Excerpts from issue 51/21 27 July 2024
I saw two ships
The image above shows the MV Isle of Islay (closest) and the MV Loch Indaal side by side at the Cemre Shipyard in Yalova, Istanbul. This issue includes a feature on the Cemre Shipyard.
photo: CMAL
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In this week's issue:
Port Ellen Sports suffers in the rain, Bowmore's crochet Banksy celebrates the RNLI, Not much progress at the 'Rest', Royal Mail's Jura drone trials, Anne Horn becomes Islay's third councillor, Islay stone-lifting, Leisure Centre survey, Charlène Busalli: rising star of the book world, New series of Island Crossings on BBC Scotland, Islay e-wheels repeats TripAdvisor success, Tom Thomson obituary, Rhinns Hall update, Winners at the Quilters' exhibition, Jura 10k and half-marathon results, IHS Iceland trip, The Ileach takes a closer look at the Cemre Shipyard, Istanbul, Niall Woodrow retires from ICCI, Ardbeg Am/Am golf tournament, Craig Walkjer's Walk on the Wild Side.
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No stone left unturned
Georgie Crawford writes:
On Saturday 13 July, three heavy weights of the stone-lifting community, travelled from Ireland and mainland Scotland to attempt to lift a recently rediscovered stone, the 'Clach MacPhee'.
The stone was rediscovered after Niall Colthart, having listened to a podcast on the subject of stone lifting, enlisted the help of Gaelic historian, Ronald Black, to investigate if any of these stones existed on Islay.
The story that Ronald found, collected in the late 1800s, tells of a MacPhee from Colonsay anchoring in the Bunanuilt Burn and then challenging the community to fight with him. He then lifted the stone to demonstrate his strength. Subsequently, the stone was used by the men of the community to demonstrate their strength.
The ancient act of stone-lifting, once popular across the length and breadth of Ireland, Scotland and Iceland, is now seeing a renaissance, partly due to the dedicated work of people like David Keohan from Waterford who has tracked down and located these stones across his native Ireland.
Joining David, on Islay, was Stevie Shanks from Belfast and Jamie Gorrian from Scotland.
The stone was weighed ahead of the lift and was found to be a lot heavier than first thought, at 191kg. Jamie Gorrian attempted the lift first and unbelievably managed to get it up onto his lap. David then lifted the stone and quoting a term used by stone lifters 'got the wind under it'. A number of locals had turned up to watch the attempt and Eoin Brown successfully managed to give it 'some air'.
Now that it has been rediscovered and had its name restored, it is hoped that other locals will have a go and keep this tradition alive.
Photo: Niall Colthart
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Sail or return
Islay RNLI reported launching earlier this year, on May 13, following reports of a partially submerged yacht at McArthur's Head in the Sound of Islay. In a happy turn of events, it transpired the small boat belonged to Rhunahaorine Early Learning Centre (ELC) on the Kintyre peninsula 16 miles away.
At the time, a nearby yacht had reported seeing an apparently submerged yacht, which, it transpired, was a small tender of approximately six feet in length. It was in poor condition, but with no-one on board. The lifeboat took it aboard to ensure it did not pose further danger to any boats in the area.
On return to Port Askaig it was taken ashore where faint writing on the side linked it to 'Rhunahaorine Pre 5 Unit'. Islay RNLI reached out to the school who were delighted to hear their missing boat had been found.
The boat, which has a damaged hull and has never been seaworthy while the school have owned it, is used by the schoolchildren of both Rhunahaorine and Gigha to store equipment in the dunes for their beach schools. The children had been very upset to find that their beach camp had been destroyed by vandals only a few weeks earlier, and the boat gone missing.
Islay crew member, Andy Ferrier, and his partner Janey, happened to be travelling to the mainland in a van the following week and were happy to return the boat to Tayinloan and reunite the children with their beloved boat. They took some RNLI goodies for the children, inspiring them to learn more about the RNLI before the end of term.
Lisa MacInnes, childcare and education worker at Rhunahaorine ELC said, "We are so grateful to Islay RNLI, not just for saving our wee boat, but for taking it back to us. Thank you for inspiring our learning about the RNLI, and how we can keep safe beside the sea."
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This is Islay
A monthly podcast featuring individuals, personalities and features of Islay and Jura. Listen now at https://anchor.fm/thisisislay
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Islay e-wheels wins second award
There are those of us who would contend that the best way for visitors to get around Islay and Jura is by bicycle. No more trying to find a nearby passing place in which to park to admire the scenery; just pull into the side of the road, and take in the views.
However, not everyone has the desire or ability to ride what might be cheerfully termed, an 'acoustic' bike. But bicycles offering built in motive power might just fit the bill nicely.
Starting in 2019 with six e-bikes, Gordon and Suzie MacAffer's Islay e-wheels has repeated its 2023 success in once again being awarded TripAdvisor's 'Travellers' Choice Award'.
With premises currently situated behind No.1 Charlotte Street, Gordon told the Ileach that they will soon relocate to the adjacent Port Ellen Playing Fields when the upgrade work completed.
"We're looking forward to this, as it will allow us to offer more and also have a better-sized workshop in which to maintain the bikes.
"We opened shortly before the first Covid lockdown, so the first few years were noticeably quiet. Recent years, however, have shown a steady increase in hires, and we've had to increase the number of e-bikes to meet the demand.
"The bikes now cover in excess of 35,000 miles between them, in one season."
Though certain terms and conditions apply, Gordon said that they can deliver or collect from anywhere on Islay and Jura.
So what does such velocipedinal luxury cost for a day? "It ranges between £20 and £40 per day, with discounts for multiple days, and we offer a local resident discount of £20/day for e-bike hire. The £40 e-bikes are suitable for up to 60 miles on one charge."
Islay e-wheels also hires 'acoustic' bikes.
To have been awarded 'Travellers' Choice' two years in succession would indicate that they're doing something right.
"We believe the reason for this is a high quality product along with good customer service. Our aim is to continue promoting eco-friendly transportation and sustainable tourism on Islay and Jura, while creating lots of lasting memories for locals and visitors alike."
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