It was good to see so many people had managed to return to Colonsay for part (or all) of the festive season. It is difficult to mention names for fear or missing somebody, so perhaps it is enough to say that families were evidently delighted and a lot of the younger folk were clearly enjoying catching up on one another's news. The "Christmas Tree" was the first to be held in the new hall, and was brilliant fun; the children played and danced with great enthusiasm, and the bigger ones gave them every encouragement. Santa made a personal appearance once again, and when he handed out his presents we found that ALL the children had been good.

The Watchnight Service was well attended, with almost 60 people in the body of the kirk - including most of the population of Oransay, despite the difficulty of the journey. On Christmas Day and St. Stephen's Day, lots of people took advantage of the splendid weather for invigorating walks. A further 52 people arrived on Friday's ferry and it is hoped that a number of individuals who were stormbound in England will arrive on the Hogmanay sailing.

The "Ileach" has an informative report upon the recent problem with the Jura ferry; reading on, one noticed that:

"A report was submitted to the Council's Area Committee for Mid-Argyll, Kintyre and Islay on Proposed Special Areas of Conservation at the Rhinns of Islay and Loch Fada, Colonsay, by the Director of Development and Environment Services, dated December 6 2000. The Committee agreed to oppose the proposals on the following grounds: That no scientific evidence had been produced in support of the proposals; that SNH are not only applicants but decision makers in the process; that the designations would have a detrimental effect on land values, and, that potential developments such as wind farms will be adversely affected if the proposals go ahead."

The above report was lifted from the current issue of "The Ileach"; why is it that Colonsay folk are the last to hear about this sort of thing?

As the new year enters its first week, the moon rapidly brightens and will dominate the evening skies. The moon will be full on January 9th and it will undergo eclipse, in the earth's shadow.

Brilliant Venus, "The Evening Star", will be seen to advantage and, during January, will set fours hours after the sun. The sun sets early on afternoons in January, affording long hours of darkness for astronomical observation.

Jupiter and Saturn, the giant planets of the Solar System, are highest in the sky in mid-evening, lying fairly close together in Taurus ("The Bull") whom Orion chases round the sky (see last month's feature).

Once again there is a meteor shower, January 2nd / 3rd, this time radiating from the Quadrantids in the northern part of Bootes. To find Bootes, start at the handle of The Plough and go north until you reach a red star (Arcturus), the fourth brightest star in the sky. (Note that north is at the bottom of our illustration).

The trouble with meteor showers is that they are often missed through bad weather - do keep a look-out, you may be lucky; for a romantic view of the sky, meteors are hard to beat. Perhaps you will catch a falling star. Good luck, and Happy New Year to all. - Irene Campbell

In the run-up to Christmas, the "Isle of Arran" suffered damage to her propeller when she hit a floating object 5 miles west of Gigha; as a result, services were disrupted for a few days.

On the Wednesday, M.V. "Clansman" combined her scheduled run to Colonsay with a relief service for Islay and there was some consternation when it was discovered that priority would have to be given to traffic which was pre-booked. Not surprisingly, the additional traffic meant that our usually almost deserted ferry was fully-booked. In the event, it proved possible to facilitate the two Colonsay cars which would have been affected, through the kind co-operation of MacLennan Motors, whose (properly pre-booked) commercial vehicle was short-shipped.

Such a situation is unusual, but it is always worthwhile to pre-book if your journey is important; it will also help if the service is disrupted, because insurers will not entertain a claim unless a specific reservation has been made. For example, cover offered at Colonsay Island Lodges by Rothwell and Towler includes the following wording: "If you are travelling by pre-booked public transport and are delayed for 12 hours or more due to strike/industrial dispute, weather conditions or mechanical breakdown you will receive £25.00 per day (max. £100) or all irrecoverable holiday costs should you decide to cancel." If the ferry is not pre-booked, the provision is void.

Snow on Wednesday 27 December, following three days of glorious sunshine and mirror calm seas - the snow was three inches deep, and by Saturday night the roads were still treacherous; lots of people slithered - was going to mention Iain Dubh, but then I did it myself so I won't.

