune Skinner Sawyers

June Sawyers is a writer who is based in Chicago, USA. Originally from Scotland, Sawyers has written or edited more than twenty books, many with a Scottish theme, including popular and regional histories.

The working title of her latest book is Bearing the People Away: The Portable Highland Clearances Companion, a popular history on the Highland Clearances and the subsequent Scots diaspora, especially to Canada, and to Cape Breton in particular.

Part reference guide, part handbook, part travel guide and part resource in one portable volume, Bearing the People Away uses an encyclopedia format geared toward the general reader. The entries vary in length from brief sentences to several paragraphs and consist of major Clearance sites, major and minor figures associated with the Clearances, Clearance-related sites outwith Scotland (including such significant parts of the Scottish Diaspora as Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand), and places and historical events with Clearance and or Highland connections. Entries are arranged alphabetically.

Bearing the People Away contains approximately 400 entries, a full index and bibliography, and a resource section containing an annotated list of recordings, websites and relevant museums and organizations dealing with the Highland Clearances.

Highlights: • Part reference guide, part handbook, part travel guide, part resource • Practical, useful, informative, entertaining • Cross references for the convenience of the reader • A comprehensive further reading list • Written in a popular style for students, scholars, the general reader and anyone with an interest in Scotland and Scottish history and culture as well as the culture and history of the broader Scottish diaspora, especially Canada • The only one-volume companion to one of the most defining moments in Scottish, and indeed, British and Scots diaspora history.

ISBN: 978-1-897009-70-3 | $27.95 CAD | Available Summer 2013 from Cape Breton University Press (www.cbupress.ca) or from The Gaelic Books Council (www.gaelicbooks.org)

We have a fantastic range of events for you this year so get your diaries out now to make sure you don’t miss out!

Geographically, the events range from Tiree to Stroma, and there is a full range of walks, boat trips, conferences, and evening talks on offer throughout the Outer Hebrides and in Skye.

The highlight is a 3-day conference in Tiree from 30th May-1st June, the first time the Book Trust have organised an event on this island, bringing together outstanding speakers such as Professor Donald Meek and Dr Margaret Mackay with local people with a view to preparing the first ever full length history of the island.

There will also be a 2-day event in Lewis on 21st-22nd June to discuss the development of ‘Slighe Chaluim Chille’ to mark the early links between the Hebrides and Ireland established by St Columba – details available elsewhere in this issue.

Boat trips will be organised in the summer months to Ronay, Wiay, Berneray (Barra Head), Mealista Island, the deserted settlements of Southern Pairc,

and Stroma, and there will be a walk to Molinginish in Harris.

And islands further afield are celebrated through talks to mark the 50th anniversary of the re-settlement of Tristan da Cunha, the world’s most isolated community.

Evening talks will be given by well-known speakers such as Donald Martin, Bill Lawson, John Love, and Margaret Bennett.

Commenting on the programme, Chairman of the Book Trust, John Randall, said: ‘We look forward, as do our growing number of members, to another full and exciting programme in 2013, the Year of Natural Scotland. There is something here for everyone interested in the human and natural history of Scottish islands, and I would encourage people to come along and join us, whatever your background. Our events offer a chance to deepen your knowledge of special places and to meet some remarkable people.’

For further information, or to book an event, please email [email protected] or phone 01851 820946 or 01851 880737.

Events 2013

NOTES1. All boat trips are weather permitting and must be booked in advance.2. [G] = Mainly in Gaelic, but please note that non-Gaelic speakers are very welcome and encouraged to come – translations into English will be provided.3. Please see website www.theislandsbooktrust.com for updated information on all events. 4. For further details and bookings, please contact Alayne Barton 01851 820946 or Margaret Macdonald 01851 880737 (all events), John Randall 01851 880365 (Lewis, Harris and Tiree), Alasdair MacEachen 01870 602124 (Uist and Barra), Sìne Ghilleasbuig 01470 562325 (Skye), or Christine Gunn 01847 896508 (Stroma).

urras leabhraiChean nan eilean - The islands book TrusT a registered scottish charity SC032682 Ravenspoint Kershader Isle of Lewis HS2 9QAenquiries - tel 01851 820946 email: [email protected] sales - tel: 01851 880737 email: [email protected]

