Owner: Islay Weblog URL:http://blog.islayinfo.com Join Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2007 05:40:17 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: The Islay Weblog is a source of news, events, and background information (history, wildlife, genealogy, and so on) on the Isle of Islay, found in Scotland, the United Kingdom. Site statistics:Click here
Islay's Portnahaven Chess Club 2007-08-25 06:59:34 I cannot emphasise enough that Islay
has a lot to offer for its visitors and it's amazing how many clubs and a...
Possible Community Buyout of Islay House 2007-08-24 12:14:17 Members of the Bridgend Community Garden project were presenting an exciting new idea at the Islay
Show last week - a community buyout of Islay House
and garden. Islay House is located to the west of Bridgend and comprises 24 bedrooms, 5 recept... Read more:Possible
, Buyout
Islay Airport Open Day 2007 2007-08-28 12:58:36 On Sunday 19 August the Islay
Airport Open day was held on Islay's only airport at Glenegedale. This is always ...
Happy Islay Summer Holidays 2007-09-01 08:06:20 The first of September already, time flies, and while I am already preparing our next Islay
Trip in September (27 September to 8 October) I am reading about other people's experiences on this magnificent island. Today I ran into a new website w... Read more:Happy
, Summer
, Holidays
Islay's Real Stars of Springwatch 2007-08-30 13:24:38 The BBC Springwatch series enjoyed massive viewing figures nationwide as millions tuned in for their chough update ... Read more:Islay
Lunasadh 2007-09-27 13:51:44 In the first days of August at the time of the full moon, a festival called Lunasadh or Lammas is still traditionally celebrated in parts of Ireland and Scotland. In the Celtic story of Lugh, Lunasadh marks the end of the summers time of growth, and the waning of the summer suns strength. The days will soon grow shorter, and it is a time to reap what has been sown and give thanks for the fruits of nature. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 921 AD mentions Lunasadh as the feast of first fruits. This festival is also called Lammas, as in the Old Lammas Fair at Ballycastle, Northern Ireland. Lammas is thought to have nothing to do with lambs. The name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon hlaefmass, Loaf Mass, the celebration of the first bread baked with the newly harvested grain of the year. Although the First Bread blessing largely died out as a Christian ritual after the Reformation, the custom is now being revived in places. It is a harvest festival but, unlike the more familiar late
Islay Gallery - Isle of Islay Photography 2007-09-26 14:01:35 What do you do when you have more than 2,000 pictures of Islay
? Burn them on a disc, use a couple on the Islayinfo website, upload them to flickr or another media site? This is a question I had to answer and I came up with the following: A special website (in this case a subdomain of Islayinfo) which shows the most beautiful places the island has to offer and nothing more, just pictures and their descriptions. A name for this site was easily found and so was the logo:A few months ago I started searching for a good script that could help me with my goals and after several test installations I found the Gallery
2 script the best option for this job. This piece of smart software is well designed and offers a lot of flexibility as well as several beautiful themes. Since I always liked pictures displayed with a dark background I found a beautiful theme and started working on this new site.At this very moment the site contains a little more than 200 beautiful pictures of Islay, categorized in
Seanchas Ìle - Book Review by Susan Campbell 2007-09-24 11:12:59 Seanchas Ìle is an oral history project which has begun to record and preserve the Isle of Islays rich Gaelic heritage and unique dialect. This short book contains a selection of transcriptions of the local stories, traditional beliefs and proverbs which were collected by project workers. The stories are given in Islay Gaelic, with English translations on opposite pages. There are glossaries containing words unique to the Islay Gaelic dialect, and also bird names and sea creatures names in Islay Gaelic, all with English translations. The books Foreword has been written by Professor Donald Meek of the University of Edinburgh, who has close Islay connections. His fondness for Islay and its people is evident in the warmth of his support of this Seanchas Ìle publication. In the introduction, Emily Edwards, Seanchas Ìle project co-ordinator emphasises the importance of Ionad Chaluim Chille Ìle, home of the Seanchas Ìle project and focal point for Gaelic and community cultural eve Read more:Susan
