PLEASURE ISLAND

Well, here we are again, and for the second Issue in succession, a trifle late. Profuse apologies are of course offered, but the promise that it won't happen again just seems to stretch the limits of probability a wee bit too far.

Again there has been much to distract the Corncrake crew from the journalistic jamboree of preparing these pages for publication. The island is awash with visitors, all intent on enjoying their break to the limit. And so there are parties, picnics, barbecues and ceilidhs, indeed any excuse for some social interaction involving the popping of corks and the clinking of glasses. Even during the writing of this grovelling apology, the call came to attend an impromptu Irish dance, making the appearance of The Corncrake even later.

And as for the consistency of the weather of late, all that can be said is that it has been consistently inconsistent; days of warmth and enchanting light are being followed by dreich days of mist and rain, when suddenly, out of the mirk, up pops another glorious summer day. At such a point, there is a scramble to the harbour and soon the seas around the island are peppered with sunseekers off to find a remote and deserted beach on which to stretch out and, probably, pop a cork or three.

It is difficult to convey in words the jollity to be found on the island at this time of year, and so we thought a photograph may help. Snaps taken at the myriad of fun-filled events were thus studied, but in the end, a simple snap of two locals was selected.

Just look at the joy and pleasure written on the faces of our two friends :

SEA SPRAY LOST

Continuing on a nautical theme, Saturday 6th August unfortunately saw the demise of a boat which has become, over the last 30 years, part of the fabric of the island, when "Sea Spray" was wrecked off the Balnahard coast.

Bill Lawson was working close to a reef when a rope became snagged in the propellor. Before Bill could address the problem, a swell crashed in and landed "Sea Spray" onto the reef. This was quickly followed by another swell which crashed the boat against the rocks, smashing large sections of the boat, including the engine supports, and before Bill knew it, the engine disappeared out of a gaping hole in the bottom of the boat.

Sensing the real danger he was now in, Bill quickly lashed together pieces of wood into a make-shift raft and through sheer guts and determination eventually reached the safety of the shore.

Within a few hours however, Bill was back at sea, launching a salvage operation. Our photograph shows Bill and volunteer helper Dave Rees atop the rock gathering anything which could be saved :

A further salvage operation was launched the following day, but returns were meagre and it was reported that there was by now no recognisable remains of a boat, only random pieces of wood. "Sea Spray" was no more.

And so an integral part of Colonsay's recent history has gone, the familiar red and white now missing from the harbour. But of course, "Sea Spray" was not always red and white. Brought by the late Peter "Para Mór" MacAllister from Buckie on the East coast in 1978, our more mature Readers will always associate Para Mór with the blue and white CN183, "Sea Spray". And here CN183 is, in younger and happier days :

Our grateful thanks to Mary Ann for sharing these photographs with us.

DRIVING US ROUND THE BEND

Following on from the spate of road traffic accidents on the island last year, the Community Council has produced a guide to "Driving, Cycling and Walking on Colonsay" :

 

Rather than berate the Council for producing the leaflet somewhat late in the season, many locals see this as a cunning move on the part of the Council, giving some locals something to read and digest over the winter months. And yes, there are a few residents who would benefit from studying the "Driving" section of the leaflet...

Whilst the leaflet may indeed have arrived too late to impact greatly on this year's visitors, sufficient quantities have been secured to ensure that the guide will be available for many years to come. It is now to be found in all buildings with public access as well as being displayed in each letting holiday cottage.

And whilst on the subject of driving, the leaflet of course cannot address the peceived problem that many visitors can't find reverse gear, or, if they do, the results are often more upsetting than not locating it in the first place. One solution proposed (anonymously, and you'll understand that in a minute...), is that Calmac insist that all visitors' cars reverse off the ferry as far as the pier shed. Those failing to do so are then shipped promptly back to the mainland.

It would certainly address the problem, but one fears that a lot of holiday cottages would be lying empty for much of the year...

HIDDEN EUROPE

And now for something completely different. Try this little puzzle :

What is the connection between the longest trolleybus route in the world (in the Crimea, of course!), Moldovan wine, the origins of Czech spa towns, the Lough Foyle ferry, a museum in Macedonia and our own Colonsay and Oransay?

