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- I am just in from the meeting of the school Literary Society. They had a Gaelic debate: “Has emigration been beneficial to the Highlands?” They went into it with great vim and seemed to enjoy it greatly. Several times it resolved itself into little duels in which there seemed to be excellent bits which brought down the house, and retort would follow retort to everybody’s delight… The affirmative won by 35 votes to 14; some did not vote… Stornoway, 28th Feb. 1917
- There have been some fine catches of herring this last week, one day 5000 crans. The Minch has been getting “swept” and the mail-boat is running regularly. Oatmeal scarce; we have had to fall back temporarily on Quaker oats… Stornoway 22nd Feb 1917
- This week’s letter highlights a difficult truth which is very pertinent, given that it is Black History Month. In the course of transcribing the letters we occasionally encounter racist language which is extremely offensive and considered abhorrent today. The fact that a highly educated woman like Mrs Gibson would use this particularly horrible word in such a context reflects the racist ideas prevalent in Britain at this time. We thought carefully about whether to publish this letter on the blog, but we feel it is important not to cover up the past and that we should bring it out into the open, as the attitudes of people in the past are an important part of the historical record. In another sentence of the letter there is a reference to insanity in a particular family. We have not revealed the family’s identity in case this causes distress to any descendants.
- I had letters this week from Wm. B. Macdonald, who is with a battery in France and has had one or two narrow escapes, from J. W. Matheson, in Salonika, and from Alick Thomson, in the training camp at Gailes. He is enjoying the change from the trench-mud. Did I mention that Simon Mackenzie, who has been on a minesweeper off the west coast of Ireland, is now home, discharged on account of his health?… Stornoway, 15th Feb. 1917
- He told us of a mule who had a spite against a man and waited patiently for an opportunity to pay him out [get revenge]. One day the man was grooming the third mule from his enemy. The watchful one saw his chance and laid the man out with a kick delivered below the bellies of the two intervening mules. What do you think of that? E. says they never forget anybody who has beaten them…Stornoway, 9th Feb. 1917
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Tag Archives: Barra
Hugging Archives and Christmas
Hugging Archives This week I wanted to focus on accessioning archives and the processes involved. When a collection has been offered to an archive, a lot of thought, care and attention are required. Archives need a lot of attention which … Continue reading →
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Tagged Barra, Christmas, Happy New Year, Postcards, WWI
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Friday photo: Fishing at Castlebay
We return to the ever lovely Barra for two photos this week. The first shows the view down the main street in Castlebay looking out to the castle and Vatersay in the distance. I love the line of fishing boats … Continue reading →
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Tagged Barra, Castlebay, curing, fishing, herring fleet, Vatersay
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Friday photo: Right down at the bottom of the chain
Often when talking about the islands, people use the phrase Butt to Barra, signifying the area covered by the Western Isles from the Butt of Lewis down the to the island of Barra. However, this does a disservice to the … Continue reading →
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Tagged Barra, Barra Head, Berneay, lighhouses
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Friday photo: How many Pabbays?!
This Friday’s image is taken from Bosival at Leveburgh looking out over the sound of Harris to Pabbay. Pabbay comes from the Norse “Papey” meaning island of the papar i.e. monks. The Outer Hebrides has three islands called Pabbay, all … Continue reading →
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Tagged Barra, Friday Photo, Harris, Leverburgh, Loch Boisdale, Pabbay, Sound of Harris
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Friday photo: Landing at Barra
Landing at Barra Airport on the Traigh Mhòr is an amazing experience, unless of course you are a nervous flyer! Lets hope that the weather brightened up a bit for these individuals!
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Tagged airports, Barra, traigh mhor
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Friday photo: North Bay, Barra
This weeks image comes from Barra featuring a view of North Bay, featuring the church, taken by the photographer Violet Banks. The image is a postcard from the collections held at Stornoway Library and appears to have been sent by … Continue reading →
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Tagged Barra, Friday Photo, north bay, postcard
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Friday image; Barra and the Bishop’s Isles
We recently came across a beautiful 17th century map of the Uists, Barra and Bishop’s Isles entitled Vistus Insula vulgo Viist in Stornoway Library’s map collection. The map is made up of two pages and the section shown above shows … Continue reading →
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Tagged Barra, Bishop's Isles, French, Maps, Mingulay, Vatersay
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Friday photo; Barrafest
Yesterday and today people from all over Scotland will be making their way to Castlebay for the annual Barrafest. Though it is one of Scotland’s smaller festivals, it has a big reputation, and is now firmly on the festival circuit. … Continue reading →
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Tagged Barra, Barrafest, festival, Friday Photo, music
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Friday photo; Uist Fair
Comhairle workers down in the Uists, Benbecula and Barra have had the past three days off, and hopefully have enjoyed the South Uist and North Uist Highland Games and the Highlands and Islands Young Piper of the Year competition. The … Continue reading →
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Tagged Barra, Friday Photo, Highland Games, Holiday, market, North Uist, South Uist
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Friday photo; seagull egg sandwich anyone?
The above photo taken from Stornoway Library’s collection was purchased because it was assumed it was cliff climbing for seabird eggs on St Kilda. However on closer inspection it would appear that it is actually from somewhere else in Britain, potentially … Continue reading →
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Tagged Barra, Eriskay, Friday Photo, Guga, Ness, Where in the world?
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