, Campbell
Having a Great Time on Islay 2007-09-23 04:31:18 John Hawkins made his first trip to Islay
beginning of September and he generally had a great time on Islay, according to his blog posts. He left from London on the first of September and spent a week in Scotland, staying on Islay for four days where he arrived on Tuesday 4 September. He arrived in dense fog and was hardly able to find the White Hart Hotel to trace the footsteps of Alfred Barnard, who visited Islay in the late 1800s to visit the island's distilleries. John writes about his arrival on Islay in his first post Edinburgh to Islay.On Wednesday he visited several southern distilleries and ended up in the next accommodation from Margaret Rozga where he speaks highly of. 'After leaving Lagavulin, we raced over to our accommodation for the next two nights - a guest house called Kilmeny near Ballygrant - in an attempt to get there in time for afternoon tea. Although we got there a bit later than we'd originally said, we were greeted very warmly by our host, and afternoon tea Read more:Having
, Great
Dougie MacDougall - As Long as Water Flows 2007-09-22 10:45:25 During our trip in May Arra Fletcher told us a lot about some of the characters that live(d) on Islay and he had some great stories to tell. He particularly advised me to search for a little booklet at the Celtic Shop from Dougie MacDougall who lived in Port Askaig. Dougie MacDougall was 20 years old when he inherited his father's position of Lighthouse Boatman. He served the Sound of islay lights for 45 years until his retirement in 1977 and one of his hobbies was writing and in his book he gives a humorous and factual account of the times he worked as a lighthouse boatman. I found the little booklet and enjoyed reading it a lot, if you ask for it at C&E Roy's they know exactly what you mean. I would like to quote a little story written down by Dougie MacDougall...I shall tell you chaps of the night, I went visiting old friends at a place you both know, Mulreesh. This as you know is about two and a half miles from here, with a short cut from the village of Keills, past the churchyar Read more:Flows
Ferry Tender - And The Winner is Caledonian MacBrayne 2007-09-20 12:03:36 The fact that Caledonian MacBrayne is winner of the ferry tender doesn't come as a suprise since they were the only ferry operator left in a complicated and controversial process where several operators could bid on the 24 Clyde and Hebridean routes. It all started a few years ago when the Clyde and Hebridean routes were put out to tender due to European regulations for an open market. Since every ferry company deserves a fair chance a tender document was drawn up and three ferry operators joined this tender, being Calmac, V-Ships and Western Ferries. The operators were supposed to bid on the 24 routes and the cheapest, best performing operator could win this bidding process. It was clear from the beginning that Calmac had the best chances, after all they were the current operator of the 24 routes and are a state owned, heavily subsidised, company. It didn't took long before Western Ferries pulled out of the process followed a few months later by V-Ships leaving Calmac as the sole bi Read more:Tender
Minister to open Port Mòr on Islay 2007-09-19 11:32:56 Stewart Maxwell MSP the Minister
for Communities and Sport will officially open the Port Mor Centre outside Port Charlotte on Friday 21st September. The new building cost nearly £1m and has been funded by various grants including the European Regional Development Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund. The community of Port Charlotte additionally sold their village hall and donated the funds raised to the project. It is a carbon neutral building and employs a ground source heat pump to heat the building with aditional power being provided by a wind turbine while the hot water system is supplemented by solar panels. Port Mòr is used for various community events and also has a café, video conferencing facilities, and meeting rooms.Adjacent to the building the community company Iomairt Chille Chomain have set up a camp site which has been well used over the summer. One hundred soldiers from the British Army will be camping there over the next month while they help build projects at Finlagg Read more:Islay
