Excerpts from issue 53/21 25 July 2026
The sporting life
Port Ellen Sports, on Saturday 18 July, benefitted from wall-to-wall sunshine, tempered by a cooling sea breeze, drawing an attendance measured in hundreds. With races, dancing, archery, football, bouncy castles, food and drink, as Wallace and Gromit would have said, it was 'A Grand Day Out'.
Photos: Rae McKenzie Photography
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Lock-in
Les Wilson writes:
The door of a cell that once held Port Ellen's miscreants, and the writer George Orwell, is now on display at the Museum of Islay Life.
The heavy steel door was thought unsuitable for domestic use and was removed when the former police station in Frederick Crescent was converted into housing nine years ago.
The conversion of the police station was part-funded by the Ian Mactaggart Trust, and the two cell doors were taken to the Mactaggart's Ardtalla Estate and then forgotten about. But following a request from the museum, Sir John Mactaggart tracked down one of the cell doors and agreed to donate it to the museum. As well as being part of Islay's social history, Port Ellen's cells have a footnote in the history of literature. In August 1946, while writer George Orwell was living on Jura and writing Nineteen Eighty-Four, he had to wait overnight in Port Ellen to catch the morning ferry.
He wrote to a friend: "Port Ellen was full to the brim owing to a cattle show. All the hotels were full up, so I slept in a cell in the police station along with a lot of other people, including a married couple with a perambulator."
Port Ellen police station was built in 1885, but its final cell doors weren't original and - sadly! - there is no chance of finding George Orwell's initials scratched on them. In fact, according to the manufacturer, Cell Security of Bolton, they were probably installed in the late 1990s.
The former police station, now known as Robertson House, was opened in 2017 by Lord George Robertson of Port Ellen, who was born there while his father, a policeman, was stationed in the village. Lord Robertson's maternal grandfather was Malcolm MacNeil, the police sergeant who took charge of the harrowing recovery operation following the sinking of the troopships Tuscania and Otranto in 1918. Sergeant MacNeil's notebook, in which he meticulously recorded descriptions of each drowned body, is one of the Museum of Islay Life's most treasured artefacts.
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In this week's issue:
Port Ellen Sports, Visitor Levy Survey, Prison door, Carrying of Dangerous Goods, Sandcastles, Lussa Gin shortlisted, Islay Book Festival preview, Dismay over CalMac winter timetable, Port Ellen Bowls, Loganair's electric fleet, Running on Jura, Burnside saunas, Charlene Busalli listens to audio books, RNLI corner charity shop, Making Tax Digital more easily, Historic Coastguard rescue, Craig Walker's Walk on the Wild-side, Islay at its Best part two.
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Twenty Years of Storytelling
Bridging the community and more by Chinh Nguyen.
With the 2026 Islay Book Festival (IBF) just around the corner, now is the perfect time to plan a weekend of inspiring conversations, fascinating stories and memorable community events.
As IBF is a volunteer-run charity, every ticket sold makes a real difference. Your support not only helps bring outstanding writers, historians, poets and broadcasters to Islay, it also funds one of IBF’s most important achievements - our community outreach programme. Visiting authors will spend time in our primary schools, Islay High School, community groups and care settings, giving various people the chance to meet inspiring speakers. Every ticket you buy helps make that possible.
If you've not yet booked, here are just a few highlights from this year's programme.
Thursday 27 August
A Brilliant Opening Night
The festival opens where it all began, at Port Ellen Primary School, with two outstanding literary events. Crime writer Louise Welsh introduces her gripping new novel The Cut Up, which once again features auctioneer Rilke, who has to rely on his unreliable friends after finding one of his customers dead on the tarmac. Later in the evening, Booker Prize winner Douglas Stuart discusses John of John, his powerful new novel set in the Hebrides. This new exploration of masculinity sees a young man, John-Calum Macleod, return to his native island, Harris, to face his difficult relationship with his father John.
Friday 28 August
Books and a Great Night Out
Friday's programme offers something for every taste, from contemporary fiction to whisky writing.