Give up? Surely not so soon!
For those of you who may wish to ponder over this puzzle, we suggest that you quickly (no peeking!) move on to our next article. We do however also suggest that, in the interests of remaining relatively sane, you keep your pondering short, as you may find the answer somewhat elusive...

The elusive, but ultimately simple, answer is that all will feature in the September issue of a magazine called "hidden europe".
This English language magazine, which is published in Berlin every two months, has a regular feature entitled "message in a bottle" which focuses on islands. The last three such features have looked at the works of German filmmaker Werner Kissling in Eriskay in the 1930s; the community of Kirkjubour on the Faroese island of Stremoy; and the anniversary of the closure in 1925 of the coal mine on the Spitzbergen island of Bjornoyo. The September issue will feature Oronsay as the ‘message in a bottle’.

This particular issue also features Colonsay in another context. There is to be a feature on the "Arandora Star", that looks at the lives of three Italians who were on the Star: Alfonso Paolozzi, Cesare Camozzi and Giuseppe Delgrosso. The feature mentions the new Colonsay memorial on the cliffs at Leum a' Bhriar.

The magazine's website, at www.hiddeneurope.co.uk is well worth a look and the good news is that the September issue featuring both the islands of Colonsay and Oransay will be on sale at the Bookshop at Port Mór.

HARBOURING ROCKS

Sundays can be boringly dull around Corncrake Towers. Perhaps it's the short-term good behaviour induced by Church services, but whatever the cause, there never seems to be any thumping great stories for the eager staff of Corncrake Towers to follow up on a Sunday.

On Sunday 7th August however, the sound of thumping wafted through our open windows (yes, we use all our senses to bring you this exciting blatt). Just what could that thumping be, disturbing the quiet stillness of the afternoon air? This just HAD to be investigated, and within minutes the slumbering troops had been rallied and out the press corp sallied.

The noise seemed to be coming from Scalasaig harbour, but, it being a beautiful, calm afternoon there was barely a boat left in the harbour. But, what was this? Where the boats should be was a whacking great (a technical term for pretty big...) digger, armed with a pecker which was the root cause of the thumping noise as it pecked away relentlessly at something in the dried-out, low-water harbour :

The operator of the digger was instantly recognised as Colin Mackintosh, a resident on the island for over a year now, during which time he has (or at least his pecker has), given new shape (and less rock!) to the island. An interview swiftly followed during which time Colin revealed that a hidden rock in the corner of the harbour had holed at least one local boat this year, causing extensive and expensive repairs. He was now bent on removing the rock, although, as our photograph shows, the use of the plural would perhaps have been more appropriate :

Watching Colin at work was a revelation. He is a true craftsman, and as many of the Glassard residents can testify, he can do things with his pecker that other men can only dream about. And he was not simply content to do an impeccable job, if you will forgive the pun; once the offending rock had been removed, he filled the created holes with mud, patting it down as smooth as a baby's bottom (and no, I'm not going to say anything about its consistency and colour...) :

This however was nothing compared to Colin's next actions. He reversed the digger ten or so feet and filled in the tracks left by the digger, again patting it down neatly and smoothly. This he did many times, completely covering his tracks until at the end environmentalists the world over would have given him a standing ovation, unable to tell that a digger had ever been in the harbour.

A master craftsman indeed! We only hope that Colin was well rewarded for his meticulous display...

POETRY CORNER

Following on from the poetry of our own Donald "D.A." MacNeill which appeared in our last Issue, we are again blessed with a few lines penned on these very shores.

This time however, our budding poet wishes their identity to remain a secret between themselves and the staff of Corncrake Towers. And so it shall remain, although it has been said that every man has his price...

ANON.

THE GEOLOGY OF COLONSAY

Maurice Rogers, a geologist from Warwickshire, was a first-time visitor to Colonsay in early June, and despite the "cold and miserable" weather, he was stunned by the geology and the beauty of the island and vows to return at the earliest possible opportunity.

So impressed was he that he wrote an imaginary conversation between two geologists concerning the geology of the island, and forwarded it to The Corncrake. This highly unique, informative and amusing article is to be found within the Magazine section of this very Issue.

