END OF SEASON SAIL

Our lead story last Issue concerned a week or so of CalMac apparently running the scheduled ferry timetable to suit themselves (or at least the Captain of the "Lord of the Isles" appearing to do so during the period in question). This of course led to a storm of protest from islanders and visitors alike. Whilst openly acknowledging the problem, the CalMac response read as follows : "It is an internal matter that is being investigated. In the meantime, we will be fulfilling our obligation to the timetable as published."

Well, the weather Gods were kind enough to allow CalMac to readily fulfill its obligations without further alienation of its customers, and the last sailing of the Summer timetable took place uneventfully on Friday 21st October. But at time of writing, there is no word of an outcome of the Company's internal investigation. So hopefully (surely!) by the time of our next Issue, word of same will be available to allow The Corncrake to keep Readers up to date.

And so the Winter timetable of 3 sailings per week commenced on Monday 24th October when the "Isle of Mull" returned to Scalasaig :

The advent of the Winter timetable has of course many and varied effects upon life on the island; on the plus side for example, we can now enjoy the Sunday papers on a Monday rather than on a Tuesday. On the downside, our refuse collection service goes from weekly to fortnightly. The major downside however is of course the loss to Oban of our secondary schoolchildren, and there were many tears of parting as the ferry sailed off, knowing that the children would not be able to return home to the bosom of their families until Friday 25th November.

Yes, there is no doubt that this aspect of the ferry schedules is a real deterrent to people with young families coming to settle on Colonsay.

SAIL OF THE CENTURY

We may be about to head into November, but the weather has been relatively kind of late, with some surprising warmth still to be felt from the sun. In fact, the warmest UK October temperature since 1888 (21.2C, or 70.1F) was recorded at Aultbea on Loch Ewe on the 27th of October. We're not sure what the temperature was on Colonsay that day, but the Shop allegedly ran out of sun tan lotion...

And such a day it was on Saturday the 22nd, resulting in the Corncrake Photographic Desk being dispatched to capture for Readers the changing of the seasons, as the island casts off its bright summer mantle and dons a gown of golden brown, a gown that can sparkle like fire in the autumnal sun :

 

 

There is of course the old story about the changeability of the Scottish climate, in which a visiting American complains about the weather, only for Old Dugie to retort "well, if you don't like our weather, just wait ten minutes..."

Except, on the 22nd, the weather did the reverse trick, for just as darkness was about to fall after a glorious day, the heavens opened. And we mean OPENED!

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, the rain came down in torrents. This was not so much a cloud burst as a cloud explosion. And then, about an hour later, almost as suddenly as it started, it stopped - we can only assume that the heavens just simply ran out of rain.

By this time however, the channels and drains of the island exhibited an inability to cope with a flash-flood and the island roads became impassable for a time in places. Motorists attempting to climb the Hotel Brae, for example, were met at the telephone kiosk with a river rather than a road, as a torrent of water cascaded down the brae, up to 12" deep.

Smiddy Cottage became a virtual island, the water cascading down the hill from Squint Street soon meeting up with the torrential spate of the burn, but only after it had passed through the back door of Smiddy Cottage and out through the front. And over at Hall Cottage, Will and Jodie had a similar "in-the-back-door-and-out-the-front" experience.

And what about the poor individuals trapped in the Bar by the floodwater? Spare a thought for the ordeal that they had to endure. And even worse, there were those attempting to get IN to the Bar, and if you didn't have a boat and couldn't swim, prayer was the only option :

 

Apparently our Photographic Desk arrived on the scene just too late to catch an impromptu swimming competition, Wee Davy's crawl not proving good enough against Angus's even more practised breast stroke, and Davy had to buy the drinks, although on this occasion he was more than able to provide his own water for his wee Whyte and Mackay...

As is the way with most flash-floods however, an hour later and the water had abated sufficiently to allow some semblence of normality to return. Jill even took the damage in Smiddy Cottage in her stride - "it's only laminate flooring - if it needs to come up, it needs to come up..." Good for her.

"I NAME THIS STRIP..."

The recent spate of letters concerning the planned airstrip and air service for Colonsay has spawned, this being Colonsay, a simultaneous and continuing vein of humour. In our last three issues, the focus of the humour has been concentrated on the airstrip's possible effect on the Machrins golf course. Now however, the funny-bone focus moves to the "airport" itself.

