EDITOR
As already mentioned, the current Editor would like to carry on until Issue 100 and then step down for a successor. We can now reveal that an Editor-in-Waiting has been appointed and that from Issue 101 onwards "The Corncrake" will be in the tender care of Keith Johnston. This is very welcome news and will bring new ideas and vigour to these columns. If all goes according to plan, Kevin Byrne will concentrate on enhancing the family-history element of the Colonsay website … and hopefully make a bit more progress on his study of the McNeill Lairdship.
A lovely day on Easter Saturday saw around 25 enthusiasts compete in the annual Clay Pigeon Shooting Match at Machrins. Competition was fierce but everyone did well and enjoyed the day thoroughly.
Prizes were presented by Ishbel Strachan and were awarded as follows:
Angus & Ella memorial trophy Nigel Grant
David Clark cup Angus McFadyen
Morag Paris Basket John McFadyen
Clark Cup Angus McFadyen
Championship Cup Nigel Grant
Alasdair MacNeill Tray Angus McFadyen
Benoran Cup Double Rise Donald McAllister
Ladies Cup Kirsty McAllister
Boys/Girls Chelsea McDonald
Visitors Trophy Iain Harding
Most Enthusiastic Keith Johnston
Best Dressed Henry ?
Shot of the day Gordon ?
OLDEST COMPETITOR Jim McLoughlin
End of year League Gents 1 Nigel Grant
2 Angus McFadyen
3 Donald McAllister
End of year League Ladies 1 Rhona Grant
2 Kirsty McAllister
As a footnote, the Visitors Trophy has gone missing! It is made out of bronze about 8 inches high and has a man holding a gun on it. It is inscribed "Colonsay Gun Club". So if anyone reading this has it on their mantlepiece could they please return it. Thank you
From an article in the "Press and Journal", it is clear that our difficulty has now become much greater, and that in fact all medical provision is now under threat. The resident doctor has confirmed that his position is untenable, and it is an open secret that it has now become very much more difficult to secure locum practitioners. Essentially, we are witnessing a confrontation between this community and the mainland mandarins who have hi-jacked the Health Service. Unfortunately for us, the community will certainly lose. The career bureaucrats will cover one another's backs and play pass-the-parcel until we are defeated and there is another notch to be added to a CV.
In the meantime, local activists have organised a petition to reflect islanders' concern at the lack of nursing cover, and many visitors have chosen to associate themselves with this. Only one (unidentified) Colonsay resident is said to have refused to support the petition, but then "there's aye ane". A number of letters have been published by the "Oban Times" in which informed residents have described the situation in carefully considered terms.
Whilst such efforts are to be applauded, one hears worrying talk from the bazaar. The community has already been told that our present doctor will not have a successor, and everyone can see that his existing conditions of service have been unilaterally altered to his disadvantage. And, we know that as part of a national scheme, his basic contract has also been changed. Now people say that the bureaucrats are trying to force him from his post, so that they can "rationalize" the situation.
JUST MISSED THE FERRY FROM OBAN?
This is something that happens to people fairly often and at last there is a possible fall-back solution. Sea.fari Adventures operate high speed RIBs and will happily transport you to Colonsay, from Easdale or direct from Oban; travel time Easdale to Colonsay - 50 mins (subject to weather).
Should you have booked your car onto the ferry, Calmac (via Mr Kenny Boyd) have kindly agreed to load your car for you on the next available ferry.
All you need to do is:
1. Speak to Calmac at reception in Oban
2. Phone Sea.fari Adventures on 01852 300003
Please make a note of this number - it may come in very useful when some distressed visitor calls you to say that they are running late. On a Friday night, it could save the loss of two days and rescue a holiday from disaster.
Symington Grieve was the antiquarian who collected and recorded much of the authentic Colonsay tradition towards the end of the nineteenth century, and also undertook extensive archaeological studies in the island. He was a most innovative man and it is interesting to note that although some later authors who have slighted his published work, they have shamelessly quarried it for their own purposes. His publications are unfortunately out of print and attract very high prices; it has long been hoped that it may be possible to re-publish his two volume work "Colonsay and Oronsay" and to give proper recognition to his lifetime of study.
