newsletter spring 2015 epub

8/9/2019 Newsletter Spring 2015 Epub

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Members NewsletterSpring 2015


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02 Chairmantalks planned to suit everyone,from subjects such as theherring girls to archaeologicalnds at dun sites in Lewis andHarris.

New titles for 2015 include ahistory of Portree by Ella Liley,

a lighthearted look at the Isleof Coll by Ewen McGee, a followup to Robert Atkinsons IslandGoing featuring the Isle of Rum,an examination of Caithness bypoet, playwright and nativeof the area George Gunn, andthe combined proceedings ofour two Slighe Chaluim Chilleconferences held in 2013 and2014 respectively. Details of

all these can be found withinthese pages.

We very much hope to seeyou at one or more of ourevents this year, but if you areunable to make those, weresure that you will enjoy themvicariously through our booksand booklets. As membersyou are entitled to 10% oall our titles, which you can

order through our website orby phoning the oce on 01851830316 (please note change ofnumber).

Our new oce is at LaxayHall, Laxay, Isle of Lewis, HS29PJ. We have our full range ofbooks and booklets on displaythere, available to buy. Itsright on the main Butt to Barraroad and has a coee machine,so do pop in to see us and totry it out!

over 500 Facebook likes and200 Twitter followers, as wellas the ability to create publicitymaterial and newsletters in-house instead of outsourcing;and on the other, detailedanalysis of book sales over thelast few years and realistic

projections for the next three.All these things mean we gointo 2015 in a strong positionto maximize revenue from ourown activities. We also havetaken steps to reduce costs,by moving oce and producingpublicity material in-house,as already mentioned, but inaddition we have ended thecontract with our mainland

book distributor Booksource,which will mean that whilewe will need to work harderto generate direct sales, wewill no longer have to oer thelarge trade discounts necessaryfor mainland bookshops.

So while we know 2015 will bechallenging, we are also hopefulthat it will be a successful year.

Our programme of events ispacked as usual, with highlightssuch as a three-day conferencein Barra on the subject ofgalley castles, an eventcommemorating the centenaryof the Ross Mountain BatterysWWI campaign at Gallipoli,and a one day follow up to lastyears Slighe Chaluim Chilleconference in Donegal which

will be held in Campbeltown inJune. We also have boat tripslined up to, amongst otherplaces, Mingulay, St Kilda andTaransay, and have a range of

Firstly, Id like to wish youall a Happy New Year and to

thank you for your continuedsupport. Our members arecrucial to the ongoing successof the Trust and we wouldencourage you to make yourvoices heard regarding allaspects of our work, whetherit be ideas for events, articlesfor the newsletter, matters ofgovernance or indeed anythingelse.

2014 brought many changesfor us a new chairman, newsta and towards the endof the year, a new oce;new challenges but also newopportunities. We were luckyto gain funding from Comunn naGaidhlig to employ John Groomand Mairi Mackenzie for 10months and Im pleased to saythat we have extended their

contracts pending a furtherfunding application. As a resultof their work we have on theone hand a much enhancedpresence on social media, with


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03 NewsMairi Hedderwick OpensNew IBT OceA new chapter opened for IBT in September when we moved outof our oce and store at Ravenspoint and Habost respectively,and into a new combined unit at Laxay, a few miles away on

the main Butt to Barra road. The new building is leased fromthe Kinloch Historical Society, and provides bright spaciousoce space as well as plenty of storage for our sizeable backcatalogue.

We were lucky enough to have some special guests to openthe building on 11 November Mairi Hedderwick kindly agreedto cut the ribbon for us, and Pairc Schools P1-4 classes camealong to help celebrate. Mairi told the story of Katie Morag andthe Tiresome Ted, and the children were all thrilled when shedelved into her bag and produced Ted himself, straight from

the arms of Katie Morag! Books were signed, cakes (heroicallybaked by our own Mairi Mackenzie) were eaten and a greatafternoon was had by all. All in all it was a very auspiciousbeginning to our time in Laxay.