And the progenitor of the change of focus? None other than life-time Colonsay visitor Malcolm Spaven. When we say "life-time" visitor, we must apologise to Malcolm for under-stating his position; for Malcolm first came to Colonsay, courtesy of his mother, three months before he was born! And the year that this took place was 1955, so, thanks to the trusty Corncrake abacus, we reckon that Malcolm is now around 50 years of age.

We are pleased with the answer that the abacus provided, and pleased for Malcolm too, for co-incidently he recently celebrated a birthday of that very vintage. So where, dear Reader, do we think that Malcolm would go to celebrate such an auspicious occasion? Colonsay of course!

Malcolm however realised a long-held ambition in the process. A man with a pilot's licence for some ten years, he at last had the opportunity to land a plane on the airstrip, and it was an opportunity that he grabbed with both hands (this apparently being the minimum number required to land a plane on Colonsay).

Malcolm was particularly keen to achieve his ambition at this time, before, as he said, the airstrip "gets turned into Colonsay International Airport." Malcolm in fact went further and suggested that it would be appropriate for islanders, denied a say in whether or not they wanted it in the first place, to run a competition to re-name it. As he said, "we already have Liverpool John Lennon and Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield, so why not Colonsay Clan Macphee, or perhaps Corncrake International?

So, come on Readers, we need a list of nominations for the islanders to vote on...

SAILING IN THE SKIES

Readers who have been paying attention may have noticed that your Editor is becoming particularly adept at getting people to write The Corncrake for him. And so it's over to Malcolm Spaven again...

Our correspondent Mr Spaven (honestly, we've never even met the guy...) was also kind enough to send The Corncrake a photo or three of his birthday week-end bash. The first of these was sufficiently poignant that we reproduce it here, unretouched, and with his original caption :

After that, our (unpaid) correspondent takes to the skies, and provided us with a wonderful shot, revealing our islands from the air (calm down, Alex, we know this bit's boring for you...). Here we see, in the bottom of the picture, the southern end of Tràigh an Eacail (Cable Bay), the panorama spreading out to the south-east of Colonsay, the island of Oransay in its entirity and, in the distance, Eilean nan Ròn :

A truly spectacular shot, I think we would all agree. (The Corncrake does try hard, you know, to bring its Readership nothing but the best...)

Malcolm's final shot is one of the outline of the whale laid out in stones on the raised beaches just west of the Balnahard road, above Port Sgibinis. The hardy souls amongst us, and visitors too, who trek their way to Balnahard and back, do stare at the stone whale in awe as they pass (apart from its inherent artistry, it does measure some 525 feet in length), but there is no doubt that the whale comes in to its own when viewed from the air :

The stone whale, the brainchild of conceptual artist Julian Meredith, was completed, in outline, some 4 years ago, close to the site of a beached whale burial ground of approx a century ago. The idea, we believe, is that people passing (so that limits numbers!) would add stones within the outlined body of the whale, and, as can be seen from the photograph, this certainly happens, just as climbers would add a stone to a cairn.

More on this artistic whale, and its inspiration, in a later Issue.

TO THE WOODS...

Every work-day morning, local residents Jim McLoughlin and Sidney Bowman are to be seen heading off together to the woods. And, as night follows day, come the end of the working day, Jim and Sid suddenly re-appear. No questions are ever asked about this apparently strange but regular behaviour for it is simply that Jim and Sid are employed on the project to eradicate the major rhododendron "ponticum", the rapacious growth of which apparently threatens much of the island's native growth and even its bio-diversity.

This project has been running for some two years now, and at one time even employed a third person, George Leppard, but George has of course taken "early retirement" to take over Archie's job of looking after the island's roads. The cutting down of a few bushes can't be taking up all this labour, thought your Editor, and with salivatory dreams of finding an illicit still or two, he decided to investigate further. And so one morning bright and early, (long before Corncrake Towers usually creaks into life), he followed Jim and Sid to the woods...