The letter which accompanied Maurice's text also contained much of interest for Readers, and so an abridged version of it is given here :

"When I first learned that we were due to visit Colonsay, I looked at the map and saw that there was not much going for the island geologically and felt disppointed since I could have suggested many other islands in preference. How wrong I was!! And how, even now, looking back over the photos I took - what a wonderful island you live on!!

The text I sent you well reflects my view of how the geology of the island is under-rated and/or ignored, and I have just learned that the latest British Geological Survey 1;50000 map was drawn up as a desk-based exercise and without anyone visiting the island!!

I am in touch with the guy in the BGS responsible, and coincidentally, he is due to visit Colonsay and stay near Kiloran Bay in the next month or so, not in any professional manner but, similarly to us, with bairns and babes. But I have upset the applecart by challenging him about the rock in the dyke that cuts through the skerry on Kiloran and sent him a photo as per the one attached :

It's marked as a lamprophyre, but it doesn't look like one at all. There is also a very large lamprophyre ( certain ) that is in Cable Bay and not marked on the map at all!

I am a member of The Warwickshire Geological Conservation Group, and every year we hold a distant field trip with about 20 persons. I have asked the guy from the BGS whether he would act as leader if we were to visit Colonsay, and he has pencilled this in for 2007 . We have a number of what we call para-professionals in our Group who can assist in a large scale re-assessment of what is known of the island and they can cover all aspects, such as metamorphic rocks, igneous rocks, tectonics and glacial, and we would like to offer the BGS the evidence we accumulate."

The staff of Corncrake Towers has sent their thanks to Maurice for his article, and we feel sure that we will be seeing more of him in the future!

NATURE NOTES

Nature Notes this Issue comes with a mystery to be solved.

During his visit in June, Maurice Rogers was not totally blinded by the island's geology and spotted a lichen he had never seen before. The location for the lichen in question he gives as grid reference 395 968, and states "I was walking on the lane that goes away from Colonsay House ie north . From the car park I walked towards the office block which was on my right. In front of me was a small wicket gate that led on to the gardens and to the left was a lane that curled round after about 50yds to the right . On the left hand wall was this growth that I first thought was ivy but closer inspection revealed that it was white underneath and that there were no discrete leaves, neither did the growth have stems." Maurice forwarded the following photograph :

Maurice hoped that one of our Readers might have beeen able to identify the lichen for him, but has since written to say that he thinks he now knows its identity. However, can any Reader give us a definitive identification?

MY COLONSAY PHOTOGRAPH

Maurice Rogers (yes, that man again!) also forwarded a further photograph that he took during his stay, one that he thought that other Readers might enyoy seeing. It is one of the June evening sky over the Paps of Jura :

An excellent shot, and one that got the minds of the photographic desk in Corncrake Towers thinking; could and should The Corncrake provide an occasional platform for visitors to share their favourite Colonsay snap with our Readers?

Well, what do YOU think?

NOW WHERE COULD THAT BE?

Thanks to all Readers who responded to our "Where?" photograph in Issue 120 :

As with previous "Where?" photographs, and as one would anticipate, residents tended to be able to identify the spot more readily than visitors. This said however, the number of visitors who got it right was admirable, but perhaps due somewhat to the fact that the object in question is one of the first, and one of the last, objects that visitors might see on a visit to Colonsay :

Yes, the "mystery" object is directly opposite the piershed; but what is it and what was it used for? The correct answer to this eluded all who had a stab at it, but fortunately Piermaster Kevin Byrne was on hand to point out that our "mystery" object is all that remains of the weighbridge which was operational in the days when Para Mór was Piermaster. Do our more mature Readers recall it now?

And so, we arrive at our photograph for Issue 121. Just where on Colonsay would you be if this was in your line of vision? :

Entries as usual to : editorcorncrake@yahoo.co.uk ; by telephone : 01951 200336 ; or by post to : The Editorial Suite, The Corncrake, Corncrake Towers, Scalasaig, Isle of Colonsay, Argyll, PA61 7YW, Scotland. Timewasters welcome.