Our new address is Laxay Hall, Laxay, Isle of Lewis, HS29PJ and the telephone number is 01851 830316. Emailaddresses and website details remain the same. The oceis open from 9am 1pm every weekday so do pop in and seeus if youre able to.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

12th February, 8.00pmTaigh Chearsabhagh,

Lochmaddy - A Journeyalong the coast ofNorway a talk with JohnLove

26th March, 8.00pmCladdach KirkibostCentre, North Uist -Tales of a wandering

Planner ... a talk withAlastair Banks

26th March, 7.30pmAn Lanntair, Stornoway -A Saga of Sea Eagles atalk with John Love

24th April, 7.30pm

TA Drill Hall, Stornoway- Centenary of RossMountain Batterycampaign at Gallipolia talk with Colin ScottMacKenzie and others

25th April, 10.00am

Guided Walk to Eubhalfrom Locheport withMike Townsend.


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04 Lecture

THERE were no spare seats at the eleventhAngus Ease Macleod Memorial lecture, held inPairc School on Thursday October 23.

The guest speaker this year was MaggieCunningham, a native of Scalpay who is chair

of Gaelic broadcaster MG Alba.Fittingly, Maggie was welcomed onto the stagein Gaelic by John Randall, of the Islands BookTrust, which organises the annual event.

Given in Gaelic, with simultaneous Englishtranslation, the lecture was entitled GaelicBroadcasting in the 21st Century.

Maggie well remembered her own rstencounter with broadcasting. We had oneradio which was switched on at particular timesof day, she recalled. I dont remember itbeing on in the mornings, but my mother wouldlisten to Womans Hour and for us there wasListen with Mother. Fathers didnt have alook-in when it came to child-rearing in thosedays.

There was a smattering of Gaelic beingbroadcast on the radio shortly after theestablishment of the BBC in 1923, butneither islanders nor Gaels on the west coastcould hear a word of it due to the lack of

broadcasting masts. At the time it wasntdeemed important to keep people informed oflocal life, said Maggie.

The broadcasters of the time were of theopinion that there was little to be learned

from rural areas, or from people who made aliving from manual labour. Attitudes startedto change after the Second World War however,through the intervention of pioneers such asHugh Macphee and Finlay J. Macdonald.

But there is little doubt that it was Fred

Macaulay who really began to bring the viewsof the Gaelic community to the fore, saidMaggie. Like Angus Macleod, Fred Macaulaywas only too aware of how vital the recordingof oral tradition in every district would be.

But that in itself presented a challenge, in thatequipment was awkward and cumbersome,and then there was the arduous task of ndinga slot in an already crowded broadcastingschedule. The sixties and seventies heraldeda desire for change to become action, and in

keeping with that spirit, a movement to ghtfor more Gaelic broadcasting was born.

The BBC responded by moving out fromtheir large oces in Glasgow, Edinburgh andAberdeen and setting up local stations in townsthroughout Scotland. These would feed intoone main station Radio Scotland and shortlyafter this Radio nan Eilean was established inStornoway. Maggie was lucky enough to bepart of the team.

She said: We were full of condence, andeven though to begin with we only had aboutquarter of an hour of Gaelic each day, withEnglish news for ve minutes after the Gaelicnews and an hour of programming on Fridaynights, we were full of hope that furtherdevelopments would come.

And thats what happened. Its dicult nowto imagine a time when Radio nan Gidhealwasnt available all day, but in fact it was only20 years ago.

These changes soon took eect in television,particularly for children, as the Gaelic Mediumeducation system came into being.

Strangely, Maggie noted, as more demand was

By Iain A MacSween


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heaped on broadcasters to air Gaelic content,the language continued to decline in manycommunities.

Of Calbost, the village from which AngusMacleod had hailed, she said: Im sure AngusMacleod wouldnt recognise this communitytoday, in the same way as I dont recognise theisland of Scalpay.