And what met his eyes there almost beggars belief. The sheer scale of the task that Jim and Sid face on a daily basis can only be described as awesome; it's just like "The Day of the Triffids", but it is the rhodies and not triffids that are taking over civilization and strangling eveything in their path. Apart from the native flowers, plants and shrubs, which one might expect to be victims, the voracious ponticum devours everything, even the native trees that stand in its way. Our first photograph shows the death that ponticum has brought to some trees in its path, whilst the photograph on the right shows where the ponticum's grasping tentacles have been severed by Jim and Sid before strangling the lifeblood from yet another tree :

 

The above photographs do so little justice to the scale and horror of the problem that we thought that a "before and after" shot might help you, dear Reader, to appreciate that Jim and Sid have a mammoth task on their hands. And so, a few days later, we returned to take a second photograph of where your Editor had to crawl through only a few days earlier to reach the "Old Laird's Viewpoint" :

 

Yes, the photograph on the right is taken from exactly the same spot from where the one on the left was taken some eight days before. And instead of a crawl through to the ancient bench at the viewpoint, a simple stroll now reveals the view over to Kiloran Bay :

Your Editor is not convinced however that these few words and photographs even begin to convey the enormity of the ponticum problem; so if you feel that you'd like to see the reality for yourself, get over to the woodlands behind Colonsay House, and leave the footpath opposite the front of Avenue Cottage.

Finally, here is a snap of Jim about to start work at the edge of where he and Sid have so far managed to eventually reach; we hope to return for an "after" shot, but perhaps not quite so early in the morning next time...

AM BHEIL GAELIC AGAIBH?

Agus, a-nis, beagan Gaelic.

Well, that just about exhausted your Editor's rich Gaelic seam, so what is this piece all about?

Well, I'll tell you. It's about the opportunity to begin to learn the "language of the Garden of Eden", or if you already have some Gaelic language skills, the opportunity to brush them up a bit. For, The Corncrake has heard from Islay-based Gaelic tutor, Mairead Mackechnie, (who visited Colonsay earlier this year), and Mairead was able to give details of the courses that they hope to offer this Winter at Ionad Chaluim Chille Ìle, near Bowmore. And without further ado, here they are :

16 January to 27 January 2006 - Intermediate

6 February to 17 February 2006 - Upper Intermediate/Advanced

27 February to 3 March 2006 - Beginners

Course fees are £100 per week, and Individual Learning Accounts can be accepted. There is a £30 discount on all courses for Islay and Jura residents, or for under 18s and senior citizens.

Emphasis will be on speaking, and some instruction will be delivered through the medium of Gaelic.

For further information or enrolment please contact Mairead. Enquiries are welcome at the above address, or by phone or fax on 01496 810818, or by email on info@iccile.co.uk

It may be possible to arrange daytime childcare for pre-school children within the unit's Gaelic-medium childcare facility. Pre-booking is essential.

If there is sufficient demand for additional or alternative courses, every effort will be made to accommodate same as, for example, should a number of Colonsay residents wish to participate as a group.

Siuthad!!

A REMARKABLE LADY

Rusk's Cemetery, in Bruce County, Ontario, Canada is a somewhat unique graveyard. For, all of the 351 people buried there either came from Colonsay, married someone who came from Colonsay or was a Baptist.

Until a few years ago, this little rural cemetery, which is oficially classified as "inactive", was a scene of neglect and decay. That is, until local resident Mary Mackay decided to do something about it, and set about clearing away brush, building a new fence, repairing stones and putting new bases under the stones. As if that wasn't enough, to raise the funds necessary for this work, Mary began to write a series of books.

Researching the families buried there, Mary has now written six books telling in narrative form about the lives of these people. Each story starts in Colonsay and chronicles the experiences of these Colbhasachs starting life in a new country. The books are available from Colonsay Bookshop (tel 01951 200232) or direct from Mary herself (jms.mackay@bmts.com).

A remarkable story and indeed a remarkable lady. Mary wrote to The Corncrake recently (see Letters section in our last Issue) to advise that her five-year project is now complete. She has now kindly forwarded some photographs of the cemetery as it now looks :

Yes, we can only agree with Mary that it now looks "beautiful". And of course a living testament to a remarkable individual. Below, we see Mary standing at the entrance to the cemetery, and to the right of that, Mary kneeling at the restored gravestone of one Lachlin McNeill. Mary tells us that Lachlin was a lay preacher of the Baptist Church on Colonsay and that he and his three sons, all lay preachers, emigrated in 1852. He died in 1854.