Some years ago, Colonsay was visited by his grandson, Ainslie Thin. This week we had a visit from another connection, Mr Butcher from Winnipeg. It seems that Symington had various siblings, including Herbert who was said to have been the "black sheep" and accordingly encouraged to set up as a sheep-farmer in Australia; he later moved to Canada and was Mr. Butcher's grandfather. Symington was based in Edinburgh and was an associate of his brother Somerville in the operation of a distillery there … perhaps a reader can identify the distillery in question? It would be interesting to know a bit about its product and what became of the business. Another brother was perhaps called Harold.
Mr. Butcher has a set of his grand-uncle's works and hopefully will be sending a digital copy of an intriguing work upon "The Lifting Power of Seaweed", based upon observations at the Strand. Hopefully we will reproduce some part of that work in "The Corncrake" at a later date.
"The Guns", courtesy of Ken Liddell
"In the latest round of awards from the Scottish Land Fund, Colonsay Development Company has been awarded £153,000 together with £38,250 from Highlands & Islands Enterprise's Community Land Unit to purchase three crofts, comprising 200 acres, and bring them into community ownership. This will enable the Company to create a total of up to seven new crofts to be leased for affordable housing on the island."
The above details are culled from Scottish Islands Network Newsletter. If correct, £956 per acre will therefore be paid from the grant provided, together with whatever contribution the community must make from its own resources. This compares with about £2000 per acre for agricultural land on the outskirts of English conurbations.
The figure paid would suggest that the hill land in Colonsay is worth about £7m and the total island about £9m (excluding all houses and infrastructure, which would be worth about £20m in their own right). Thus Colonsay at c. £29m for 11,000 acres may be compared with Gigha (£4m for 3,600 acres) and Eigg (£1.6m for 5,000 acres). Golly!
Brilliant weather rewarded the very large number of old and new friends and visitors in Colonsay at Easter; more than 300 people supported the CCDCo Ceilidh, which raised £1,300 for their work; more than 150 people attended the joint service at the Baptist Church on Easter Day; the Binnie's are pioneering a direct overland route home from the McNicholl's; a definite sighting of a ferret, this time by Mrs H-G's "Tandy" whilst walking on the golfcourse; a couple of eagle-like birds have been noted flying mostly above the sea, at about 300ft; anybody wishing to explore the Coille Mhor should go now, before the bracken comes up - it is as lovely as ever, but hosting at least six sheep and a disturbing amount of ponticum; the blackthorn wood opposite the quarry will be in perfect bloom this weekend; STV "Asgard" was in Colonsay again this week - a reply is expected shortly to the request to engage her for the 2006 voyage to P.E.I.; a storm on 14 April marooned almost 60 visitors in Colonsay, mostly day-trippers from Islay, but the situation was retrieved through a series of relief services conducted by Captain K. Cameron and the crew of "Lord of the Isles"; Keith Johnston is away in Antrim to collect his new boat - he left in a Force 8, and we hope can come back in more comfortable conditions; Don MacLeod has discovered and retrieved a very large skeletal joint from the 120ft Blue Whale:
Please note that there is also a Notice Board on the Homepage; anybody wishing to publicise any event or attraction is invited to send details to the Editor.
CHURCH SERVICES: Weekly Services are held each Sunday at 11.30 a.m. The Church of Scotland and the Baptist Church work closely together and frequently hold joint services - please see notice at Shop for details of venue. All are welcome and our visitors are cordially invited to join the island congregation. Immediate schedule is:
Sunday 18th April, Joyce Nicol, at Church of Scotland
25th April Bill Findlay, at Baptist Church
2nd May Marshall Gibson, at Church of Scotland
8th May Marshall Gibson, at Baptist Church
BOAT TRIPS: Daily boat trips operate throughout the season; details are elsewhere on this site, also comprehensive brochures are available at Hotel, Shop, Pantry, Bookshop etc.