This, she said, placed a responsibility onbroadcasters and the decisions they made aboutthe service and programmes they oered. Thecreation of a stand-alone digital TV channelwas ground-breaking. It had come about as aresult of two things funding of 8 million fromthe Tory government in 1989, and the doggeddetermination of John Angus Mackay, thecurrent chair of Brd na Gidhlig.

But before the formation of the channel, the

funding had been used for a daily news servicebroadcast from Stornoway on Grampian, and ofcourse, Machair. Maggie wondered if the newdrama series Bannan would last longer than itsoft-maligned predecessor. I hope it will, andwe, as the Board of MG Alba, are working tosecure the funding to ensure it does, she said.

But she added, Gaelic dramas cost ten timesas much as any other programmes made by MGAlba, so there were obvious challenges to face.The most important thing we can all do is to

use the language in every situation in which wend ourselves, said Maggie.

It is very easy to switch to English, particularlyin oce and formal settings, but those of uswho make our living through Gaelic should beguiding lights in terms of using and valuing thisprecious language.

Long gone, said Maggie, were the days whendecisions on what Gaels should listen to orwatch laid in the hands of others. Regardless

of how useful or accessible the technology is,regardless of the speed of the broadband or theamount of funding we are given, Gaelic will notthrive unless we use it and add to it every singleday, she said.

She added: Regardless of equipment and thetype of community we live in, if we dont havea rm footing in the oral tradition, the preciouslanguage of our mothers will be impoverishedin the future.

Our broadcasters have a responsibility toensure that our viewers and listeners areencouraged, informed, and entertained every

time they watch and listen.Following her lecture, as is customary at theseevents, a word of prayer was oered by RevIain T. Campbell, of Pairc Free Church. Thosegathered then sang Psalm 109, with TorquilMacleod precenting.

Speaking to EVENTS later, MAGGIE Cunninghamadmitted to being nervous before her lecture,because of the large contingent of her fellowScalpaich who had made the journey to hear

her.But she was relieved to report that the wobbleshad soon disappeared after she startedspeaking. Im very pleased with how it went,she said of her talk.

Youre always a bit more nervous when thereare people you know in the audience, but theywere very kind to me.

Being in such a high prole position, wherevisits of any kind to her native island were rare,

the lecture was an invitation she was delightedto have accepted.

I dont get home nearly as much as I wouldlike, she said. Im always in a hurry becauseIm very bad at organising my own life!

Maggie is based in Plockton, where she liveswith her husband John, who is a native of thetown. She has two children, Fionnlaigh (30),and Sandra (28). In her spare time she cycles,walks, reads books, and goes sailing with John.And I watch the television quite a lot, sheadded, laughing.

Transcript of lecture available for purchase6.00

We are very grateful to Events newspaper for

permission to reproduce this article

05 Lecture


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07

Air latha iuch, cethach, grannda saChitean, rinn mu dheichnear againn airEilean osaidh eilean osail fada aig beulLoch a Bhaigh, a sneadh eadar Bhatairnisagus An Claigeann, tuath air Dn Bheagain.Bha mi ann an deagh chuideachd an lathasin, oir b e muinntir Bhatairnis fhin an cuidbu mhotha dhiubh daoine cho gasda, choosraichte agus cho Gaidhealach sa ghabhas.

B ann leis na Ledaich a bha osaigh (nuaira bha Olaf the Black deiseal leis), agus bann air an eilean sin a chaidh dusan dhuinede chinneadh Mhic Leid am muirt leRuairidh Nimheach, a bhuineadh do SholThoircail, agus e a feuchainn ri dhanamhcinnteach gum faigheadh an teaghlach aigefhin sealbh air oighreachd Gherrloch agusRatharsair plana nach do dh obraich.Chaidh a thairgsinn don Dtair SmhairleMacIain nuair a bha e air aoidheachd aig Dn

Bheagan air a thuras ainmeil, ach chaidh adhiltadh.