 

THE HUMOURS OF KILORAN

The Corncrake is indebted to regular Reader Ruari Cumming, of "Hebridean Island Images" fame, for the following contribution. (And if you want to see some really classy photographs of Colonsay and Oransay, and other Hebridean islands, visit Ruari's website at : http://www.Hebridean-Island-Images.com

Anyway, back to the point, here is what Ruari was good enough to share with us :

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas!!


Excellent, Ruari, many thanks for sharing that with us. Which, in turn, leads us to ask : is there any other Reader with something that they might wish to share with us all?

MY COLONSAY PHOTOGRAPH

The lure of fame and adulation has been spurned by Corncrake readers, with not a single person, since our last Issue, wishing to share a snap with a wider world.

Perhaps with the contributions to date we have simply set the standard too high and intimidated potential contributors? It is not however photographic excellence that we seek; rather something with that "je ne sais quoi" or simply something that brings pleasure to you and therefore may bring enjoyment to others who appreciate these islands. So, go on, e.mail or post us a snap today!

Fortuitously, we do have a small reservoir of Readers' photographs to draw upon, and we are indebted to long-term visitor Mary Attree, (alias Mary Frame), for this rather unusual and ingenious snap of a setting sun at Port Mór :

Many thanks for that, Mary.

And just think - it could be YOUR photograph adorning this feature next time round...

NATURE NOTES

Our "Nature Notes" column this Issue moves away from its mainstay of the flora and fauna of Colonsay and Oransay to embrace the celestial canopy overhead - yes, in this issue we turn our attention skywards to ... clouds.

But of course we do not need to lift our heads far; for when you look around in the Hebrides, one quarter of what you see is land, the rest is sky. Our wide, low horizons give undisturbed views over miles of land and sea, with amazing sunsets and sunrises - psychedelic skies!

For those of us whose knowledge and awareness of clouds is restricted to the one that "drifts on high, o'er vales and hills", our gratitude goes to regular Corncrake contributor Julia Page for expanding our cloudscape horizons. For Julia, obviously something of an expert in these matters, has contributed the following for our enjoymant and edification :

"Way above the swaying marram grass and higher still than the trilling larks which ascend from it is the magical world of clouds, nowhere better represented than over the Isle of Colonsay. With its uninterrupted views, wide horizon and very own microclimate, the island is ideally situated to provide enthralling and ever-changing sky-scapes of drama and intrigue, beauty and grandeur, storm then calm.

The ever present wind sculpts, shuffles and moulds the big, white fluffies into fantastical streaks, blobs and swirls of every shade, variety and size. It is quite fascinating to note just how often these formations mimic or mirror their geological counterparts on terra firma - see, for example, whale cloud and whale rock - (looking towards Garbh Chladach and An Rubha) :

.

During our week on the island in May 2000, we experienced a perfect line of glaciated anvil clouds extending all the way up the western horizon beyond Coll and Tiree. Although giving the impression of speed, these clouds stayed put for several days, ensuring our best ever week of unbroken sunshine."

 

Readers will be pleased to learn that Julia's illuminating tale of the "Isle of Sky" does not end here; the preponderance of photographs in this Issue means that the rest of Julia's article will appear, with accompanying photographs, in our very next Issue, tentatively scheduled (not our favourite word) for 16th November.

POETRY CORNER

Our regular Reader(s) will recall thay we have in the past delved into Frances Murray's insightful 1887 book on Colonsay and Oronsay, "Summer in the Hebrides", for our poetic pleasure. And, without a hint of embarassment, we do so again.

But the lines selected do not come from Mrs Murray's pen; rather, as in Issue 117, they come from the pen of Phemie, a servant in the Murray household, and whose poetic lines which featured in that particular Issue were written about Colonsay.

This time we again return to Phemie's writings, and this time, her subject matter is not Colonsay, but Oronsay (sorry Flora, just using the spelling Phemie used...) :

If you have enjoyed our poetic excerpts from "Summer in the Hebrides", you may be pleased to learn that the book was reprinted in recent years by House of Lochar. Copies (a real snip at £19.95 given that originals are as scarce as hobby-horse droppings and could easily set you back £100+) are on sale at the Bookshop (telephone 01951 200232) - see "What's On" for opening times and contact details. Happy reading!

NOW WHERE COULD THAT BE?

And so we arrive at our regular feature that involves identifying a location on Colonsay or Oransay from a (frequently cunningly cropped) photograph.

