Excerpts from issue 52/18 14 June 2025
Nearly here
The MV Isle of Islay has successfully completed its shipyard trials in the Sea of Marmora, Yalova in Turkiye.
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Islay Show: closer than you'd think
The Islay, Jura and Colonsay Agricultural Association (IJCAA) has issued a reminder that the 2025 Islay Agricultural Show will take place on Wednesday 6 August, instead of the traditional second Thursday of August, a change made for the first time since 1857.
The decision followed the introduction of a new Argyll and Bute Council school calendar, which places the return to school on the usual show date. Concerned that this would exclude children, families, and school staff, IJCAA members voted to reschedule the event to ensure full community participation.
The Islay Show, established in 1838, is a cornerstone of island life, celebrating rural heritage, supporting local businesses, and bringing together generations. Changing the date was a difficult, but necessary response to protect the event's accessibility and future. The adjustment has, however, disrupted logistics and increased the risk to the Show's sustainability due to scheduling conflicts with other regional shows.
Eoin Brown, representing the IJCAA, said, "This change affects not just Islay but neighbouring shows like Salen and others across Argyll and Arran. These events are the lifeblood of our rural communities; decisions that impact them must involve proper consultation."
Alongside the date change, the IJCAA formally raised concerns about the lack of consultation and impact assessment around the school calendar. At the MAKI Area Committee meeting on 4 June, IJCAA representatives asked councillors to recognise the harm caused by rigid term dates and called for a return to more locally responsive planning.
All three Kintyre and the Islands councillors supported the IJCAA's position. Committee Chair, Cllr John Armour, agreed to escalate the matter to senior education officials for further discussion.
Craig Archibald, IJCAA President, added, "It's regrettable to break with a tradition stretching back to the 1850s, but the wellbeing of families comes first. We hope this engagement leads to a more flexible and collaborative approach in the future."
The IJCAA will continue to monitor the effects of the change and work with Argyll and Bute Council to support the long-term success of the Islay Show.
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In this week's issue:
MV Isle of Islay completes Cemre sea-trials, Council bin behaviour, Fèis Ìle bowling, Cantilena returns, Ileach 'Winner Takes All' raffle, Lillian's 50 years at Bunnahabhain, A field for dog owners?, Foodbank AGM, Friends of the Round Church, Port Ellen School News, Islay Show date change, Port Ellen junior football, Craig Walker's Walk on the Wild Side, Bowmore Primary end of term news, Big Feet live on Islay released, Colour images from Fèis Ìle 2025, Amy Clark Want's Foraging column, Book review: Whispers in the Glen by Sue Lawrence, Pianist Robin Colvill to play in Bowmore, Islay payphones soon to disappear.
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Cantilena returns
Angus Ramsay writes:
Celebrating its 25th Anniversary the Cantilena Festival returns to Islay for a week-long festival of classical chamber music on Sunday, 6 July.
Six students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland have successfully auditioned to join five professional players to perform throughout the island. The students will embrace the highly sought after privilege to learn alongside the musicians who have worked with many of Britain's major orchestras.
The Cantilena Festival offers a unique opportunity for Islay residents to hear music ranging from the Renaissance to two world premieres both inspired by the island, its people and of course its whisky. Cantilena has become a near sell-out event, attracting audiences from as far afield as the USA, Germany and Italy, thanks to the intimate and informal atmosphere of the venues which include some of the island's famous malt whisky distilleries.
This year will see the festival runs from Sunday 6 July to Friday 11 July featuring music by Bach, Mozart and Schubert amongst others. You can find out more and purchase tickets for the Cantilena Festival by visiting www.cantilenafestival.co.uk
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Live from Islay
Towards the end of summer 2003, Islay Pipe Band, as was, spent a few happy evenings with jazz drummer, John Rae, who had been commissioned by Islay Jazz Festival organisers, Assembly Direct, to compose a suite of music involving the pipe band.
A similar project had apparently been attempted several years previously, with one of the higher grade pipe bands from the central belt. However, this had come unstuck due to the disparity in perceptions of where the beat ought to be placed (amongst other discrepancies.)
The Islay Pipe Band of earlier this century was more accommodating in such matters, happy to morph pipe tunes such as 'A Farewell to Camraw', 'Sleepy Maggie' and 'Leaving Port Askaig' into the middle ground between the strictures of piping and those of a jazz big band.