A new Islay Accommodation Directory 2007-09-17 11:08:15 All of Islay
's accommodation in one easy to navigate directory, searchable, with a nice clean look and easy to navigate. Those are the basic features of this new website which is a part of the Islayinfo website. Up till now there were four different pages on the Islayinfo website with listings of accommodations and there were no search facilities either, which meant a lot of scrolling and switching pages back and forth. These pages will remain in place for the time being. The directory provides listings for hotels, guest houses, bed and breakfasts, self catering cottages and campsites. If you have a property on Islay which is not yet listed and you like to see it in the new directory please contact me. All the listings are free although the directory also offers sponsored links which appear first in the search results. Present advertisers on the Islayinfo website automatically receive a sponsored listing, if you want to advertise on Islayinfo and like to have a sponsored listing too y Read more:Accommodation
, Directory
Islay High School Pupils go Digital 2007-09-16 14:12:01 For those who read Ian's blog this won't come as a surprise but for the others it will need an explanation. Ian Stuart, Head of Technology at Islay
's High School
in Bowmore, was all over the news in the last weeks together with his pupils from the School. Reason for that is the use of high tech ICT equipment, a special kind of light weight mobile computer, by all the pupils of Islay's High School, which helps them to do their homework on, write essays and email them to their teachers. This creates higher productivity and it will probably be more fun for the pupils to make homework with such a high tech device. Ian was the driving force behind this succesful project which attracted attention from schools in other parts of Europe as well. Today the BBC reported about this new project on their website.A quote from the BBC: A small corner of Scotland has big ideas about the future of education. Pupils
on the island of Islay are the first in Europe to go digital, and are gaining admirin Read more:Digital
Is This Islay's New Ferry? Saturn performs berthing trials at Port Askaig 2007-09-15 11:24:36 I received a very interesting follow up from Mark Unsworth of Islay
Studios on yesterdays story about the new winter timetable from Calmac. I wrote that there was no sign of a second ferry for Islay in the winter schedule but the following contribution from Mark might shed some light in the ferry darkness.....Today the Calmac vessel Saturn
normally based on Gourock-Dunoon route (Picture right: The Saturn arriving at Rothesay on the Isle of Bute) has been doing berthing trials at Port Askaig this afternoon. So possibly instead of the Hebridean Isles and the Arran working to Islay over the winter it could be the Hebridean Isles for a passenger service and the Saturn for freight only. Last winter the Arran was used to clear backlogs of freight from time to time, maybe this year the Saturn will be on the route fulltime, it isn't really suited to passenger traffic for this route being a smaller ship and with more limited catering services on board. Both the Saturn and the Jupiter do also c
Islay by bike 2007-10-01 02:38:32 More and more people add their self created videos to youtube and every now and I find some footage worth writing about. This a time a video from a group of friends who did 'Islay
by bike'. Besides the visits to several distilleries they also camped at Kintra and cycled on the Big Strand.
Twenty four hours on Islay 2007-09-29 02:34:14 What do you do when you are on Islay
for only twenty four hours? Watch the video and see for yourself, although I think you will miss most of the things Islay has to offer. At least they had some fine weather.
