Hello and a warm welcome to all our readers. March has arrived and so too a new issue of the Voice for Arran. It truly felt like spring here yesterday, the sun bright, deepening the colours of the crocuses, and warming this corner of the world. Today it feels like a little lapse back into winter, including trying to take in the grim news of war breaking out in the Middle East this weekend. It has once again dropped me into life's constant ebb and flow, of hope and despair, joy and sorrow, and the ongoing task of finding a way to make space for all these. So without covering over the dark shadow of conflict, there is much in this issue, news from the past weeks and events to look forward to, to pull us tentatively, or firmly, into the brightness of the season.
Photos from January and February
Images sent in by John Campbell and Jim Henderson, with many thanks.
The pictures of geological formations around Arran are from Jim Henderson’s newly published book, Arran Through Time (- more to follow on this in the next issue…)
On the Sannox coast
The King’s Caves
A notice from Corrie Film Club
Corrie Film Club March 2026
It is no longer possible, by the terms of our license, to advertise our films in the local newspaper or on social media. There will be a film shown by Corrie Film Club on Sunday 8th March at 7.00 in Corrie and Sannox Village Hall, and if you do wish to know and/or join our mailing list, which does allow us to inform you, please email Heather Gough on gough.carlo@btinternet.com Thank you.
Save the Date! Whiting Bay Memories Exhibition
In July this year it will be 100 years since Whiting Bay Public Hall opened. To celebrate this event Whiting Bay Memories group, in conjunction with the Hall Committee, will be staging a free exhibition in the entire hall over the weekend of Saturday 11th – Monday 13th July.
The exhibition will include information and photos about the fund-raising which took place to have the hall built, the people who made this happen and about the hall opening event itself. Seeing the many and varied hall users and events over the past century will certainly bring back lots of very special memories to our visitors.
Competition in Music
I would like to give my views on the concept of competition within the arena of music education, views which are shared by (among others) the composer Bela Bartok[1], a wide variety of professional musicians who come to play on Arran, and the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu.[2]
Let me tell you a wee bit about myself first. I started piano and violin lessons at the age of 7, played in wonderful Birmingham youth orchestras, gained a music degree at Manchester – where I enjoyed playing in university orchestras, and went on to be a reasonably competent amateur musician. I have Grade 8 qualifications in piano, viola and violin. I enjoy playing chamber music, and play in the Arran Ceilidh Band. I started and run the Arran Allsorts children’s choir, and play organ for church services. I also sometimes play for the elderly. Music has been an integral part of my life, through it I have made wonderful friends.
From Highland Games to Makar Sankranti: Representing And Recording Scotland’s Diverse Traditions
Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS), the national development body for museums and galleries in Scotland, is calling on people to get in touch about living heritage practices to include in the new Living Heritage Inventory for Scotland.
The Living Heritage Inventory for Scotland is an opportunity for communities, groups, and individuals who practice ‘living heritage’ to have their cultural traditions recognised at a national level. The inventory is managed by the UK Government and the UNESCO UK National Commission. Types of living heritage include crafts, folklore, traditional arts, calendar, and other customs, which are currently being practiced and have been passed down through generations.
Take part in building an Arran Portrait
If Arran were fully in charge of shaping its own future, what would success look like?
On 21 March, we’re inviting islanders to come together and begin creating a Thriving Arran Portrait — a shared picture of what a good future for Arran looks like, and how we would know if we’re achieving it.
One of the project leads, John Crawford, writes:
Over the past four years, I’ve worked with the people of Glasgow, the University of Glasgow, and Glasgow City Council to develop the Thriving Glasgow Portrait, using the Doughnut Economic Framework. That work has helped Glasgow define, in practical terms, what thriving means for its people — socially, economically and environmentally — and it now guides how the Council works with communities and businesses.
