|
Friday July 28th, Neil and Sue's wedding day dawned bright and warm despite dire threats by the weather forecasters, this encouraged Marie to marry them in Kildonan garden,
where there was plenty of room for the many members of both families who had travelled from the mainland. In the tearoom a magnificent buffet had been laid out by the staff and several willing helpers, but before Neil and Sue could get inside they were bombarded by several pounds of rice!
D.J as Neil's Best Man had a feeling of Deja Vu, having been presented with the same situation twice in a week, but he coped manfully. Later, in the Hall, the Ceilidh music, played by Ross Martin, Colm O'Rua, Gabe McVarish, Andrew Stevenson, piper and Angus McPhail, Gold Medal accordion player from Tiree, was hugely enjoyed and during the evening, one of Sue's little visitors entertained us with an Irish dance and Donna followed later, with a Highland Fling.
We recently welcomed four new residents to the island. Our new Project Officer, Andrew Binnie and his wife Sheryl, have moved into Crows Nest and both socially and professionally are busy settling in. Pasqual and Kathleen Carr (no relation to Colin!) moved into Shore Cottage and found six dead rats in various states of decomposition, in a rather old water tank so are hurriedly replacing their supply!! Kathleen has joined the (part time) tearoom staff.
John Chester is now resident in a totally enhanced Millers Cottage which of course, has been thoroughly "warmed" in the usual way! Work has started on Hill Cottage, the second stage of the scheme.
Two unusual birds have appeared here recently, both in the same garden and within a couple of days of each other. The first looked very like a Brambling in winter plumage except that there was too much white and yellow on it's back. It was later identified by our bird warden as an aberrant Chaffinch. The second was unmistakably a Black Headed Bunting and it should not have been here at all, it belongs in Italy and Greece. John was very excited, it is the first time a bird of this breed has been recorded on Eigg.
Congratulations to Simon and the crew of "Lola" for winning the "Eigg and Spoon" Race, the big event in the Arisaig Regatta. Because of handicapping they won by only 30 seconds but the yacht actually arrived at the finishing line hours before the other contestants. Hopefully the regatta will be an annual event in the local calendar.
|
Eigg did not do too well at the Small Isles Sports Tug-of-War, which was easily won by the Rum team. The Sports took place on 12th August on Rum, but the Eigg residents who attended, had a good time at the Ceilidh on Saturday evening and the Bar-B-Q on Sunday. Our visitors from Mustique enjoyed the entertainments but sadly the children were too shy to take part in the races.
Three young people from Mustique and two of their teachers visited Eigg recently, it was good to see Venetta Geofrey again. Unfortunately their visit coincided with a period of bad weather but both the Eigg children and their visitors were busy teaching each other their own music and dances. On a reasonably good day there was a cycle ride to Grulin and on the last day of their holiday they were able to climb the Scurr. We hope that the exchange between Mustique and Eigg will continue.
The "Green Watch" week of activity organised by SWT was a great success. A number of teenagers from Edinburgh came to Eigg and among their activities were dry stone dykeing, Rhododendron cutting and clearing up the beaches. The party stayed in the Barn where there was much music and dancing with the Eigg youngsters in the evenings.
On Saturday 2nd September between 1.00 and 4.00pm there will be a guided tour of the Kildonan Early Christian Site led by the Eigg Historical Society in connection with the Council of Scottish Archaeological Month. This tour is open to all so we hope to be joined by visitors from near and far.
Congratulations to Camille on becoming an Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust Director, she replaces Karen who steps down and who will be an extremely hard act to follow. Karen was part of the original group who were instrumental in designing and implementing the Eigg take-over. She became one of the first Directors and since then has worked long and hard for the benefit of Eigg. Our deeply grateful thanks for all her endeavours. Davy and Sue have become stand-in directors.
There was no need of a miracle to feed Eigg residents on Sunday. Donald and Mairi caught more than eighty beautiful Mackerel and distributed them to all of us, and very good they were too. Many thanks!
The following item is left over from last month, everyone was so busy with preparations for the nuptials and other events that it simply didn't get written in time!
Alastair Morrison (MP for Highlands and Islands) visited Eigg on the 27th July after opening Muck's wind power operation. He was taken on a tour of the various developments on the Island and, afterwards was entertained with refreshments in the tea room. Mr Morrison said he was very impressed with our achievements over the last couple of years and remarked on how well communities could develop when given the opportunity to do so.
Joy Williams
|