Nuair a fhuair am Maidsear AileanMacDhmhnaill sealbh air Bhatairnis agus

Eilean osaigh anns na 1830an, stidhich estisean iasgaich far an robh na h-eileanaicha pigheadh am mal ann am barailean isg.Tha barrachd na 14 taighean air an togailmar srid eadar a chidhe agus an taighmr a chaidh a chleachdadh mar str agusite obrach dhan ghnomhachais. B ann leDonovan, an seinneadair ainmeil, a bha eeadar na 1960an agus na 1970an.

Bha iomadh eun a neadachadh nuair a bhasinn ann - faoileagan, geidh, starraganagus eile - agus mar sin bha againn ri bhithfaiceallach nach cuireadh sin cus draghorra. Thill am bta air ar son agus musdeach sin air brd, ghabh sinn strpag theth,bhuidheach, agus bha cilidh againn fotharpaulin cho math ri cilidh sam bith aigan robh mi a-riamh ged a bha an latha grod,agus nuair a chaidh sinn air brd, lean sinnoirnn le rain is sgeulachdan gus an do ruig

sinn cidhe Stinn a-rithist latha nach tids mo chuimhne gu brath.

Iona

Skye Events

Aithris le Iona Domhnallach


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Events201509Pabbay Taransay

Vallay House Stornoway Herring Girl

Monach Isles Scarp


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10Events 2015

I write this on Blue Monday, ocially the mostdepressing day of the year, and indeed it is atypically dead, grey January day. Here at IBTHQ though, we are anything but gloomy, lookingforward as we are to the long golden days ofsummer and the many exciting events in our

2015 programme.We kick o this years events on 12 February atTaigh Chearsabhagh in Lochmaddy, with a talk byJohn Love entitled, A Journey along the Coastof Norway, a fascinating look at the landscapeand natural history of this unique region. Thefollowing month, on 26 March, John will be at AnLanntair in Stornoway to talk about the white-tailed sea eagle reintroduction project, whichhe managed from 1975 1985 and has kept aclose interest in ever since. He has recently

published a book on the subject, A Saga of SeaEagles, so this is a wonderful chance to hearthe three decades-long story of the projectstraight from the horses mouth!Also on 26 March, this time at Claddach Kirkibostin North Uist, we have Alastair Banks spinninghis Tales of a Wandering Planner; From Uistto Orkney and Back, which promises to be anentertaining evening.April sees the centenary of the Ross MountainBatterys campaign at Gallipoli, and on the 25thof that month we will be commemorating thisin the Drill Hall in Stornoway with Colin ScottMackenzie and others. On the same day in NorthUist there will be a guided walk from Locheportto Eabhal led by Mike Townsend, author of theCicerone walking guide to Uist and Barra.

On the 2nd May we will be kicking o our boattrips with a visit to Taransay. It is some yearssince we were last on the island, which wasinhabited until 1974 and is now most famous forhosting the BBCs Castaway series, shown in2000. Places are very limited for this trip andwe are expecting a lot of interest so, do pleasebook early.Another island we are returning to after a long

while is Pabbay, near Barra Head. This tripwill also take place on 2nd May, leaving fromCastlebay in the company of Jonathon Grant,the NTS ranger for Barra. Again, please do bookearly for this trip.On 30th May our own very knowledgeableAlasdair MacEachen will lead a walk to Rossinishand other former settlements on the east ofBenbecula. This walk will be conducted in Gaelicbut non-Gaelic speakers are very welcome.In June we have a boat trip to the Monach

Isles, leaving from Kallin Harbour on the 20th,and a one-day symposium in Campbeltown onthe 27th. This is a spin-o from our two verysuccessful Slighe Chaluim Chille events held in2013 and 2014, and will further examine thelinks between the Hebrides and Ireland.A guided walk to Vallay Island led by IainMacDonald is not to be missed on the 18th July,and in August we hope to run boat trips to St Kildaand Ronay, on the 1st and 22nd respectively, sowe shall keep our ngers crossed for some nice

calm weather.The nal boat trip of 2015 will be to Scarp on12th September, as part of the Harris MountainFestival. The festival has become a xture onthe Harris events calendar and is well known forhigh jinks such as the annual raft race, involvingteams of lunatics taking to the waves in variousshades of barely seaworthy craft. Were notexpecting anyone to paddle to Scarp though,youll be pleased to hear; there will be a fullyserviceable boat leaving from Husinish!