Alas, our cunning cropping was insufficient in our last Issue to present Readers with a puzzle to mull over. The item and its location were identified within minutes of appearing on Readers' screens, and not a single person was unable to advise The Corncrake that the unusual pattern shown in our photograph was in fact the quite unique roof of the recent extension to the rear of the Shop :

 

And so the entire Corncrake team were put under pain of alcohol rationing unless we could provide something more challenging for our Readers.

Human motivation is a strange beast; in some instances, the carrot prevails, whilst on other occasions, the stick is found to be the more effective motivational tool. And, for some reason or other, in this particular instance the latter did the trick; although it must be said that we had to rely on the extended family that the Corncrake team has become, to provide us with the following "Where" photograph for this Issue :

So, just where on the islands of Colonsay or Oransay (note the spelling!) would you be if you could see the rock formation (no cropping here!) shown above?

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 not on a lead may be shot.

LOOK BACK IN ALBUM

Before we focus our attention on our last "Look Back" photograph, Readers should be aware that we have received a further letter (see Letters section) in connection with our "Look Back" photograph from Issue 123. In this instance, Norman Hall-Gardiner responds to a previous letter concerning this photograph received by The Corncrake from his brother, Cameron. If you wish to try to guage which of the brothers is correct about the photograph, feel free to look at same again through our Archive facility. There again, you may just want to go out and get a life...

And so, in search of sanity, we turn our attention to our "Look Back" photograph from our previous Issue. So, dear Regular Reader, were you able to identify all of our happy picnickers?

If not, or if you only seek confirmation that your memory is still in good shape, there is good news; for we are about to reveal the identities of all those partaking of the Beach Bacchanalia. And here they are :

Left to Right : Katy "Coll", Calum Kennedy, Anne King, Hugh Brown, Morna King, Ivor Brown, Kirsty Brown, Betty King, Niall Brown, Morag Titterton, Charlie Titterton, and last but not least, Jasper Brown.

And the year? Well, after much leisurely debate in the Post Office (Keith is currently away), a date of circa 1960-61 was finally hoisted up the flagpole and saluted.

And finally, many thanks to Netta for originally taking, and then sharing, the photograph with us.


Moving inexorably on, our next logical point of arrival would be the "Look Back" photograph for this particular Issue. And indeed, that is exactly where we arrive.

There is however one salient change to the usual format insofar as we cannot at this stage reveal the identity of the person kind enough to provide the photograph. This is because the person concerned is one of only four people in the photograph in question, and the ever-considerate Corncrake staff do not wish to deprive Readers of 25% of the pleasure of remembering names and faces and then putting the right names to the right faces (yes, in theory that's what this feature is all about...).

So, with 100% of those pictured still to be identified, here is the blast from the past :

So, who are the four trophy winners, for what did they receive the silverware and, perhaps most difficult of all, what year was it?

Better than Sudoku this!!

SNIPPETS

And so, at 2am on the morning of Sunday 30th October, the island clocks were put back one hour, and British Summer Time came to an end for another year. Reflecting this, the businesses on the island, including the Hotel, the Shop, the Pantry and the Bookshop, all amended their opening hours. And, of course, the night comes falling from the sky an hour earlier and the island again assumes a more gentle rhythm, the "visitor season" all but over.

There was the immediate short-term benefit of course of an extra hour in bed, and this proved very welcome indeed for those revellers who participated in a Halloween Party (which also acted as a farewell party for Hotel staff Annabel and Jason) in The Colonsay on the Saturday night. As the chidren of the island were to have their own Halloween party in the Hall just as we went to press on the evening of the 31st (and therefore no photographs of the event for this Issue - sorry!), the Saturday night bash was strictly for the grown-ups. And just as well; would you like your children to be served by either of these two :

It was in the wee sma' hours of the morning of Thursday 20th that the island, for the umpteenth time this year, suddenly found itself without electricity. Had it not been for the lack of light at night, the island would have been plunged into darkness.

When daylight broke, there was still no power and so, throughout the island, there was much munching of cold cornflakes. And then, around lunchtime, a squad of highly-trained engineers flew in from Inverness, and confidence of a cooked dinner suddenly grew. Alas, it was not to be, and the evening menu for many consisted of 'cauld kail' or, for those on a diet, 'cauld kail Lite'.

