“There is so much to do in Arran in the summer!” So said a twenty-something year old long term visitor to the island this week! Following a busy July with the village gala weeks, August continues with the big annual summer Shows – Arran on the 1st, Highland on the 4th and Horticultural on the 8th. In this issue we highlight many of the other events that are taking place over the next few weeks. There are a wealth of concerts, exhibitions, art studios, book readings and films to go to, from the Something of the Sea exhibition at COAST, to the Arran Open Studios weekend, a double bill of concerts from Music Arran, and then to the start of the McLellan Arts Festival which begins at the very end of the month. The festival this year opens with a visit from renowned poet (and this years festival poetry competition judge) Sinead Morrissey.
The Voice has been trying to keep up with it all (not easy!) and has met many interesting people on its way, including some of the artists at the recent Wood exhibition in Corrie hall. Now in its third year the exhibition provides a great showcase of the amazing wood work that is produced here. We have a slideshow of pictures from the exhibition in this issue, and we also talk to local children’s author Alison Page about her new book The Westie Fest. Readers can see her at a number of events in Arran this month.
Amongst the reviews, previews and posters of all things Arran there are a few pieces from local contributors which take us to a more contemplative place. We have an illuminating article on the Arran Women in Black peace group, another fascinating piece on Sound therapy and the Soundbaths that take place each month in Brodick, as well as a more gritty reminder of the effluent problems in the Kilbrannan Sound from the fish farms in the area and also the new Arran distillery. There is also part 2 from the Open Seas series Stories from Scotland’s Seabed. In the whirl of an Arran summer the wider politics and problems of the world may seem to have been temporarily put on hold. Luckily one bit of news from ‘out there’ hasn’t escaped us, and that is the decision by the Irish government last month to divest all its finance from fossil fuels. Let’s hope in the next months we see more governments do the same. The hot summer has been amazing but perhaps not so lovely or innocent when we remember to look at it in its longer term context…
We hope you enjoy the news from the Voice and the rest of the Arran summer!
On the weekend of 24th and 25th August, Music Arran present two concerts. On Friday night the Portuguese pianist Joana Gama and violinist Sandie Bishop will play at the High School in Lamlash, and on Saturday night the jazz group Swing 2018 will play in Whiting Bay, accompanied by vocalist Seonaid Aitken.
Friday 24th August
Joana Gama is a Portuguese pianist who performs both solo and with collaborations in the fields of cinema, dance, theater, photography and music. In 2016, with the support of the Portuguese classical radio station - Antena 2, Joana produced SATIE.150 - A celebration in the shape of an umbrella, which marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of the French composer Erik Satie. As part of this celebration she performed seventeen piano recitals in Europe, gave lectures in schools and coordinated the edition of Embryons dessechés, a special edition of Satie's score which was released on the day of the composer's birthday.
In 2017 she premièred three projects: Nocturno, a piece about the night in the children’s world, a co-creation with choreographer Victor Hugo Pontes with original music by João Godinho, for piano, electronics and ensemble. She also performed: I LOVE SATIE - a new solo recital and I really like Mr. Satie, a commented recital for children. In the beginning of 2018 she made an uninterrupted 14 hour performance of Vexations by Erik Satie at Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
On the recommendation of several people, last month the Voice went along to one of The Harmony Tree’s monthly Soundbaths at the Ormidale Pavillion in Brodick. Here, Jill from the Harmony Tree talks to the Voice about how she started working with Sound, how she uses it therapeutically to help people with a variety of different issues and what a Soundbath is. She currently holds monthly Soundbaths in Brodick for the general public, and is hoping to expand her practice in the future with funding and set up Sound therapy sessions for mental health and autism support groups.
In their series Stories from Scotland's Seabed, the campaigning organisation Open Seas look at different seafloor species and their role in underpinning the health of our sea. They focus on three particular species which (along with 70 others) have been identified as “Priority Marine Features” by the Scottish government, and are some of the most important species and habitats in Scotland's seas. They look at what has happened to them in the decades leading up to now and their current status, before considering what the future holds for such Scottish marine habitats and species as we hopefully move forward towards a more sustainable future.
Dr Sally Campbell, local resident and marine scientist, reports on the plans by Marine Harvest to establish a new salmon farm and the problem of untreated waste going into the Kilbrannan Sound.
It must be nearly ten years ago since Arran defeated a Marine Harvest proposal for a huge 2500 tonnes max biomass fish farm for a site north of Lamlash Bay and Hamilton Rock. It involved a very committed effort by those in the community concerned about the proposal. So why is there not outrage on Arran about the disposal of untreated waste into Kilbrannan Sound, by both salmon aquaculture and our own island distillery?
A Glasgow based artist has made an installation, now on at the Rutherglen Library in Glasgow, around a banner she has created to mark the centenary of women gaining the right to vote. Christina Quarrell, who is a regular visitor to Arran told the Voice,
Some thoughts on the Arran Women in Black group, by Sue Weaver.
Arran Women in Black meet for an hour on the last Saturday of the month in Brodick, near the ferry terminal. From 1.00 till 2.00 we stand, often in silence, holding a banner that says we are standing for peace.
