Wednesday 30/08/06

Last night's guests: a man here on work business and a lady attending a lecture in the Castle College - the latter is off today. Another lady arrives who will be attending a lecture by Mairi Hedderwick as part of Faclan. The Hebridean Book Festival will be opened with a presentation of Calum's Road by Roger Hutchinson and a talk by Mairi Hedderwick, who is a famous writer and illustrator on the Hebrides. Mrs B will join me for these two events, but I won't attend the two films this evening about writer Iain Crichton-Smith and composer Murdo MacFarlane, the Melbost Bard. Went to An Lanntair where I bought the book Calum's Road, and had it signed by the author, who was standing right behind me. A large collection of books was there for the buying, and it was just as well I only had £14 on me, or else I would have bought the lot. Faclan was opened by former Isles MP Calum MacDonald, who expressed hopes it might approximate the Edinburgh Book Festival. Islands Book Trust chairman John Randall proceeded to introduce Roger Hutchinson. Roger, himself a resident of the island of Raasay, just east of Skye, went on to tell the story of Calum MacLeod who was so fed up with submitted unsuccesful pleas to Inverness County Council for a road to his village of South Arnish, that he built it himself. Two hard miles. His aim, to prevent the depopulation of northern Raasay, was not achieved. Northern Raasay, ironically, was the precise area that previous owners of the island had cleared residents of the southern half to. Nowadays, everybody, bar one family, now lives in southern Raasay.

Mairi Hedderwick is best known for Katie Morag stories, although I think Mairi is a wee bit fed up with her. She told of her 6 months in a campervan, visiting 40 islands including a 6 week stint in Hiort [St Kilda]. The Katie Morag story of the Tiresome Ted stems from Mairi's own experience with a teddybear. Hers was thrown out with the rubbish - over a clifftop into the sea. The teddy promptly turned up on a beach a mile along the coast six months later. She took it back, but threw it back out again on moving house. Two years later, Mairi returned to a beach on the island of Coll, where all this was taking place - to find her teddybear on the beach. In a dreadful state - I saw it in her exhibition elsewherein An Lanntair. Mrs Hedderwick has drawn her own illustrations for Eye on the Hebrides and pocket diaries for 2006 and 2007.

Mrs B went out later for her films, to return at 9.45 with a neighbour who lives a few doors down. By that time, it had come on to rain.