Excerpts from issue 53/07 10 January 2026
Islay Rugby Club organised a New Year's Day dip in the cool waters of Port Ellen, opposite the Ramsay Hall. The weather hasn't got any warmer since, though Islay has been spared the snow blanketing many other parts of the country.
Photo: Rae McKenzie
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Empowerment
Argyll and Bute Council has secured £1.03 million from the Scottish Government's Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy to ensure that key town and island hubs across Argyll and Bute are provided with the charging infrastructure they need.
Allocation of the funding was approved by the Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee at its meeting on 18 December.
Fifty five potential sites have been identified across the council area, and these sites are currently (pun intended) being assessed for grid capacity, charger configuration and installation costs. The investment will be prioritised to where it will have greatest impact.
The new EV charges will be over and above the 37 EV changers already available throughout Argyll and Bute.
While the current estimated costs are slightly higher than the funding available at present, the charging infrastructure can be phased in as and when additional funding is available. In the first instance, the focus will be on high-impact locations that will attract most use, for example where people shop, work or visit local amenities.
The overall strategy is to build reliable, visible hubs then expand to smaller 'spokes' once the backbone of the network is established.
The first phase will deliver a network of multi-charger hubs, in principal towns and island centres, offering fast and rapid chargers located close to local amenities. These can be scaled-up in the future as demand increases.
Phase two will extend provision to small spoke sites within rural communities.
Councillor John Armour, Policy Lead for Roads, Transport and Amenity Services, said, "Developing an EV charging network in Argyll and Bute is challenging, given the geography and infrastructure, so this additional funding is much needed and very welcome.
“As we steadily build the network, I look forward to phase two as we extend provision to our more rural communities."
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The next chapter
In July of last year, due to a change of employment by the driver/librarian, Islay and Jura's Mobile Library Van was removed from service.
At the time, the Ileach contacted Live Argyll, which is responsible for operating the library, to enquire whether the service would resume in the foreseeable future?
A spokesperson for Live Argyll told us, "We are currently in the process of advertising the vacant post for mobile librarian on Islay."
That, however, was seven months ago, during which time, the library van has been conspicuous by its absence from the roads of Islay and Jura. Quite where the post has been advertised is a bit of a mystery; we did suggest placing an advert in the Ileach, but none was forthcoming.
In September, a further communication was received from Live Argyll stating, "We are currently going through a recruitment process and will be best placed to update the community on timelines within the next couple of weeks."
With no update and no sign of the mobile library on the islands, the Ileach contacted Live Argyll once again in late December, to be told, "We hope to have the recruitment process completed by the end of January. Once finalised we will update the community on timelines for the mobile’s reintroduction."
But that's what they said last time we asked.
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In this week's issue:
Christmas Tractor Run, More about ferries, Council funding for EV charging points, Rugby Club Festive activities, Port Charlotte New Year Dook, Breakfast with Santa, FilmG returns, Mobile Library, Jura Fell Race, Amy Clark-Want's Foraging column, Craig Walker's Walk on the Wild Side, Big Garden Birdwatching, This is Islay podcast review, That Was The Year That Was 2025, How green is my valley 2026, The Ballad of Neil Munro, Music review - Elegant Calamity: Oscar Laven
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Music review
Elegant Calamity - Oscar Laven. Thick Records
The distance from Havana, Cuba, to Wellington, New Zealand, is marginally less than 8,000 miles, over which the rhythms of the former have travelled particularly well to the Bedlam & Squalor venue in Wellington. That they have done so is, in large part, due to the compositional abilities of New Zealand based saxophonist, Oscar Laven.
A multi-instrumentalist previously featured in the Ileach, Laven's latest recording, entitled 'Elegant Calamity' was composed, "to allow the personalities of the eclectic mix of musicians to shine through." In an Art Blakey meets Tito Puente big band format, Lavën claims his influences to have been Dizzy Gillespie, Ennio Morricone, Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus.
This live recording from the aforementioned Wellington venue, combines the talents of string players alongside woodwinds, brass and a five-piece rhythm section, the drummer for which is Thick Records owner and former mainstay of the Islay Jazz Festival's formative years, John Rae.
Sporting echoes of the band assembled for Rae's 'Big Feet' in the early part of this century, the album's direction is clearly stated on the opening track, 'Trong Park' where a slightly cacophonous brass section is held to account by a strident cowbell before morphing into a Latin-tinged theme that, once heard, is very hard to forget (in a good way).
The sights and sounds of Havana, however, are given centre stage on 'Dizzy Campaign', the title blatantly displaying its compositional influence. All is not, however, filled with frenetic fancy. 'Cloud Serendipity' features a more relaxed Latin setting, as indeed does 'Butterfly', introduced by the band's string section before a soft Bossa Nova takes over and fills every corner of the room. If the needle was ever going to wear out one track, this might just be it.
'La Bartavelle' continues the Latin theme while moving farther south to Brazil with a persuasive samba underpinning occasionally raucous brass which gives way to Laven's impressive sax.
'Elegant Calamity' provides the ideal accompaniment to a new year. Don’t miss out.
bp
elegant calamity available on bandcamp
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This is Islay
A monthly podcast featuring individuals, personalities and features of Islay and Jura. Listen now at https://anchor.fm/thisisislay
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