In the silence, I find myself wondering how our standing there can help bring peace. We hand out leaflets. It’s a gorgeous sunny day. Holiday makers and locals pass happily by and even take the leaflets. They usually look like very peaceful people already. What are we trying to say to them? In what way does our standing there achieve anything? And after all, what do we mean by peace?
Hiroshima Commemoration
Long standing Arran residents will know that there has been a tradition on the island of witnessing for peace on Hiroshima Day (6th August). There is a Peace Tree and plaque near the car park in Whiting Bay. A quiet reflection will take place at Lamlash green at 2pm on Sunday 5th August this year to be followed by refreshments in Lamlash Church Hall and a chance to hear about Nukewatch, the Peace and Justice Centre (Edinburgh) Origami Peace Cranes Project and ICAN (the international Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons who won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize for leading on the UN Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons).
John Metham Roberts
2nd April 1939 - 18th May 2018
Marbhrann do Dh'Iain RobertsBu shruth caoin thuAn cuan luaineachB' fheàirrde sinn dom b' aithne thuOn a ràinig thu ar cladachBu eathar treun thuGun fhiaradh nad stiùirThug thu gu cala sinnAr cas gu tèarainte air tìrBu thlàth-ghaoth shiùbhlach thuGun abhsadh nad shireadhB' fhialaidh a shèid oirnn d' eòlasA thug blàths do dh'inntinn is spioraidIs mòr ar n-ionndrainnOn a shiùbhail thu far ar n-àrainnIs milis a mhàireas do chuimhneNar cridhean is nar n-anman
An evening with poet Sinead Morrissey to begin the McLellan Arts Festival
This year the festival will run from 31st August to 9th September 2018. The McLellan Arts festival focuses on poetry, music, film and drama as well as providing workshops for adults and young people in these areas. The Poetry Competition has thrived and now in it's 12th year it attracts entries from all over the world. This year's judge is celebrated poet Sinead Morrissey, and she will kick off the festival with an evening of readings from her own work as well as the competition entries. Click here for the full festival programme.
Following the success of last year’s Biscuit Tin Initiative, Arran Open Studios, (AOS), is again this year distributing biscuit tins across the island.
For those new to the idea, the biscuit tins, kindly donated by Patersons of Arran, will be filled with pencils, sharpeners, rubbers, blank postcards. These will be put in places where people are relaxing/drinking tea, coffee. The idea is that during this time you might feel moved to make a sketch of what you see, pen a poem or share a thought, a meditation of how you feel there and then.
The Arran Open Studios Weekend 2018 is: Friday 10th – Monday 13th August, 2018
Arran Open Studios 7th Year features 40 participating studios covering every art discipline. Watercolour, oil and acrylic painting, mixed media, printmaking, sculpture and ceramics, weaving, stained glass and jewellery, and fine furniture making. Purchase, commission, or simply chat to makers in their natural habitats, caves of making. Running for four days 10th -13th August inclusive…. if you manage 10 visits a day you’ll deserve a medal.
Recently opened in Corrie, to the delight of locals and visitors alike, Mara is a seafood restaurant and delicatessen with a difference. Run by Kirsty and Gordon Decaestecker, assisted by Sophia Perry, it offers delicious and unusual seafood as a coffee and lunchtime spot.
Local girl, Kirsty Logan met Gordon whilst working in Glasgow and they married in 2016. Gordon had been working as a chef all over Scotland for 15 years including for No 1 Devonshire Gardens and Mark Greenaway, more recently, with brother – in -law, David Brand, at the Black Grouse in Blackwaterfoot.
FUCK EVERYTHING BECOME A PIRATE
declares my t-shirt, but I don’t mean it.
Ocean invertebrates are inconceivably lovely.
Each morning, I lower a bucket over
the side of the ship, clank it back up
on deck, then stick my hand
inside the sea’s feely bag. In countless
numbers, the fjord system’s summer whales
perform their languid acrobatics
within metres of the bowsprit.
Transfer even a soupçon of meltwater
to a Petri dish and, hush, the world’s
most previously inaccessible ballet-
dancers are practising arabesques.
Such secretly parted curtains!
Last Friday I identified
an entirely new species of Annelid,
a male and a female, framed
and translucid under the microscope’s hood:
they appeared to be having sex.
Marine News from John Kinsman, St Monans Coastwatch, Fife
Far East Markets Getting Taste for Fife Shellfish
East Neuk of Fife fishermen could turn Brexit to their advantage and hold the gun to the head of Europe instead of the other way around, a fisherman has claimed. The Pittenweem based businessman who asked not to be named, said "There is a worry about the transition period when Britain leaves the EU next year". However, he said some shellfish buyers are already finding alternative markets in the Far East.
The film showing in Corrie hall on Sunday 12th August at 8pm is Lion (Australia. 2017. Director Garth Davis. Cert. PG. 1 hour 58mins)
The true story of a five year old, Saroo, who gets lost on a train which takes him thousands of miles across India, away from his home and family. Accompanying his older brother to work on a station one night, Saroo falls asleep on a bench. When he wakes, he’s alone. His search for his brother leads him on to an empty train, where he dozes off again. But the train is decommissioned and Saroo wakes again to find himself stuck in a carriage on a speeding train that takes him 1,600km from home, to Kolkata. Saroo must learn to survive alone in Kolkata, before ultimately being adopted by an Australian couple.