Angus & Jen, plus Donald & Kirsty and family are all away to sunny Spain; the Millennium Edition of Colonsay News is available now from Kilchattan School; Rena was taken ill on Saturday 30th and had to be flown out by helicopter, with the Coastguard in support - on Sunday morning it was reported that she was "comfortable" in hospital; Hughie was interviewed by the BBC, on foot of a report that our road was ungritted; ferry on Sunday 31st came in with 45 passengers and made textbook landing despite force 8 (gusting 9) south-easterly gale; the plans for the new Glen Odhran houses are in the postoffice; and here is a picture of all that is left of Donald Gibbie's whale

The International counts of geese took place between 11th and 15th November, and the Colonsay and Oronsay totals for the various species were:
161 Greenland White-fronted geese
244 Barnacle geese (all but 2 were on Oronsay)
102 Canada geese
139 Greylag geese
Most of the geese on Colonsay can be found feeding near Loch Fada. During the autumn and early winter large flocks of geese and whooper swans from Greenland and Iceland passed over on their way to Islay and Ireland to winter.

From Scandinavia, large flocks of redwing, fieldfare and blackbirds arrived on the islands, along with Woodcock which have been flushed on numerous occasions whilst walking the hill. The resident flock of Red-billed Chough have been commuting to Oronsay daily where they have been feeding on the maggots of Kelp Fly. (The autumn storms produce large mounds of kelp along the beaches, in which they Kelp Fly lay their eggs.) Birds of prey have put on a good show with Golden eagles, Peregrine, Merlin, Hen Harrier and Buzzard seen regularly on both Colonsay and Oronsay.

The cold weather and snow lying over the last few days of the year have brought flocks of finches to the cattle feeding areas including chaffinch, linnet and twite, with the appropriately-named Snow Bunting being seen at Scalasaig in and about the cattle pens.

Mike Peacock

The picture shows what is probably the best or sole surviving Colonsay example of a mechanical mill; all over the island there are distinctive buildings known as "Mill-Rounds", which once housed such a mechanism. In the main, they were operated by horses or oxen in a yoke, but the example pictured here was operated by manpower. Long wooden beams were inserted in the sockets and these provided leverage which passed through a gearing mechanism and was fed to the "PTO" (power takeoff) shaft running off to the right of the picture and into a barn.

Inside the barn, the power shaft was connected to simple equipment, and used for milling, bruising or slicing of wheat, oats, turnips etc. The equipment pictured here is still in place at Gortain; observant and regular readers may recall a recent reference to a crofter who was introducing modern aids - the reference may well have been to the Martin family of Gortain. Perhaps some reader can supply the proper name for this type of equipment? Is there another example which survives locally?

The Magazine Section

The Colonsay-Canada Connection, by John W. Sheets

A Concert in "The Loft"

Before the days of the "Old Hall", public gatherings took place in the farm lofts, particularly at Oransay and Kiloran. In the 1950s, such a gathering was witnessed and described by the popular author Alasdair Alpin MacGregor, who published his observations in "Skye and the Inner Hebrides". In fairness, the book was very different to his earlier works and may have reflected some personal unhappiness; at the time, his comments will have been hurtful, but perhaps one can laugh at them now:

"Late that evening, a concert and dance were being held at Kiloran, in the public hall, the upper, re-conditioned part of a long farm-building there. To these joint functions, by car, landrover, bicycle, or on foot, nearly everybody in the island seemed to have gone. That afternoon, the Kilmeny Choir had sailed over from Port Askaig, in Islay, to assist in the object of this double event, namely, the raising of money to establish a local sheepdog association. A bill posted prominently at Scalasaig pier already intimated that, under the auspices of the newly-formed Colonsay & Oronsay Sheep Dog Society, such a concert and dance had been arranged. "Admission 2/6. Tea 8 p.m."

As is usual in these parts, the concert was very late in beginning. By the time it did, several of the male members of the audience and of the visiting choir were certainly not without the benefit of drink. The customary hilarity therefore accompanied the proceedings throughout. As the evening wore on, this increased in volume until, at length, the visitors at the back of the hall were more audible than all the Islay choristers performing at their loudest. (A charitable report of these proceedings, published the following week in a wellknown Argyllshire newspaper, mentioned how the choir had held the attention of an appreciative audience!)