LOOK BACK IN ALBUM

As we could have anticipated, we are not yet finished with our "Look Back" photograph from Issue 119, one taken at a Gun Club "shoot" in the days when they were held just behind the Hotel :

In our last Issue, we speculated that those pictured were as follows :

The three figures standing at the back : Freddie Titterton, Angus Clark and Alasdair Darroch.
Next Row (left to right) : Roger "Machrins", John Clark, Alastair "Machrins", Donald Brown, Alastair "Annie" and finally, a former (un-named) factor.
Next Row : Para Mór, "D.A." MacNeill, Archie MacConnell, Bertie Isherwood, and Angus McFadyen.
Next Row : Neil Darroch, Finlay McFadyen, "A.S." McNeill, Calum "Coll", Dugie McGilivray, Bella "Peter" and finally Walter Williams.
The two figures in the next "row" : Niall Brown and Marie Paton.
The three figures at the front : Ivor Brown, Hugh Brown and Para "Clock".

We have however since received an e.mail from Ivor Brown (who of course supplied the photograph in the first instance), who states that the figure at back-right is not Alasdair Darroch but is in fact Brian Donald, a nephew of D.A.'s.

Ivor further avers that the figure to the right of Para Mór is Para's father John, and not D.A. He then states that D.A. is to be found further along the same row - the figure previously identified as Bertie Isherwood. Finally, Ivor gives us the name of Mr Stark for the (un-named) factor and puts the year of the photograph as 1957.

So, are we now finished with the photograph? Can we now commit it to the archive? Are we all happy?

This then leaves us free to focus our attention on our "Look Back" photograph from our last Issue :

Again, many thanks to all who contacted Corncrake Towers with input as to the identities of "The Magnificent Seven". All contributors got the identities correct apart from one who, in response to our query " what exactly is wrong with the picture?" thought it was that one of the seven men pictured was in fact a woman! Propriety does of course preclude a mention of which of our characters had their manhood questioned, but we can categorically state that it was not "Wee Roger"...

So, for the record, the names of "the Magnificent Seven" are :
"Wee" Roger MacIntyre, Duncan MacDougall, Davie MacConnell, Ross Moodie, David Hobhouse, Iain "Seaview" MacKinnon and Seumas McNeill.

And the reason for the photograph? Well it appeared in a two-page spread in the "Daily Record" in 1979 which focussed on the lack of available women on the island for the available men. The article appeared under the headline "WANTED - Seven Brides for Seven Lovers!".

Oh, and finally, almost forgot, what was wrong with the picture was that the image was in fact reversed, giving the impression that it was taken long before any harbour was built at Scalasaig!

All that is left for us to do now is to contemplate the "Look Back" photograph for Issue 121, and we are indebted to Mary Ann for this photograph of a clean-up operation of a few years back with some young (and not-so-young...) participants :

So, which of our Readers can put a name to all ten of Santa's little helpers? Oh, and what about the location and the year? Go for it!

SNIPPETS

A Machrins Medical Update seems to be something of a regular feature within the Snippets' columns these days. But we start on this occasion, not with Eleanor, but with her sister-in-law, Jessie. For Jessie suffered a fall at home on the last day of July, and in the process received extensive bruising (photographs of same were promised but have yet to appear...). The bruising was such that Jessie, usually one of the most socially active people on the island, was confined to barracks and her own company.

Friends and neighbours rallied round however and plentiful supplies of Table Water Biscuits and other necessities of life found their way from the Shop to Hill Cottage as and when required. But Jessie pined for the wide open spaces and the craic in the Pantry. She was determined to make the Pantry for her usual Saturday double-shift and so, as the pain eased day by day, she enlisted the services of a nurse/chauffeuse/lady-in-waiting. And sure enough, after almost a week, Jessie was again able to step out into the Scalasaig air and into the wafting aromas of the Pantry.

And, I hear you ask, is there any further news of Eleanor? Well, after weeks of trying, the world of the photographic desk of Corncrake Towers and that of Eleanor collided at a ceilidh. Yes, Eleanor's recuperation and rehabilitation continues apace :

Mind you, it looks as if she's still on the apple juice, so there's still some progress to be made...

Following our recent photograph of Sammy the seal, Duncan Sandy wrote to confirm that it was indeed the same "Sammy", and that she (Sammy being short for Samantha) was a regular feature of Scalasaig harbour for at least the sixteen years that Duncan skippered the "Wild Rose" in these waters.