News from the McLellan Book Festival
A wee preview from the team at the McLellan Book Festival, with news on the writers who are currently confirmed to join this biannual festival. Looks set to be a very exciting and inspiring line up –
The dates of this year’s festival are Friday 4th – Sunday 6th September
Writers (all Scottish) include: Ajay Close, crime writer and winner of the Saltire Award for writer of the year; Jim Crumley, acclaimed Scottish nature writer; Lesley Glaister and Andrew Greig, award winning novelists; Amy Liptrot, autobiographer well known for The Outrun, Sally Magnusson, award winning journalist, writer and broadcaster, Gerda Stevenson, poet and dramatist and judge of this year’s McLellan Poetry Prize; Kirsty Wark, writer, award winning journalist and broadcaster.
Poem for March
And is gaen:
Noo the trees clap on their claes
Ane be ane:
Yonder owre the windy muir
Flees the craw;
And cries into the caller air,
Winter’s awa!
Finland film night with Lesley Riddoch
Finland: The Happiest Country in the World with Lesley Riddoch plus Q&A
Friday 6th March, starting 7pm in Whiting Bay Hall
Imagine a place where happiness isn’t just a feeling, but a way of life. Finland holds that secret and now, you have the chance to uncover it with Lesley Riddoch in person!
“It’s got the best education, food security, top ten income equality, and more saunas & cooperative memberships than saunas. No wonder Finns are the world’s happiest people, 8 years running. How have they done it? ”
A new beginning for Arran Community Council?
I first wrote about Community for Voice for Arran in January 2024 prompted following discussions on the Arran Development Plan in that there were 3 strands with three groups looking at the 10 year plan with a long-term strategic focus developed with and for the community: these 3 strands are ECONOMY, COMMUNITY, ENVIRONMENT. I introduced the ideas in Community and present understanding of what we mean. Shown again below:
Firstly, what do we mean by community? There are many definitions:
The Incoming Tide podcast with Fiona Laing
FLS Consultation on the South of Arran
There is currently a consultation open on the forestry in the South of Arran, with a date set for a meeting at Whiting Bay Hall on 24th March. The area includes Carn Ban, Glenashdale Falls, Giants Graves and the Glenashdale Iron Age fort, as well as the Garbad and Aucheleffan forest blocks.
The main objectives of the work are to: 1, Maintain sustainable timber production. 2, Manage priority species through increasing areas of low-density forest edge habitat and enhance habitat connectivity. 3, Address issues around forest stability and to improve the resilience in light of the changing climate and increasing storm risk.
Hen Harriers tracked from the Cairngorms to Arran
News of Hen Harrier tracking from Mar Lodge Estate National Nature Reserve NTS and RSPB last month:
One of our hen harriers, Marianne was satellite-tagged in 2022 and we have been able to follow her movements for the last three and a half years. You can see she has had three focal points of activity over the years. Marianne has spent spring and summer in the National Park and has nested here. She spends autumn and winter further south splitting her time between an area north of Stirling and also liking to spend time in Arran. It is fascinating to be able to see the far ranging movements of the harriers once they have left Mar Lodge.
Notes from The Arran Naturalist
With news of the satellite-tagged Hen Harriers in the Voice this issue, it was interesting to find a similar theme discussed in The Arran Naturalist, issue No.13, (1990). In the following article, Derrick Warner discusses the details of some of the ringed birds that were discovered in Arran in the 1980s, tracking the birds’ movements to various parts of Scotland and beyond, and without the benefit of satellite technology! Bird ringing is still a method used widely today, and following the Arran Naturalist piece is a communication from James Cassells of Arran Birding, with a request to readers about ringed Starlings (see below).
How diverse voices are transforming the UN’s climate science
Credible, yet unconventional
Bringing in diverse voices is essential to the report’s success. If IPCC reports reflect only one way of understanding the world, they can miss crucial insights. As other sectors have found again and again, a lack of diversity in the workforce leads to a lack of insight. The environment sector remains one of the least diverse, with only 3.5% of people working in environmental jobs identifying as being from an ethnic minority. Diverse voices and critical discussions are key to making robust, inclusive and future-proof decisions.