The resulting melange of sound was premiered to great approval in Port Ellen's Ramsay Hall on the last night of the 2003 Islay Jazz Festival, featuring John Rae's Big Feet, a Jazz Big Band brass section and the aforementioned Islay Pipe Band, subtly entitled, John Rae's Big Feet.
So successful was the performance adjudged to be, that in December of the same year, the entire ensemble went 'on tour', playing Edinburgh's Queen’s Hall and, on the following evening, the RSAMD (now The Royal Conservatoire) in Glasgow.
By this time, the brass section had been augmented by then Islay High School pupil, Ben Harrison on trombone. Once again, the seating was full and the reception overwhelming.
The premiere performance in the Ramsay Hall was recorded for posterity, and, unbeknown to most of us, released by John Rae (now living in New Zealand) as a digital download in November last year. A selection of the featured compositions including several with Islay Pipe Band, is currently available on bandcamp.com for 20 New Zealand dollars (just less than £10).
John has changed a few of the titles, (The Sporran Office, Ear) but the music's still the same and well worth a listen. It was a musical exploration unlikely ever to be repeated, successfully blending traditional Scottish tunes with jazz arrangements.
The cover image, by Islay Studios' Mark Unsworth, was taken in the former White Hart Garden. And if anyone wonders why the 30 assembled musicians looked quite so serious, John told us all to appear as if we were about to go off to war.
Our fifteen minutes of fame.
bp
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Book review
Whispers in the Glen - Sue Lawrence. Contraband paperback, 296pp £10.99
Author, Sue Lawrence, leads a double life as a writer. Winner of BBC's MasterChef in 1991, she is a respected food writer, cookery editor of the Sunday Times, contributor to many other publications and frequently appears on Radio 4's Kitchen Cabinet.
Sue was one of the select authors invited to the 2024 Islay Book Festival, providing insights to her most recent cookery book (New Scottish Baking), at Craigard Kitchen in Ballygrant.
However, not content with what must be a busy enough schedule, she is also the author of three previous historical novels, Lady's Rock, The Unreliable Death of Lady Grange, and The Green Lady.
However, it is her fourth and most recent novel, 'Whispers in the Glen' (5 June) that concerns us here.
Once again, Sue brings the past to life, but this time, the more recent past, straddling the two world wars of the 20th century. Whispers in the Glen takes place predominantly in Clova, Angus, almost midway between Dundee and Aberdeen, on the eastern edge of Cairngorm National Park.
The two main characters are sisters, Nell and Effie Anderson, who live in the Old Schoolhouse; Effie is the local schoolteacher, carrying on the family tradition following the passing of her father. Her older sister, Nell, works as a postwoman as well as helping out in the local hotel bar.
The narrative crosses two distinct periods: the First World War, and the second. With the early chapters of the book switching between the two timelines, the reader is advised to pay attention to the chapter headings.
Nell's first experience of war is as an ambulance driver based at Royaument Abbey, north of Paris in one of several Scottish Women's Hospitals established by Dr Elsie Inglis during World War 1.
There she meets the handsome, yet despicable Douglas Morrison, a man whose bearing will have major consequences for the Anderson sisters.
In the 1940s, however, the topography and weather surrounding the village of Clova is the scene of an ill-fated Wellington bomber crash, despatched on a training flight from nearby Lossiemouth, and from which only the tailgunner survives.
He bravely makes his way down from the mountain-top crash site and collapses through the hotel bar door, but before lapsing into unconsciousness, hands Nell a 'tattered photo of a dark-haired woman', asking her to 'Keep it safe'.
The significance of this photo will later influence subsequent proceedings.
However, the principal thread to the story concerns Nell's younger sister, Effie, one which is tied to the presumed suicide of their French mother, Manon and the clandestine intervention of a character introduced earlier in the book.
What is Effie's secret, one that she has kept from everyone, including her sister, for many years? There are a few surprises and many secrets revealed, not least the true identity of the French woman in the tattered photograph.
Sue Lawrence has written a captivating novel that cleverly brings several strands to a satisfying, if unexpected conclusion. In so doing, it describes a realistic slice of life in a remote Scottish village during the Second World War. A subliminally compelling book.
bp
Whispers in the Glen is available from The Celtic House, Bowmore and all good bookshops
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This is Islay
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