Our annual conference takes place in Barra from18 20th September, on the subject of IslandCastles - A Reassessment of the Historic GalleyCastles of the Norse-Gaelic Seaways. With astellar range of expert speakers, this should bea fantastic few days and an experience not to


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Our newest title, Dolina; An Island GirlsJourney the memoirs of Lewis-born singer,actor and writer Dolina Maclennan, was

launched at Faclan, the Hebridean BookFestival on Saturday 1 November. Despitethe early hour of 10am, the main auditoriumat An Lanntair was buzzing as people seatedthemselves to hear Dolina talk about thebook with well-kent Gaelic broadcaster KennyMaciver. The interview, conducted in bothEnglish and Gaelic, was very entertaining,

even at times hilarious, as Dolina elaboratedon some of the stories in her book, abettedby Kenny, who of course is also familiar withmany of the characters described within. Anhour later, with aching sides, the audienceleft, to form the most enormous queue forsigning books yet seen at An Lanntair. A fewdays later at the Scottish Storytelling Centrein Edinburgh, Dolinas right hand was againpressed into service as the book was introducedto a capacity audience of 150 people, most of

whom bought a copy. Dolinas co-authors JimGilchrist and Stuart Eydmann were also thereto talk about the book, and a great night washad by all as evidenced by the fact that theplentiful supply of wine ran out!

News11

be missed.As the nights start to draw in we have a rangeof talks for you. We are very excited to haveElisabeth Shipton coming to talk about TheFrontline Women of WW1 at An Lanntair.

Elisabeths new book, Female Tommies tells thestory of the numerous women who were engagedon the front line, not just through nursing, but asambulance drivers, journalists, or even espionageagents and resistance ghters. Elisabeth herselfis a military historian and archivist and hasworked as a researcher for the BBC.We are also pleased to welcome Jill de Fresnesto Stornoway in the autumn to talk about ScotsHerring Girls, 1900 1950. Jill currently worksfor the Royal Commission on the Ancient and

Historic Monuments of Scotland, but for manyyears she lived in Mallaig and taught at UHI.Jill is an expert on the history of the herringgirls, although she did confess to feeling a bitnervous about coming to Stornoway, saying,

its always a bit of a thought that many in theaudience know far more about the topic than youever will - coming from sher families or withrelatives that went to the shing - but its greatto learn more too!

The dates for both Elisabeth and Jills talks havestill to be conrmed but we will let you know inplenty of time to book.The nal event of 2015 will take place on 26thNovember, when, in a lovely piece of symmetry,John Love will be back to talk about Islandsaround the British and Irish Coast - From theChannel Islands to Shetland, at Sgoil Lionacleitin Benbecula.So it might be grey and murky outside now butcast o the January gloom - springs just round

the corner and were looking forward to seeingyou in 2015!

Alayne Barton


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12Lewis Events

Everyone knows Katie Morag, the mischievous,loveable wee island girl created by MairiHedderwick. The stories are now childrensclassics and recently adapted for television,however not so many people know that shehas written several books for adults too.An Eye on the Hebrides, her account of sixmonths spent travelling around the Scottishislands in a camper van, was rst published in1989 and has never been out of print since.Another book, Highland Journey, A SketchingTour of Scotland, a journey in the footstepsof John T. Reid, author of Art Rambles inthe Highlands and Islands of Scotland is alsostill popular. On the evening of 11 NovemberMairi came to An Lanntair in Stornoway totalk about the experience of writing thesebooks and of how perceptions of the islandshave changed since they were published.