Emily Edwards - The Seanchas Ìle Project 2007-09-28 11:22:52 Emily Edwards
has been working on Islay for two years on Seanchas Ìle, an oral history project, collecting and recording stories, proverbs and recollections from Gaelic speakers. A selection of the interviews in the original Gaelic with english translations have now been published in a book which is available from Argyll Publishing. Emily will shortly be leaving Islay to take up a new post in Inverness. Ileach editor Carl Reavey spoke to her at Port Mòr.CR - How did you become interested in Gaelic?EE - I became aware of Gaelic through music, through playing the fiddle - I come from Tain on the North East Coast, and there are only a very few pockets of Gaelic speakers left up there. There are lots of Gaelic tunes for the fiddle though and I started to really learn the language while at Edinburgh University where I read Celtic and Scottish Studies and I also spent a year at Sabhal Mor Ostaig on Skye.CR - So you see a very strong connection between Gaelic and music?EE - Very much so - Read more:Emily
, Project
Malt Advocate Magazine writing about Islay Distilleries 2007-10-13 09:56:45 Last Friday I wrote about the 'Big Picture' showing all nine Islay
Distillery Managers together, which is a unique and very exclusive happening. Furthermore I mentioned that this picture was shot for the American magazine Malt Advocate
to be used in this quarters feature article about Islay and its distilleries.Today John Hansell, Publisher & Editor of Malt Advocate magazine, contacted me. He was pleasantly surprised to find the picture on this blog. John visited Islay in May and visited each distillery and their managers. The result is an Islay Whisky special titled 'Islay Whiskies are Smokin' in this issue (fourth quarter 2007) of Malt Adocate magazine, of 8,000 words, which is the equivalent of four or five of their standard-length feature stories. There are also two other enjoyable Islay whisky pieces, one from Steven Beaumont who participated in the Islay whisky Festival and a story from Jonny McCormick about Black Bowmore. On top of all that there is a large online picture ga Read more:Magazine
, writing
The new Stormcat 950 Video 2007-10-13 08:01:33 Earlier I submitted a press release about the new Stormcat 950 built by Stormcats at Lagavulin. Already then I mentioned that I was very impressed by this fabulous new Islay built boat. On a sunny afternoon I walked around the Port Ellen Marina and was lucky to see the new Stormcat 950. I couldn't resist having a closer look and took some great pictures. For those of you with an interest for boats here is a quote from the Stormcats Website: The Stormcat 950 was designed and built to Lloyds Special Service Craft Rules, StormCat 950 conforms to RCD category C or B. She is fitted with 2 x 250hp Evinrude E-Tec petrol outboards and comes complete in the twin hulls with fully fitted kitchen, Queen size bed, shower and bathroom facilities, office space and single bed. StormCat 950 is fitted throughout with high spec teak decking, 316 Stainless Steel and GRP moulded interiors, offering not only a superior style but is easily maintained. Stormcat 950 in the Port Ellen Marina (4 October 2007)Gu
Nine Special Islay Men together 2007-10-12 07:25:34 Mark Unsworth from Islay
Studios promised me a while back to send a very special picture. Not knowing what it was I attempted several times to guess what the pictures was all about until today. The picture where I speculated about arrived in my mailbox and I was pleasantly surprised. There were nine Islay Distillery Managers looking at me. Now what is so special about this picture? This picture is of all nine Islay Distillery managers all of whom, for the first time, are Islay men. Although Islay is a small place, getting all nine distillery managers together
at the same time and same place is incredibly difficult. The picture took over three months to set up with many false starts as somebody became unavailable at the last minute. It only happened through the perseverance of Ella Edgar at Bruichladdich distillery badgering the guys to actually do it. The picture was originally shot for an American whisky magazine called the Malt Advocate.But that's not all. As an aside to this they d Read more:Special
Islay - Stress loses its meaning here 2007-10-11 08:19:34 Last month saw an interesting Islay
travel article called 'Beyond the single malt Scotch' in The Globe and Mail, a Canadian based newspaper. The online article, written by Stephen Beaumont, handles about Scotland in general, being a place to slow your pace, and Islay in particular. Islay is being portrayed as a desireable destination, due to the presence of the distilleries but more in particular because of the people, the scenery and the sense of timelessness.A Quote from The Globe and Mail: Islay is justly famed for its whiskies, which are renowned, and sometimes reviled, for their intensely peaty and iodine-laden characters. Even with its eight working distilleries, though, there is more than malt to this modest Scottish island paradise. As small as it is, at a mere 600 square kilometres with a population of about 3,500, Islay offers a surprising number of diversions.There is the simple joy of unencumbered relaxation, whether at the beach, in the pub or communing in the countrysid