EVENTSTuesday 5th February – An Lanntair, Stornoway, 7.30pm ALASDAIR MACEACHEN – ‘Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Resettlement of Tristan da Cunha, the world’s most isolated island community - Alasdair MacEachen looks back on an excursion to the South Atlantic’

Thursday 14th March – Taigh Chearsabhagh, Lochmaddy, North Uist, 8pm - SUSAN BAIN - ‘An Evening with The National Trust for Scotland’ - Susan Bain, NTS Western Isles Area Manager, will bring people up to date on developments and proposals concerning NTS properties in the Western Isles, including screening of a St Kilda film’

Tuesday 19th March – An Lanntair, Stornoway, 7.30pmDONALD MARTIN – ‘Representing the Western Isles – Image and Reality: Some Personal Reflections’

Tuesday 9th April – Aros Centre, Portree, Skye, 7.30pm GREGOR EWING – ‘Following in the footsteps of Bonnie Prince Charlie through the Highlands and Islands’

Wednesday 10th April – Sgoil Lionacleit, Benbecula, 7.30 pm GREGOR EWING - ‘Following in the footsteps of Bonnie Prince Charlie through the Highlands and Islands’

Thursday 11th April – Harris Hotel, Tarbert, Harris, 7.30pm GREGOR EWING – ‘Following in the footsteps of Bonnie Prince Charlie through the Highlands and Islands’

Tuesday 16th April – An Lanntair, Stornoway, 7.30pm BILL LAWSON – ‘Emigration from the Western Isles 1750—1920’

Saturday 27th April - Boat trip to RONAY from Kallin (North Uist), depart 10.30am

Saturday 11th May – Walk with EOGHAIN MACKINNON in Strathaird – ‘A’ Cheapach gu Cill Mo Ruibhe’, depart 11am [G]

Saturday 18th May – Walk from Urgha (Harris) to MOLINGINISH to meet SIMON FRASER, depart 11am

Saturday 25th May - Boat trip to WIAY from Petersport (Benbecula), depart 10 am

Thursday 30th May – Saturday 1st June – 3-DAY CONFERENCE on ‘The History of Tiree ’in TIREE (details to be announced later)

Saturday 15th June - Boat trip to BARRA HEAD (BERNERAY) from Castlebay (Barra), depart 10am

Friday 21st-Saturday 22nd June – 2-DAY EVENT – ‘Slighe Chaluim Chille – Links Between Western Ireland and the Western Isles’ – Ravenspoint (details to be announced later)

Saturday 6th July – Boat Trip to former settlements of SOUTHERN PAIRC between Loch Seaforth and Loch Claidh (including Kenmore, Bagh Ciarach, Bagh Reimseabhaidh, Caolas Eilean Thinngartsaigh, and Smuaisibhig), depart from Kyles Scalpay (Harris) at 11am

Saturday 27th July – Walk with DUGALD ROSS from the Storr Lochs to the former settlement of Holm – ‘A’ cumail na cuimhne beò’, depart 11am [G]

Saturday 3rd August – Boat Trip to MEALISTA ISLAND from Husinish (Harris), depart 11am

Saturday 10th August – Boat Trip to STROMA from Gill’s Bay, Caithness, depart 10am (subject to confirmation)

Saturday 31st August - Walk to USINISH LIGHTHOUSE from Loch Skipport (South Uist), depart 10am

Friday 20th September – Sgoil Lionacleit, Benbecula, 7.30pmALASDAIR MACEACHEN - ‘Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Resettlement of Tristan da Cunha, the world’s most isolated island community - Alasdair MacEachen looks back on an excursion to the South Atlantic’ Thursday 24th October – ANGUS MACLEOD MEMORIAL LECTURE, Gravir, Lewis (details to be announced later) [G]

Friday 25th October - Taigh Chearsabhagh, Lochmaddy, North Uist, 8pm – JOHN LOVE - ‘A Look at Uist Wildlife’

Tuesday 29th October – Saturday 2nd November – FACLAN (details to be announced later)

Tuesday 19th November– An Lanntair, Stornoway, 7.30pm MARGARET BENNETT – ‘Bogs, Bothans, Bridges, and Bagpipes – Personal Reflections on my Father’s Life as a Musical Civil Engineer in Lewis and Newfoundland’

Ibt Newsletter Jan 2013

Documents

factual material collected

bonnie prince charlie

tristan da cunha

dramaturg writer toria banks

pairc deer raid

part reference guide

professor donald meek

30pm gregor ewing