This raises the question of just how long Sammy has been enchanting locals and visitors alike. Does any Reader have recollections (or even better, photographs) of Sammy more than sixteen years ago? And just what age is she likely to be?
According to the Scottish Executive Environment web-page, female seals such as Sammy often live for over 30 years, so hopefully we may enjoy her presence for a few years yet. In the meantime, we are indebted to regular RedBay visitor Julian Cook for this photograph showing that Sammy has had to change her allegiances since Duncan Sandy hung up his nets for the last time :

The photograph was taken just days before "Sea Spray" was wrecked on a reef off Balnahard, and indeed it may be the last photograph ever taken of what had become as much a part of Colonsay life as fresh lobster and crabbit fishermen....

Following our publication in Issue 120 of one of Donald "D.A." MacNeill's poems, Mark Greening of Bugbrooke in Northants wrote (see Letters section) to say how much he enjoyed Donald's music tapes that he bought on his first visit to Colonsay in 1992. He added that he was sad to hear of his passing when he next visited the island in 1998, and wondered if the recordings were still available.

The Corncrake was therefore the bearer of glad tidings when Mark was advised that he had mistaken Pedie, the very much alive singer/songwriter/shopkeeper, with his late father "D.A.", the poet.

Mark was further delighted to learn that all of Pedie's issued material was available in CD format simply by phoning the Shop on 01951 200266!

Well worth the call, but don't delay, stocks are going fast! (Shouldn't The Corncrake be on commission? Let's have your views...).

Lying in the long grass during a recent ceilidh, your Editor was grateful to feel the bulge in his pocket of his trusty camera. For there, sitting in the late evening light was a weel-kent vehicle, but with fresh lettering splattered all over the side :

What's this "Colonsay's Homes" business all about then? We must be told!
It is of course encumbent upon this very blatt to bring its loyal Readership all the breaking news, but Mr MacLeod seems to be avoiding your Editor in much the same way as he effortlessly manages to avoid an oath-free sentence. But track him down we will. We will be told!!

What has become a Colonsay institution over the years, the annual "Glassard Barbecue" in August appears to be alive and well, judging from the vehicles piled up at the Glassard gate on Saturday the 13th. Not being a "Glassardach" and thus not even privy to the Password of the Glassard gate, your undetterred Editor resorted to his customary "long-grass-crawl" approach to bring you the inside info as to what actually goes on at these events.

Unfortunately the long grass soon gave way to the hard, very hard rocks of the Emslie's new house- site, but wiping the blood from the lens of his camera, your Editor, feeling ever more like a member of the much-maligned paperazzi, was able to get a shot of the goings-on at No. 3 :

Yes, it may look like a typical barbecue, but we shouldn't be so readily fooled. For example, why are the participants huddled together in little groups? Why is the man in the green top on the left staring trance-like at two wavy white lines on the wall of the house? And what secret symbol do the wavy lines represent? And who is the young boy and why is he running between the covens, sorry, little groups?

Unfortunately, The Corncrake does not possess any sound surveillance equipment and so the secrets of the "Glassard Barbecue" remain safe. However, if donations keep flooding in, there's always next year...

Happy shoppers to the Colonsay General Stores were bemused just the other day to find their entry to the Shop blocked by a queue, one apparently winding its way from Netta's shed. Was the true purpose of Netta's "shed"/taigh-beag/time-machine about to be revealed just as speculation had died down from its peak to merely rampant curiosity?

Abandoning the shopping list that she-who-must-be-obeyed had only moments before entrusted him with, your Editor's nose smelled "scoop" and off he went to the head of the queue wearing his home-made, but authoritative-looking, "Press" hat. His eyes soon alighted on the cause of the queue :

The potentially happier shoppers were soon disappointed however to learn that Netta was in fact off the island at that point in time and that some "wit" had, on spying Netta's tomato plant, no doubt decided to play a little trick on the dope-buying public.

And sure enough when Netta returned home the following day, she was able to confirm the hoax. She does however have a good idea of the identity of the perpetrator, so we feel that with Netta's keen eye for justice, there may yet be some mileage left in this story...