Just when we had all given up hope, and hypothermia was setting in, power was restored, at least temporarily. For the cause of the out-tage had been found (a faulty transformer behind the new Dunoran houses), but the requisite part was unavailable (the Shop was apparently clean out of transformers of sufficient voltage), and so a temporary fix was effected.

This of course necessitated a further out-tage when the new transformer arrived on the Saturday, a powercut that some islanders had been notified of but for most was a sudden and unwelcome surprise. A quick call to SSE (or whatever they're called this week) revealed that it was a planned out-tage and that if each and every islander had phoned their Helpline re the first out-tage, then every islander would have been personally notified of the second.

Well, at least we now know for the next time just how the system works...

In a recent Corncrake, we made a plea for the return of any Silverware which any Reader might have inadvertently locked in their trophy cabinet rather than returning it after their 12 month tenure of same expired.

This prompted one concerned Reader (whose identity must remain shrouded in secrecy - see "Look Back" above) to forward a photograph of four such trophies, and as we speak, the organising committees of the various organisations concerned are poring over the photograph to determine if the pictured trophies are still around. The Corncrake will of course bring you any breaking news...

Meanwhile, the concerned Reader who sent the photograph advised that in the past, winners who got to hold a trophy for a year also received a permanent momento of their success. Mr X (for it is he) writes : "I also received a medal to keep, and of course still wear it with pride on all ceremonial occasions".

More to follow next Issue...

And now some breaking news from the Uragaig offices of The Corncrake.

Our Uragaig correspondent, a Mr Walter Williams, has been on the wire to advise of a most unusual sighting, unusual that is for Colonsay in general and Uragaig in particular.

Mr Williams reports that he and wife Ina were driving up the Uragaig road just the other day when what should he see sitting on the road in front of him but an owl! Mr Williams stopped the car and watched the bird for a minute or two, before it flew off. He hadn't gone far however when he again came across the owl sitting on the roadside, and he was able to repeat the bird-watching exercise. And in case we are inclined to jump to the conclusion that Mr Williams has fallen "off the wagon", the sighting was confirmed by Ina, always the more reliable witness of the two...

Mr Williams advises us that he has seen an owl on Colonsay only once previously, at Pondside, but that was some 30 or more years ago. So, has any other Reader seen this particular bird, or indeed ever seen an owl on the island? And, if you do see this particular owl, please endeavour to take a photograph of same; since Mr Williams' revelation, the Corncrake Photographic Desk has been on constant "owl watch", but has so far failed in their quest. Perhaps they just don't give a hoot...

That is perhaps, in retrospect, a trifle unfair; for, in their quest for a snap of the elusive owl, they did manage to capture a shot of six swans-a-swimming on the new loch, or Turraman Loch, to give it its Sunday name (it is of course universally called the "new" loch because it has only been there for a mere hundred or so years) :

Ach, the next thing you know your Editor will be writing the "Nature Notes" column all by himself...

Moving swiftly along, it is at this juncture that we can provide an update on two ongoing Corncrake mysteries.

Firstly, we have of course the pair of boots which turned up at Georgina's Poolside Gallery back in August :

And on this particular little mystery, The Corncrake can exclusively reveal that no one has yet claimed ownership of the boots. Perhaps next Issue...

And so to our second little Colonsay mystery; just why is the Seaman's Mission in Liverpool based in a building by the name of "Colonsay House"? The Corncrake can reveal that since our last Issue, two telephone calls have been received in this regard, and at time of writing, two separate lines of enquiry, at the highest level, are currently under way.

Yes, our next Issue threatens to be un-put-down-able...

In our last Issue, we carried a photograph taken earlier this year of the telephone kiosk at Carsaig on Mull, the one used in the film 'I Know Where I'm Going'. Och, it was such a grand film, why don't we just show you the phone box again :

The sight of the telephone kiosk elicited a communication (see Letters section) from Colin Troup, whose father’s cousin Neil MacNeill was apparently the voice of Kiloran in the film (who can ever forget "Kiloran calling, Kiloran calling!"?).

It has to be admitted that reading this sent a tingle of excitement up the Editorial spine. It was then, however, that Colin dropped his bombshell - he advised that he had once read a book which stated, quite authoritatively, that the stars (Roger Livesey and Wendy Hiller) never came within 300 miles of the Hebrides in the making of the film! Jings, crivvens and help ma boab! Is nothing sacred? Another illusion shattered!