When Mairi began her Eye on the Hebrides

expedition in the late 1980s, many of theislands were still in private ownership, travelwas often dicult and there was no internetor mobile phones. She began the journey inher home town of Gourock, heading rst toArran, with which she was already familiar,

having stayed with her Gaelic-speakingaunts in Corrie as a child, before moving onthrough Cumbrae, Bute, Gigha, Islay, Jura,and the islands of the Clyde. From there shevisited Colonsay, Mull, and on northwards,taking in Coll, Tiree, the Small Isles, Barraand the Uists, Harris, St Kilda and nally,Lewis. As she says in her 1994 introductionto the book, The journey encompassed40 islands, 750 sea miles, 4,500 land miles,30 boats and every day for 195 days thediscipline of sketching, sometimes ve or sixtimes a day. The resulting book is a uniquesnapshot in time, and for that reason Mairihas since been under pressure to repeatthe journey. She admitted being temptedby the idea, but besides the enormousphysical resources required, she explainedthat she felt concerned about how islandersthemselves would feel about it, conscious ofthe dierence between artists perception of

the islands and those who live and work onthem.

Often, she says, artists representing theHighlands and Islands lter out things thatare visually oensive, for instance, by


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13Lewis Events

excluding kit houses from their work. Thisis not a modern phenomenon, indeed John T.Reid, in neither his art nor his diaries, recordsthe abject poverty he must have seen on histravels, and nor did any of his contemporaries.Mairi herself feels that it is essential to behonest about the subject; she tries to recordthe reality of the islands, describing what

she does as visual journalism. A case inpoint was during the 5 month HighlandJourney project, when she followed in JohnT. Reids footsteps, painting the same scenesdepicted in his book from the same vantagepoint. His view of Stirling Castle was takenfrom what is now the middle of the Raplochhousing estate, at the time a run-down areaof council ats and houses. Mairi got out hersketching equipment regardless, and found

herself assailed by curious locals, whoseinterest soon faded when she tried to explainwhat she was doing.

Nowadays, many of the things which indicatethat an island has a healthy population and anoptimistic future are unsightly; wind turbines,new housing and telecommunications mastsfor instance. Sometimes though, newdevelopment can echo past times, as inthe new museum building at Lews Castle

in Stornoway, where the ghosts of the oldhothouses can be seen in the new glassfrontage. Many of the issues that Mairiraised in the rst edition of An Eye on theHebrides are still being debated, but whatisnt in doubt is that thirty years on thereis a renewed vigour in the islands; whetherbrought about by community ownership,better communications, investment, anincrease in tourism, or all of the above and

more. Mairi believes that all these changesneed to be truthfully recorded and to thatend she may be persuaded yet to take to theroad once again!

WAR GRAVES

On Tuesday 11 September at ComunnEachdraidh Nis Murdo Beaton gave a talkon Walking in the Footsteps of Heroes, anaccount of the many visits he has madeover the years to Commonwealth WarGrave sites in Belgium and France. It wasa most interesting presentation and weare very grateful to Murdo.


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14

Isle of Coll: Facets of a Gem

Author: Ewen McGeeThis book looks at one gem of a Hebrideanisland from every angle, from the very earliestdays to today. It looks at land, law, language,education, emigration, employment, travel,housing, communication, nature and much more;for example the references to ora from 1764, the most beautiful embroidered carpet thatthe earth perhaps is anywhere covered with andfrom 1803, a plain thickly covered with a wild

geranium of the nest purple colour I ever saw.Comprehensively illustrated, it tells of the fun ofthe good times but does not ignore the hardshipsof the periods when the crops failed and thekelp industry suddenly ceased. It is sourced frommany books, old and new, from newspapers and,of course, from the very many tales that havebeen told in front of a good peat re. If nothingelse, it should answer the often-asked question:Coll. Wheres that?