CAPTION COMPETITION

Those Readers who retain a modicum of memory cells will recall that our caption photograph from Issue 120 was one of our winner of Issue 119's competition, Caitlin McNeill. Just what she was getting up to with her brother Liam was sufficiently vague as to draw a bumper postbag of suitable, and in some cases, unsuitable, suggestions from our Readers.

But the winner this time round is our most consistent, and our most successful, entrant, Mark Hemmings. In this instance, Mark tickled our panel of judges' fancy with the following :

So, congratulations to Mark - yet again!

Unfortunately, Mark was unable to get a photograph to us in time for it to be used as the basis for this Issue's competition. A quick trawl through our archives did however yield a nice wee snap taken after a very recent Friday night ferry :

Entries as usual to : editorcorncrake@yahoo.co.uk ; by telephone : 01951 200336 ; or by post to : A.N.Other, The Corncrake Caption Competition (Issue 121), c/o The Editorial Suite, The Corncrake, Corncrake Towers, Scalasaig, Isle of Colonsay, Argyll, PA61 7YW, Scotland. Calls will of course be charged at premium rates.

WHAT'S ON IN COLONSAY

Please note that there is also a Notice Board on the Homepage; anyone wishing to publicise any event or attraction is invited to send details to the Editor.

TOPICAL LETTERS

For the convenience of our Readers, letters addressed to The Corncrake appear in two sections. Anything to do with current events appears here, and any letters concerned with historical research etc. appear under "Genealogical Letters" at the start of the REGULARS section of The Corncrake.

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Dear Editor,

My family and I have enjoyed reading your publication for several years now. The interesting descriptions of life on your island along with our suspicions that we have genealogical roots there inspired us to visit you this spring. The stay greatly exceeded our expectations, and our only disappointment was that it was much too short. The weather was excellent, the scenery breathtaking, and the people warm and friendly.

We were given a magnificent tour of the island by one Angus MacPhee, and after learning that he had participated in the McDuffie DNA project, we decided to give it a try also. To our great honor the results indicate that we have a common ancestor with our most worthy guide and friend, or should I say cousin.

To review the technical results of this test you may refer to the entry by Rod McDuff in the genealogical letters section of the August 1, 2005 edition of The Corncrake. However, in order to supply your readers with indisputable evidence of the relationship, I have included a photograph of myself and my two sons taken with Angus, the Macphee of MacPhees himself, and I am sure that you will agree with me that the family resemblance is indisputable :

Sincerely Yours,

Charles H. McDuffie
Sautee, GA, USA.

(Er, yes... Which one's Angus then? - Ed.).

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Dear Editor,

Firstly, many thanks for providing a flavour of Colonsay for those of us who sadly cannot enjoy the island on a regular basis. Only two holidays for my wife and I to the island in the last 13 years is not enough!
Maybe next spring with two young children !?!

Re. The songs of.....
On our first visit in 1992 I picked up two music tapes by Donald MacNeill and still consider them amoung my favourite bits of music - good stuff ! I was sad to hear of his passing when we visited a second time in 1998.

Would "The Corncrake" consider a mini-"biog" of the man ? Maybe just a bit of other info following on from the poem in issue 120...? (Very nice, by the way - found myself "hearing" Donald singing the words - spooky !!) Are the recording still available ?

Kind regards,
Mark Greening
Bugbrooke, Northamptonshire

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Dear Editor,

I am a member of a genealogy list dedicated to researching McAfee/McFie ancestors. One list member posted this query:

"About a year ago, my niece and nephew, both in their 20's, visited Edinburgh, Scotland. They had a great time but both were pretty upset that, when they mentioned that their mother was a McAfee, one shop owner turned her back to them and a few days later, a different shopkeeper told them "We don't say that name here".

Can you shed any light on why the McFie/McAfee name would be treated in this manner?

Thank you,
Gail Steckel
gail@gregsteckel.com
McAfee/McFie descendant in the US.

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Dear Editor,

The reason why Gail Steckel's MacAfee friends were so rudely treated in Edinburgh is that in many parts of Scotland, the name MacPhee or MacAfee is identified with the tinker community, who because of their itinerant lifestyle are regarded in much the same way as "untouchables" in other parts of the world. Indeed in Caithness, where I once dabbled in politics, I was advised not to mention the fact that my great-grandmother was a MacPhee (something that had always been a source of pride to me) because "a MacPhee" in that remote corner of the country literally means a tinker. A friend in Edinburgh whose maiden name is McPhee confirms that she had a similar experience when she moved to live in Thurso.