DENTIST will be in Colonsay 26 - 28 April, tel 01688 302105 for appointment.
STOKES MEMORIALS will be in Colonsay in May or June to work at the graveyard. Telephone 01369 702162 for further details.
Clan Macfie will be holding its 15th International Gathering and 9th Clan Parliament in Inverness from 6th to 11th September 2005. This will be followed immediately by a Clan visit to the historic homeland the Islands of Colonsay and Oronsay.
Dates for the Colonsay visit are (subject to CalMac timetables in 2005) arrive on Sunday 11th September, depart on Wednesday 14th September or later should members so wish.
All Clan members have been notified that they are individually responsible for arranging their own accommodation reservations and payments.
Further details from: Clan Macfie Secretariat Email: macfie@austarnet.com.au
Clan Macfie Home Page address: http://www.orishanet.com/clanmacfie/
For convenience of readers, letters now appear in two sections. Anything to do with current events appears here, and letters to do with the Magazine section or historical research etc. will appear at the end of the Magazine section.
Dear Kevin
You have listened to me moaning on about the vandalising of this beautiful little island for a long time, I think it is time I put my complaint in writing.
A visitor coming here for the first time or one who remembers Colonsay unspoiled must be disapointed,to say the least, to find the car park used as a dump for aggregate and similar. A little further on and our tourist is beguiled by the builder's yard full of mostly abandoned eyesores. Continuing along the road at Glasssard he will perhaps notice the heap of old stobs and fencing wire left a year ago on the roadside by the fencers.
Let us proceed to Kiloran Bay, reputedly one of the glories of the Inner Hebrides, passing the beginning of the track to Balnahard. There we can feast our eyes on half an acre of torn strips of black plastic blowing in the wind along with an assortment of other rubbish.
Returning to the harbour via Kilchattan it is possible to view some dead motor cars bedecked at this time of year with greenery or exposed in all their gruesome ugliness.
By the time our visitor has reached the hotel he will be musing that the population of Colonsay, so blessed to be living in one of the lovliest places in Britain, seem to take little pride in the island and allow these and a host of other abuses to be perpetrated. Colonsay needs a lot of LTC.
Frank
Two months ago, "The Corncrake" gave guidance on the simple procedure to be followed by persons who might have been mis-sold an endowment mortgage. A reader now informs us that the advice was followed faithfully when that issue appeared, and that it has since led to an offer of £4,692.34 in compensation.
Hello Kevin,
We continue to enjoy "Corncrake" and even believed Melina MacRuiraidh for about half a micro second before saying "Kevin's at it again on 1st April"!
We were interested though in your future plans as outlined in recent copies of "Corncrake" and wish you every success with them.
Brief mention of the 2005 Clan Macfie Gathering and Parliament seems to have disappeared from "Corncrake". Could it please be mentioned again in the hope of interesting Clan members checking the Colonsay homepage and perhaps not aware of the Gathering.
I trust all is well with you and the family - and on the islands too.
With kind regards, Sandy
Clan Macfie Secretariat macfie@austarnet.com.au
[The Gathering has been restored in this issue - its disappearance was just a blip - Editor]
Second attempt: Can any reader help to place Lt. Col. Malcolm McNeill ("Calum Og") in context? He was born on 30 January 1866 at Forres St., Edinburgh, although he was closely associated with Oransay. His parents were Alexander Campbell McNeill and Annabella Maria McNeill nee Campbell, married in Edinburgh on March 6th 1865; it is assumed that he was connected with the McNeill lairds but in 1861 a Walter B MacNeill of Glendaruel was the tenant of Oransay, about whom nothing is known. If any reader can show how Alexander Campbell McNeill or his wife Annabella Campbell were related to any Colonsay family it will be very helpful to Alan Davis in his research.
The Magazine Section