ISBN: 978-1-907443-18-3 | Paperback |14.99 | Available 31 May 2015

A Stag from Rum

Author: Robert Atkinson

Robert Atkinson rst came to the Hebridesin 1936 and was immediately smitten by theislands and their people, returning every summerup to the outbreak of WW2. In those years hetravelled throughout the islands, reaching eventhe remotest of the uninhabited outliers. Hisexperiences provided rich material for a book,Island Going, (Collins 1949) that with thepassing of time has become a travel classic,sympathetic and gently humorous in its portraitof the Hebrides and their people. Returning afterthe war he resumed his travels in his own boat,the Heather and wrote about it in Shillay andthe Seals (Collins & Harvill Press 1980).He hesitated to include A Stag from Rum ineither of these works, and only revealed themanuscript a few years before his death in1995. This tale of youthful derringdo, successfulpoaching and extreme sailing is published herefor the rst time, as a tribute both to him andhis fellow bold spirits, John Naish and HughLeLacheur; who between them brought thectional poacher John Macnab to life on theforbidden hills of Rum.

ISBN: 978-1-907443-65-7 | Paperback |9.99| Available 30 September 2015

New Books

Isle of Coll - Facets of a Gem


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15 New BooksThe fact that Portree might have a history or even at one time,not have existed at all, had never occurred to me. Portreeseemed as if it had always been there. It was the capital ofSkye. It was where we went to school. But a series of LocalStudies courses with Aberdeen University prompted somequestions: Who decided to build a village here? When? Why?Who were the rst villagers? And why was it called Portree

anyway?This book begins by determining how the village came by itsname, dispelling the myth that it was changed to Portree afterthe visit of King James V in 1540. It then traces the developmentof Portree from the rst suggestion of a few houses to a villagewith churches, schools, banks and the jail.Ella Liley comes from Claigan, near Dunvegan and has lived inPortree now for over twenty years.

ISBN: 978-1-907443-29-9 | Paperback | 8.99 | Available

March 2015

Author: George Gunn

A journey to the radical heart of the farnorth.

A dramatic plateau of sedimentary rock withthe Pentland Firth to the north, the AtlanticOcean to the west, the North Sea to the eastand a vast sea of bog to the south, Caithnessis an island in all but name. Caithness alsosits in a sea of time.

As often misunderstood as it is overlooked,this is a poets journey through Caithness,its landscape, people, culture and history.

In The Province of The Cat you canexperience the unique blend of Norse andGaelic cultures which has given Caithnessits distinctive place in Scotlands story.

In Caithness the landmass of mainlandScotland stops, but the story of Scotlandssocial formation starts.

The Province of The Cat is a lyrical, heartfeltportrait of the far north of Scotland. It is anepic story of human achievement, struggle,tragedy and survival told in language that isas clear as the Caithness air itself. In thisbook, with the poet as your guide, you canreach back far into the past, walk out acrossthe wide open and owing lands of TheProvince of The Cat and into the future.

Caithness will never be the same again.

ISBN: 978-1-907443-42-8 | Paperback |9.99 | Available 31 July 2015


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16 Round upDATES FOR YOUR DIARY12th February, 8.00pmTaigh Chearsabhagh,

Lochmaddy - A Journeyalong the coast ofNorway a talk with JohnLove

26th March, 8.00pmCladdach KirkibostCentre, North Uist -Tales of a wandering

Planner ... a talk withAlastair Banks

26th March, 7.30pmAn Lanntair, Stornoway -A Saga of Sea Eagles atalk with John Love

24th April, 7.30pm

TA Drill Hall, Stornoway- Centenary of RossMountain Batterycampaign at Gallipolia talk with Colin ScottMacKenzie and others

25th April, 10.00am

Guided Walk to Eubhalfrom Locheport withMike Townsend.

A new home for Islands Book Trust

Pop in to see us at our new home in Laxay, justbeside the main Stornoway to Tarbert road.

Oce hours are normally 9am - 1pm Mondayto Friday, although you might also catch us inthe afternoons. The kettles usually on, so feelfree to come and browse, and you may just geta cuppa too!

Our new telephone number is 01851 830316

newsletter spring 2015 epub

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