Turning 100
2008-01-13 18:00:00
The creation of Stewart’s spinning wheels is an incredibly involved process, with each of its many parts individually constructed from wood, metal or leather
New Year in disguise
2008-01-06 18:00:00
Strange guizers see in 2008 on Fair Isle
Read more: New Year
Seeing the light
2007-12-16 18:00:00
Fair Isle's two light
houses have been central to the commmunity for the last 116 years
Read more: Seeing
Preparing for winter
2007-12-09 18:00:00
Malachy Tallack muses on the beauty and brutality of a Fair Isle winter
Guilty pleasures
2007-12-02 18:00:00
The trials and tribulations of knitting a gansey
Read more: Guilty
To knit or not to knit?
2007-11-18 18:00:00
Malachy Tallack wrestles with his desire to knit, a practice synonymous with his Fair Isle home.
The story of Fair Isle's Heinkel
2007-11-11 18:00:00
The contribution made by Shetland Islanders during the wars plus the story
of the plane that crashed on Fair Isle
Down the food route
2007-11-05 18:00:00
In his latest blog entry, Malachy Tallack charts the course of food from the field to the freezer
Read more: route
Farewell from Fair Isle
2008-01-28 04:01:37
Malachy Tallack's last blog from Britain's remotest place reflects on a very different way of livingWhen I began writing these short pieces for the New Statesman a year ago, I was reacting in part to what I felt were misrepresentations and misunderstandings of life in the Northern Isles that were appearing with some regularity in the national media.
The islands, and Fair Isle in particular, were
Read more: Farewell
Shetland's proud musical tradition
2008-01-21 07:12:54
The tunes and players of the islands are today recognised around the world, writes Malachy TallackI am in Glasgow this weekend, visiting friends and attending the annual Celtic Connections festival. This event, lasting several weeks, and spread across numerous venues in the city, attracts artists and visitors from all over the world.
This year, as part of the festival, a special “Shetland night
Turning 100
2008-01-14 03:51:51
The creation of Stewart’s spinning wheels is an incredibly involved process, with each of its many parts individually constructed from wood, metal or leatherThe stamp on the wood identifies the maker, and in the centre of the stamp is printed its number: 100. Stewart Thomson turns the spinning wheel carefully with his hands, explaining what each part does, and how it is made. This particular one
New Year in disguise
2008-01-07 05:48:54
Strange guizers see in 2008 on Fair Isle As I write this, Fair Isle has been cut off from mainland Shetland for about ten days: no boats, no planes. In part this has been due to a festive break for the ferry and flight staff, but the weather has also done its bit, serving up a severe easterly gale that lasted several days, and which made off with my neighbours’ [...]
Read more: New Year
Seeing the light
2007-12-17 05:46:53
Fair Isle's two light
houses have been central to the commmunity for the last 116 yearsDuring these long winter nights, one of the things I find myself noticing more are the island’s lighthouses. Fair Isle’s South Lighthouse is less than half a mile from my house, and lying in bed I can see the beam against the walls: four flashes, one after the other, repeated every 30 seconds.
There are two
Read more: Seeing
Preparing for winter
2007-12-10 05:24:47
Malachy Tallack muses on the beauty and brutality of a Fair Isle winter
Traditional cultures have always sought, and found, balance within the natural world, and in their relationship to the lands and landscapes that have sustained them. And winter, it seems to me, is the time when we are reminded most forcefully of that balance.
Here in Fair Isle, as in other northern places, winter is the most an
Guilty pleasures
2007-12-03 03:59:49
The trials and tribulations of knitting a ganseyOkay, so I gave in to temptation. I admit it. But what’s wrong with that, tell me? What shame in that? After all, it’s only a jumper.
Yes, after some days of deliberation, hesitation and procrastination, I finally sat down at the knitting machine and made myself a jumper. And I have to say, I’m rather pleased with myself. And it.
I had forgotte
Read more: Guilty
To knit or not to knit?
2007-11-19 08:30:02
Malachy Tallack wrestles with his desire to knit, a practice synonymous with his Fair Isle home.A strange and unnatural urge has come over me this week . . . I am thinking about knitting a jumper.
For the past two years, a knitting machine has occupied the corner of our kitchen, and I have barely looked at it for most of that time. But suddenly I find myself compelled to create something on it; a
The story of Fair Isle's Heinkel
2007-11-12 05:55:09
The contribution made by Shetland Islanders during the wars plus the story
of the plane that crashed on Fair Isle While Shetland can, at times, feel remote and separate from world events, the wars of the past hundred years have affected these islands no less than anywhere else.
During the First World War, Shetland lost more than 600 people – a higher proportion of the population than any other
Down the food route
2007-11-06 05:53:14
In his latest blog entry, Malachy Tallack charts the course of food from the field to the freezerThere are those who argue that anyone who is willing to eat meat should also be willing to kill it themselves, and I can certainly understand the logic of that statement. There is a huge degree of pretence in much of the food that is consumed today.
The supermarkets are filled with pre-prepared and pa
Read more: route
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