It is certainly true that a large proportion of the travelling community has the surname MacPhee. The reason usually given is that following the killing of the last MacPhee chief (at Balerominmore on the orders of Colkitto, if you believe that particular version of the story) the clan was scattered and many clansfolk became impoverished and had to make a living as best they could. This ignores the fact that there were almost certainly large numbers of MacPhees (various spellings) already living on the mainland and other islands at that time, and that a significant number of MacPhees remained on Colonsay and have descendants living here to this day.

It is more likely, in my opinion, that one branch of the clan moved in the early Middle Ages to Colonsay, where they became particularly prosperous and influential, holding the hereditary post of Record-keepers to the Lords of the Isles. Other branches of the family may have prospered less well on the mainland, ending up as travellers. In other words, although Colonsay is regarded as the traditional home of the Clan Macfie (to use the officially sanctioned spelling), the majority of MacPhees/Macfies/McDuffies etc. in the world today probably have no direct ancestral connection with Colonsay. None of which will prevent them flocking to Colonsay in September to re-live the dream, and we shall of course welcome them with open arms.

Le deagh dhurachd,

Alastair M. Scouller
Hon. Treasurer, Clan Macfie Society
Glassard.

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Dear Editor,

I wonder just how many McAfees have ever lived on Colonsay. There are few in Scottish records, but they abound in Ireland.

This name is accepted by Clan Macfie, but George Black in his "Surnames of Scotland" claims it stems from MacCaffie which had as variants Cathie and MacHaffie, which come from Mac Gille Chathbhaidh "son of the servant of Saint Cathbad" with no connection whatsoever with the root of MacDuffie which is Dubhthaigh from Saint Dubthaigh and goes back to St. Patrick and St. Bridget, and not Dubsidhe which is "Dark man of the Fairy Mound".- hardly the name for a Holy Man on Iona. I will accept that there were two Saint Cathbad's but from which one does the name come?

I have always understood MacAfee to be a variant of MacHaffie or Mahaffey (variant MacGuffie), and is the Irish version of "son of Haffie", a name that was prevalent in Ayrshire, and moved to Ireland in the Plantations. Even McFee is suspect as there is an Irish name Fee from Fiachrh. Haffie and Guffie are also separate groups to Dubthaigh.

The name Macfie could be from MacDuffie - MacCaffie or from Fee. McPhee has been in that form in Lochaber for centuries, and may even be a different group to MacDuffie, yet all are bracketed together, probably to play "the numbers game" . When Clan MacDuffie became a "broken Clan" many became very unpopular "Tinkers" but were they Scottish or Irish Tinkers named MacAfee, the reason the Clan has only two doubtful Septs - MacHaffie and MacGuffie, and is a Sept to no other Clan. Most other accepted Clan names are doubtful but are accepted because of phonetic overtones.

Just to keep you thinking, I do not believe that Malcolm MacDuffie, the last Clan Chief lived on Colonsay at the same time as Coll Kitto, but lived with his family in Islay from 1615, when they were seen leaving Colonsay for Islay. He and the others were killed on the beach when they landed on Colonsay from Islay, and not at that upside-down stone, a story that has a touch of Hollywood imagination.

Clan Macfie does us no service in not having a full investigation.

Sincerely,

David Morgan.

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THE MAGAZINE SECTION

Instructions are supplied, but two hints may help:
1. When using phrases, enclose them in quotation marks. For example, [lifting stone] will get you every instance of [lifting] or [stone] but ["lifting stone"] will get you what you want.
2. When you see the results, they may seem unlikely. This is because many documents (e.g. each issue of The Corncrake) are in reality just one single "page", covering many unrelated topics. No problem! Open the page, then go to the "Find (on this page)" option at the top of your screen, on a drop-down menu presented by the second button from the left. Type in the word you seek and hey-presto, it is highlighted for you. Note that you must give the page time to load (an issue of The Corncrake takes up to a minute), also that there may be more than one example on the page, so use the "Find (on this page)" function again to check that you have not missed anything.