Colin continued that this being the case, "the telephone box in the film is just a remarkably faithful studio mock-up of the real thing".

Can all this really be true? Can any Reader out there throw any light on this? This is almost sacrilege!

CAPTION COMPETITION

And so, as we journey through the hills and dales of Issue 126, we come to that roadside attraction that is our regular Caption Competition.

Our caption competition photograph from Issue 125 again had Readers exercising their comic genius, and a bumper postbag ensued. What could be better, we thought, than ask the gentleman who adorned the photograph to be the sole arbiter of the entries this time round. And he acceded to this request and duly assumed the onerous task, although of course he was not privy to the names of any of the entrants.

At the end of this process, the winning entry was selected, and the winner is (yet again!), our most prolific winner, Mark Hemmings. Mark demonstrated that his humour is a sad loss to the island community, for he does seem to have an uncanny knack of "hitting the spot". And here is his winning entry (thanks to all antrants - keep trying - we must stop this man!) :

Entries as usual to : editorcorncrake@yahoo.co.uk ; by telephone : 01951 200336 ; or by post to : A.N.Other, The Corncrake Caption Competition (Issue 126), c/o The Editorial Suite, The Corncrake, Corncrake Towers, Scalasaig, Isle of Colonsay, Argyll, PA61 7YW, Scotland. Calls may be monitored for quality control purposes.

WHAT'S ON IN COLONSAY

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THE LADY OF THE CORRAN - Hester McNeill

Submitted by Mary MacKay

Hester Law Howard McNeill was three times a McNeill. She was born a McNeill, the daughter of Sir Forbes McNeill and his wife Beatrice. Sir Forbes McNeill (1801-1845) was the fifth of six sons of John McNeill, Laird of Colonsay, and his wife Hester, whose maiden name was also McNeill.

In 1853 Hester married her first cousin, Lieutenant John McNeill, son of Malcolm McNeill who was the fourth son of 'The Old Laird'. John McNeill was a Lieutenant in the Madras army and died four years after their marriage, leaving Hester a wealthy widow with a young son, John.

In 1872, at almost forty-two years of age, Hester married another cousin, Alexander McNeill, the son of Louisa McNeill, a daughter of 'The Old Laird". Alexander's father was Malcolm McNeill of Larne, County Antrim, Ireland.

Almost immediately after their marriage, Hester and Alexander emigrated to Ontario to fulfill a family obligation. Earlier that year, their almost eighty-year-old bachelor uncle, Duncan McNeill, had purchased land in Elderslie Township, Bruce County, Ontario and sent his nephew, John McNeill, out to oversee it. John, a cousin of both Hester and Alexander, was the son of Archibald McNeill, the sixth son of 'The Old Laird.' Within a year of his arrival, John was killed when a load of logs tipped and pinned him underneath. He was buried in Rusk's Cemetery, Elderslie Township, Bruce County, Ontario under a very impressive stone.

Alexander and Hester emigrated to Canada to take over the farm. Alexander also purchased land farther north and built a huge stone mansion, fashioned after his home in Ireland, and also named it "The "Corran." He served as Member of Parliament for North Bruce for twenty years and entertained lavishly in his beautiful home overlooking the clear blue waters of Georgian Bay.

Hester lived for only nine years to enjoy her home, but Alexander and their only child, Malcolm, lived in the Corran for the rest of their days. Malcolm never married, so when he died it passed into the hands of their housekeeper and was sold.

This is a quick review of the lives of Hester Law Howard McNeill and her husband Alexander McNeill. Anyone who has information to share or questions should contact
Mary MacKay
jms.mackay@bmts.com

Mary has also forwarded a photograph of Hester's gravestone in Edgehill Cemetery, Wiarton, Ontario :

The inscription reads:
Sacred to the memory of Hester Law Howard McNeill the beloved wife of Alexander McNeill of the Corran Wiarton who died 23 Aug 1890 aged 59. And to the memory of Elizabeth Snell who rests beside her and who was for 28 year her faithful and devoted friend.

Alexander McNeill 1842 - 1932

Malcolm M. McNeill 1874 - 1956

An unabridged version of the above story is available from the Editor. Our grateful thanks again to Mary.

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