Excerpts from issue 54/01 17 October 2026
Port Ellen Pier
The image above shows the current extent of upgrade works at Port Ellen Pier. All CalMac sailings currently sail between Kennacraig and Port Askaig, with Port Ellen expected to re-open in early 2029.
Photo: CMAL
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CalMac's cunning plans
CalMac has revised its Strategic Vessel Deployment, Disposal and Cascade Plan following a round of community engagement in the first half of 2026.
The plan sets out how CalMac will deploy its major vessel fleet as new vessels enter service and older vessels are returned to CMAL. Final recommendations were informed by detailed operational assessments across the network, including fleet resilience requirements, vessel condition and lifecycle considerations, and the need to deliver the best possible value for money within affordability constraints. Community feedback also played an important role in shaping the final proposals, with CalMac seeking views from communities on routes directly affected by the potential cascade of vessels following the introduction of MV Glen Rosa, MV Lochmor and MV Claymore.
The plan sets out the expectation that MV Isle of Lewis and MV Caledonian Isles will be returned to CMAL, when MV Glen Rosa and MV Claymore respectively are delivered. MV Isle of Arran will remain as a resilience vessel until August 2027. No vessel will be returned when MV Loch Indaal enters service.
Starting with MV Glen Sannox in January 2025, CalMac expects to have welcomed six major new vessels to the fleet by summer 2027. When MV Isle of Arran exits in August 2027, four vessels will have been returned to CMAL - the three outlined in the plan plus MV Hebridean Isles in November 2024.
This means CalMac will effectively have two extra major vessels in the fleet than was the case prior to the delivery MV Glen Sannox. This fulfils the commitment in the Scottish Government's Islands Connectivity Plan to ensure there is always a major vessel available for resilience.
Pauline Blackshaw, CalMac's Director of Planning and Performance, said, "The introduction of six major new vessels will see a significant, positive change in the average age, profile, and condition of the entire major vessel fleet. The new tonnage benefits the whole network and has given us the opportunity to look at how the existing fleet is deployed.
"We've engaged extensively with several island communities and developed a plan which at minimum maintains, if not enhances, the service they currently receive even if they are not getting one of the six new vessels.
"The plan provides a vessel appropriate for the level of service each community not only needs, but wants, and allows us to provide certainty to communities in terms of what that service looks like in the coming."
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In this week's issue:
Islay Ales Oktoberfèis, Port Ellen Pier, Council winter roads arrangements, Council waste management, A cultured approach, Katie takes the Biscuit, Thomas the Tank in hay bales, Pipe Band tuition, Craig Walker's Walk on the Wild Side, CalMac's cunning plans, Brought to Book - Charlène Busalli reports from Wigtown Book Festival, Are Friends Electric?, All about the music - RSC Jazz course, Sunderlands at Bowmore, Could single malts disappear?, Book review - The Ploughman's Harvest; Gil Waugh, Book review - Mara and the Dragon Rescue; Donald Dennis, Invasive Plant Eradication Project update.
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Katie takes the Biscuit
Over the September weekend, Bowmore's Katie Tuite successfully competed in a horse and pony event at Muirmill.
She returned home with a first for Ridden Pony, 2nd, 12 Years and under, 2nd Mountain and Moorland in Hand, 3rd 60cm Working Hunter, and Overall Champion In Hand.
Proud mum and dad, Claire and Scott, told the Ileach, "Katie has qualified for the west of Scotland's extravaganza training stakes championship in 2027, jumping in the 60cm class.
"We are incredibly proud of Katie's results, and the support of Gleaner Oil has helped make these opportunities possible. We really appreciate them getting behind Katie and supporting her journey.
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Book Review
The Ploughman's Harvest. Gil Waugh 297pp £14.70
The Sandalwood Agency series of books by Ottowa based author, Gil Waugh, have featured in the Ileach on at least two previous occasions: 'Evening Song' and 'The Piper's Lullaby'. 'The Ploughman's Harvest' is, according to the author, the last in the series.
The Sandalwood Agency is the private investigation firm of Karen and Steve Simpson, contacted on this occasion to investigate documents found in the aftermath of a house fire. The fire itself was hardly innocent, in which a nine year-old girl died, and her father admitted to hospital with serious burns.
But to add to the mystery, a second body was found in the house, the identity of which is unknown.
Iain MacNiven is a Member of the Canadian Parliament responsible for "...the problematic Housing and Homelessness portfolio". It is his house which has been deliberately set on fire, and the documents referred to above were in a slim folder at the bottom of a box containing items retrieved by the family's insurance broker.
Anndra MacNiven was a farmer at Corrary on the outskirts of Bowmore in the late 19th century. The farm was not faring well, but opportunity arrived in the shape of a letter from the Admiralty Office in Edinburgh. His cousin Niall "...had written from the sea of distant places, of ports and horizons..."
Anndra left Islay to join the Royal Navy.
It transpires, however, that the letters contained within the folder, and discovered by Carole MacNiven, imply that Anndra, despite becoming a decorated captain in the navy and a prominent member of both Scottish and Quebec society, had not demonstrated behaviour becoming of his position.
Despite this tangible evidence, Iain MacNiven is loathe to discuss the matter with his wife.
Concerned about the historical allegations against her husband's grandfather, and the possible implications for her family, Carole contacts Karen Simpson at the Sandalwood Agency and asks that they investigate further.
Gil Waugh has written a complex narrative that spans the centuries, with chapters detailing Captain Anndra MacNiven's naval career, interspersed with Sandalwood's present day investigations. Fortunately, there is never any doubt as to where or when the reader is in the timeline, or who is relating the story.
Fortune is initially on the side of Karen and Steve, when they discover that Carole MacNiven's request coincides with another case under investigation.
Their discoveries also bring in Alasdair 'Dair' MacEachern, a character we first met in 'The Piper's Lullaby'.
Without giving too much away, unsavoury matters are uncovered, and certain concerns are resolved, but not, perhaps, in the manner you might expect.
If this truly is the final work in the series, it's a fascinating and compulsive way to end.
bp
'The Ploughman's Harvest' is available from Amazon.
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This is Islay
2026 Podcast of the Year featuring individuals, personalities and features of Islay and Jura. Listen now at https://anchor.fm/thisisislay
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