Islay Humor 2007-10-10 06:04:02 A Farmer on Islay
is working on a remote field somewhere in the north looking after his sheep when a shiny new Mercedes pulls over on the side of the single track road. The driver, a posh young man elegantly dressed in a Versace suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and a Rolex wrist watch leans out of his window and says to the farmer: 'If I can tell you exactly how many sheep you have walking here can I get one from you?'The farmer looks at the yup and says 'All right, why not'.The yup immediately grabs his Dell laptop and connects it using Bluetooth with his Mobile phone. He makes a GPRS internet connection, surfs to a NASA website and selects a navigation system to determine his exact location. He then sends the data to another NASA satellite, which scans the area and sends the yup a razor sharp picture. He opens Adobe Photoshop and sends the picture back to a laboratory in Hamburg that confirms the processing and storage of the picture. Using several complicated formulas the y Read more:Humor
Autumn on Islay Travel Report 2007-10-09 14:05:00 Already back for two days now and it's so difficult to change the pace of life that we were so used to when on Islay
. This trip was one of the finest so far and certainly the beautiful autumn colours and good friends on Islay had something to do with that.During our trip I managed to write daily a short overview of our whereabouts which is the reason that the travel report is ready, a lot sooner than I had planned. There is a detailed overview of our fabulous trip from last week and, if you permit me, some really nice photography. Below is a nice little panorama which I created from four pictures. The lonely tree can be found just beyond Ardnahoe on the Bunnahabhain road, one of the most scenic roads on Islay and not only in autumn. A link to the travel report can be found below, enjoy reading! Autumn
on Islay travel reportA lonely tree overlooking the Sound of Islay and the Paps of Jura Read more:Travel
Autumn on Islay a Magical Time of Year 2007-10-08 05:12:49 We have just returned home from an absolutely brilliant trip to Islay
. This week in Autumn
was a treat and the island looked amazing with all the variations of brown, green and yellow, specially with the sun out. I would never have guessed that autumn time would be that beautiful, that was apparently a well kept secret. The weather was absolutely perfect with only one morning of rain (Wednesday) and some summer like days with plenty of sunshine and warm temperatures. We arrived in Port Ellen on Saturday 29 September with clouded weather and no wind. The first thing you see, or rather not see anymore, is the Islay Hotel. Strange to see such a gap between the buildings, like it was never there. Our trip lasted till Saturday 6 October and we left from Islay on the afternoon ferry from Port Askaig. Besides the visits to some beautiful places we spent time as well with good friends and got to know some new people on Islay. We had a great evening and dinner with the Fletcher family (Rosemary Read more:Magical
Thomas Telfords churches on Islay 2007-10-07 13:42:40 This month marked the 250th anniversary of the birth of the pre-eminent Scottish engineer Thomas
Telford who is credited with the construction of in excess of 1,500 miles of roadway, over 400 bridges, many leading harbours and jetties, as well as the Menai Bridge and the Caledonian Canal. He was also commissioned by Parliament to provide 32 churches and 71 manses throughout the Highland and Islands at a total cost of £1,500 each. Here, on Islay
, one of these Parliament churches is still in use as a regular place of worship. Portnahaven Church in the Rhinns peninsula was built in the mid 1820s to plans drawn up by Telford. Although he did not oversee the actual construction, he appointed superintendents to ensure his plans were adhered to and that all was kept within the stipulated budget. Parishioners could choose if they wanted a gallery within their church building and the people of the Rhinns raised sufficient money to have such a facility installed within their kirk. Kilmeny Churc
Book review by John Wright 2007-10-05 13:31:57 'The Islands Of Western Scotland. The Inner And Outer Hebrides'. W.H. Murray. Published By Eyre Methuen. First Published 1973 And Reprinted 1978. 296pp.I spend lots of time in bookshops but these days everybody seems to be writing guides to somewhere and quality can sometimes be sacrificed for a familiar name on the cover. With that in mind Ive recently started scouring second hand bookshops and also that modern scourge of the book trade, Amazon, who have a good second hand list of titles. I started off collecting Seton Gordon but recently have found the considered and informative writing of W. H. Murray, who is probably best known as one of the best climbers of the immediate post war years. Right at the outset I must say that this is not a book to buy for the photographs which are all black and white and of dubious quality. In writing the book Murray consulted widely as can be seen from the extensive bibliography and, unusually, he does not give each island its own chapter, prefer Read more:review
, Wright
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