The evening concludes with the ever-popular Pub Quiz at The Ardview Inn. Hosted by Alastair Shaw, it will be a lively evening of books, music, and film adaptations, with plenty of laughs along the way. Whether you're a serious bookworm or simply looking for an enjoyable night with friends, you’ll be warmly welcomed. Book a table (teams of four max.) directly with The Ardview Inn via Facebook or by calling Angela on 07876 378734. £5 per head to be paid on the evening. Even better, all proceeds from the evening will go to the Islay Link Club, a local charity that supports mental health.
Saturday 29 August
Gaelic, Literature and Celebration
Saturday features a wonderful blend of nature, history, language and sport.
A highlight is Professor Moray Watson's talk at the Islay Gaelic Centre about A' Hobat, his acclaimed Gaelic translation of The Hobbit. It's a fascinating opportunity to hear about the challenges and creativity involved in translating one of the world's best-loved novels.
The evening brings everyone together for our 20th Anniversary Family Celebration at Bruichladdich Hall. With traditional and lively music, refreshments and a few surprises, we celebrate two decades of Islay Book Festival with the local community, visitors and authors alike.
Sunday 30 August
Food, Nature and Island Stories
The final day continues with another excellent programme of seven brilliant events, two of which are highlighted below.
Praised by Nigella Lawson and Yotam Ottolenghi, food writer, chef and broadcaster Julie Lin hosts a special lunch, prepared by The Machrie Chef Calum Hall. This lunch is inspired by her acclaimed cookbook Sama Sama: Comfort Food from My Malaysian-Scottish Kitchen. And to close the festival, conservationist Polly Pullar launches her new book In the Company of Sheep, exploring the important role sheep have played in shaping our landscapes, farming traditions and rural culture. This talk will truly engage our farming community and anyone interested in ecology and conservation.
Every Ticket Makes a Difference
When you buy a ticket, you're doing much more than booking a seat.
You're helping to bring emerging and established authors into our local schools and various communities, encouraging young people through our creative writing competition and inspiring local children and young people to discover the joy of reading, writing and creativity.
Our aim has always been to stage a festival that belongs to the communities of Islay and Jura. Thanks to our volunteers, supporters and everyone who buys a ticket, we're able to continue building a festival that benefits the whole island.
Many events offer our Pay What You Can option to help keep the festival accessible, and tickets will also be available on the door, subject to availability.
Book Your Tickets
The full festival programme, event details and online booking are available at islaybookfestival.co.uk You can book tickets directly through the website and start planning your Islay Book Festival weekend today.
We look forward to welcoming you in August!
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MTD doesn't have to mean 'Making Tax Difficult'
A software company with roots in Islay is helping thousands of small business owners and landlords get to grips with a major shake-up in how they file their taxes, without having to ditch their spreadsheet.
From April 2026, HM Revenue & Customs began rolling out Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax, a new system requiring sole traders and landlords to keep digital records and submit quarterly updates rather than a single annual tax return. Over 850,000 people across the UK fall into this first wave, and while almost 400,000 have already signed up, that means more than half still have to register, with the first major deadline falling on 7 August.
So far, around 70% of sign-ups have been handled by accountants and bookkeepers on behalf of clients, but business owners can register and file themselves. Anyone earning under £90,000 from self-employment or property income can use simplified record-keeping, submitting just total income and expenses each quarter.
If you already keep your records in a spreadsheet and don't want to change a system you know and trust, you don't have to. You simply need a solution that bridges the gap between your spreadsheet and HMRC (bridging software).
That's exactly who suiteSheets was built for. Christine Gibson, suiteSheets co-founder, said, "We've designed a cheap and cheerful solution for those who want to keep their spreadsheet and meet their MTD requirements, simply! No unnecessary complexity. No learning a completely new system. Just a straightforward way to submit."
The first step is registering for MTD through a business tax account with HMRC, a step Christine says catches many people out. From there, records need to be kept digitally and submitted through a recognised provider, like suiteSheets.
Making Tax Digital changes things, but that doesn't mean things have to change.
For more information, visit suitehseets.co.uk or contact their support team contact@suitesheets.co.uk
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This is Islay
2026 Podcast of the Year featuring individuals, personalities and features of Islay and Jura. Listen now at https://anchor.fm/thisisislay
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