A landmark moment for nature in Scotland
New laws for nature At the end of January, after three days of debate in the chamber, the Scottish Parliament passed the Natural Environment Bill. This will see targets for nature recovery put into law, meaning that future governments can be held accountable. But there’s still a lot of work to be done.
By Juliet Caldwell, Senior Advocacy Officer, Scottish Environment Link. Published 9th February 2026, on Scotlink.org
After over a decade of sustained pressure, Scotland will now have a Natural Environment Act on the statute book. Its passage marks a significant shift: nature recovery is no longer just a policy aspiration but a legal responsibility.
Scottish Parliament to advance the Ecocide (Scotland) Bill
The Institute of Commonwealth Studies has welcomed a landmark vote yesterday (5rh February 2026) by the Scottish Parliament to advance the Ecocide (Scotland) Bill, placing Scotland on track to become the first nation in the UK to criminalise severe environmental destruction.
MSPs voted decisively to progress the Bill, which was introduced by Monica Lennon MSP and will now move to Stage 2 for detailed scrutiny by the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee. The vote reflects growing recognition, in Scotland and internationally, that the gravest forms of environmental harm must be addressed through robust criminal law.
From Arran to India, with love
My dear partner, David Simpkin died on 3rd September 2025 and to give him the best of send offs, I decided to take some of his ashes to a holy site in Bodhgaya in North Eastern India. For Buddhists this is a very sacred place. It is where the Buddha finally realised a state of pure selflessness, allowing his subsequent activity to be that of infinite compassion and wisdom, giving birth to a total dedication to benefitting others without discrimination, as the sun shines on the earth on a cloudless day.
A landmark victory for our oceans: the Global Ocean Treaty comes to life
The Global Ocean Treaty entered into force on 17th January 2026. The Treaty is now international law – the most significant victory for ocean protection and restoration. Greenpeace has been campaigning for 15 years with incredible supporters. Together with many organisations and hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, all have worked tirelessly for this victory.
Campaigners, coastal communities, small-scale fishers, scientists, and ocean lovers everywhere can hold on to this moment as proof that when millions of voices demand change, we can achieve what once seemed like a distant dream. On Arran too our voices and posters have been seen!
Get in good trouble, necessary trouble
The right to dissent by Sue Weaver
In July last year I was reading the Unbearable Lightness of Being in a Cardiff police cell. In there I found an answer to my lingering questions about why I’d chosen to risk arrest. In the novel, an editor in Prague, a Czech living through Russian terror, organises a petition for the amnesty of mistreated political prisoners, though he knows it will be useless and will likely lead to his persecution. It becomes clear that ‘his true goal was not to free the prisoners; it was to show that people without fear still exist’. In the police cell, it made profound sense that it was equally important for me and my 12 companions, immediately after the proscription of Palestine Action, to show that we were not afraid, not even of terrorism charges.
Palestine Action: why the High Court ruled against the government, and what it means for the future of protest
The High Court has ruled that the UK government’s proscription of the group Palestine Action was unlawful. This is a welcome decision for advocates of free speech and the right to protest, but it is not the end of this story.
Organisations can be proscribed (banned) if the home secretary believes they are “concerned in terrorism” under the definition in the Terrorism Act 2000. But the home secretary’s power to do this has restrictions – chiefly, that such a ban must be “proportionate”.
Arran Environment Week
It will have been hard to miss if you are on social media, but particularly for Voice readers on Arran!…
Monday 2nd March is the start of Arran Environment Week, a festival organised by Arran Eco Savvy in conjunction with many of the island’s community groups and organisations.
Running from the 2nd to 7th of March, communities, organisations and local champions from around the island are coming together to celebrate Arran’s incredible natural environment and the inspiring action taking place to protect it.