There were present many children, for whom, as usual, loud comments and interruptions provided diversion, if not also example. However, the local lads rendering solos and mouth-music in the Gaelic sustained their vocal obligations to the bitter end. The roisterous behaviour of their companions did not embarrass them in the slightest. Nor did the persistence with which certain people wandered freely among the audience during each performance, selling raffle tickets. One was invited to pay sixpence for the privilege of guessing the weight of a cake baked locally with real fresh eggs, and donated by the baker of it. Many had purchased their tickets before it occurred to someone that the public exhibition of the proposed award might at least facilitate an approximate estimate of its weight. So the cake was brought forth, and the raffle proceeded with renewed vigour. It did strike one that, having charged heavily for admission to a performance well below mediocre standards, it was a bit of a cheek to conduct, throughout the whole of the proceedings, a series of raffles and lotteries to augment a fund, the sufficiency of which, for the avowed purpose, the charge for admission must already have guaranteed. "Just taking a mean advantage of the audience!", a Glasgow visitor was heard to remark. And, as if this was not enough, a sale had to follow. Bottles of port, tins and packets of cigarettes, cheap glass receptacles of infinite variety - all donated, one presumed, by local shopkeepers and others - were put up to auction, and went at ridiculously high figures, especially when the more hilarious members of the audience got the notion that they must compete for this trinket or for that bottle. Bidding certainly became keen when the "well-oiled" took a hand in it. Two local lads seated next to me (or standing, for never did they remain in the same attitude for more than a few seconds) spent two or three pounds each in outbidding one another for various objects. Their recklessness could not but suggest to one that, the sooner public grants and subsidies to such communities were examined, the better it would be for the tax-payer.

The concert (if such it might be termed in any sense but that of the revellers acting irresponsibly in concert) did not begin until well after 9 p.m. As the tea interval, advertised for 8 p.m., approached, there was passed round the audience, about 11 o'clock, while a songster continued to unburden himself of a particularly long wail in Gaelic, a clothes-basket. Out of this everyone took a teacup - and waited. The more potent type of "celebration", for which the flimsiest of pretext provides the occasion, was already well on its way towards culmination. But the real "do" seldom begins before midnight, with the dance. By 12.30 a.m., therefore, the "fun" was in full swing at Kiloran. Throughout all this, the young children seemed mildly amused by the example of their elders. Small wonder so many of the lads in these parts succumb early to the bottle!"

In fairness, a more measured description of the contemporary scene was recorded by Rev. John Y.Clark, writing in 1955 for the 3rd Statistical Account:

"Though the population is scattered, the islanders are of a sociable nature and contrive to meet occasionally. There is a flourishing and enthusiastic branch of the Woman's Guild of the Church of Scotland, while the W.R.I. has also taken firm root in the island. An annual regatta, with children's sports, brings the parishioners together, and a recent importation from the mainland - sheep dog trials - seems to have established itself firmly in favour."

Colonsay Weather 2000

Website to explore: Kilmartin House Trust

Kilmartin House is a magnificent museum and interpretation centre close to Dunadd, the fortress home of the early Scots. It is in a sheltered and fertile valley which contains an almost incredible range of archaeological and historical remains. The award-winning museum is about 20 miles south of Oban and is an absolute "must" for any visitor to Scotland. Just in case you are not convinced, have a look at

Book Review: "Mull - The Island and Its People"

A new and highly recommended book, available of course, through Colonsay Bookshop!!

The island of Mull is one of the most frequently visited of the Hebrides and there has been much written about it over the centuries. It is a land of beauty, myth and legend and its history includes that of the earliest foundations of the Celtic Church, Viking raids, the Lordship of the Isles, the wreck of an Armada ship, the visit of Johnson and Boswell and countless other events in Scottish history. In spite of this there are huge gaps in our knowledge of the details of the island's history, and in particular of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a time of great economic and social change.

Jo Currie, herself of Mull ancestry, has produced an important book about the real people of the island and their way of life. The story is told through an in-depth study of enormous archives of papers, most of which have been hitherto unexamined. These papers, some from public and some from private family collections, have been laboriously sifted and analysed. This is the definitive story of Mull's transformation during two vital centuries, and is the key to the huge exodus of the indigenous population that took place during that period. The end result is a work of scholarship which will have huge significance for thousands of Muileachs (Muilich) and their descendants world-wide, and which will probably have an impact and influence on other historians' approach to future work. The book contains detailed indexes of places and people, and copious notes to each chapter.

Please don't be frightened off by my reference to scholarship and notes because this is also a book for reading and enjoying for its stories and anecdotes about real people - our own ancestors.

Georgina Hobhouse

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