Issue 25

Tomorrow (if you are reading this on Feb 1st) will see Corrie Hall showing films all day at their annual mini-festival called A Day in the Dark. Free to all comers, the day starts with a Chaplin classic, Modern Times, then after lunch shows the highly eccentric Ping Pong, about the world over-eighties table tennis championships in Inner Mongolia. Equally wacky in a very different way is Derek Jarman’s 1979 take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, then after a tea break, there is Hidden, a thriller about a television presenter who starts to receive some very peculiar messages on his computer. Baked potatoes and various goodies follow, to which all are welcome to contribute. The marathon watch-in ends with the superb Latcho Drom, which records Romany people in a year-long journey, and was described by a reliable witness as the most beautiful film she had ever seen.

See the timetable below for guidance, but feel free to drop in and out of the day’s marathon as you choose. Take a break and go home to feed the cat, or settle in for the entire ride - it’s up to you. In big or small doses, it will be a day of great fun.

• 10:00am - 10:30am    Coffee
• 10:30am - 12:00pm    Modern Times
• 12:05pm -  1:10pm    Soup lunch
•  1:45pm -  3:05pm    Ping Pong
•  3:15pm -  4:45pm    The Tempest
•  4:45pm -  5:15pm    Tea break
•  5:15pm -  7:00pm    Hidden
•  7:00pm -  8:00pm    Supper
•  8:00pm -  9:45pm    Latcho Drom

On Sunday February 10th, just a week after the Day in the Dark, Corrie Film Club is showing Days of Heaven, made by Terrence Malick in 1978. It’s an intensely visual film, strongly influenced by painters such as Edmund Hopper, whose House by the Railroad appears to the right. Some members of the cast were dismayed by the insistence on using natural light, disliking the delays and uncertainties of shooting that resulted, but the photographer, Nestor Almendros, knew exactly what he wanted. ‘It was before electricity was invented,’ he said, ‘and consequently there was less light. Period movies should have less light. In a period movie the light should come from the windows because that is how people lived.’

The plot is a scruffy affair about three down-and-out young seasonal workers who hatch a plot involving marriage to the farmer, who is said to be dying, and a take-over of the farm. In almost Biblical retribution for this idea, fire and locusts, plus the recovery of the farmer, destroy the dream. What survives, both for protagonists and viewers, is the overwhelming beauty of the vast landscape. Days of Heaven was a commercial failure when it was released, but it is now preserved in the United States National Film Registry for its cultural and aesthetic significance.

The showing begins at 8.00 pm in Corrie Village Hall, and is free of charge, though a small contribution to the upkeep of the hall would be welcomed.

Posters have appeared in a desperate appeal for men to join one of Arran’s splendid choirs, but the male sex on the island appears to be locked in silence. The rehearsals are great fun, light-hearted and not in any way taxing, and a bit more depth in the bottom end would be hugely welcome. You don’t have to be able to read music - a good tune can be learned through the singing of it, and joining in a big sound is an exhilarating thing. Tenors and basses are vital to give solidarity to a choir, and men who are willing to give it a go will be warmly welcomed. Just call Diana Hamilton on 601322. Rehearsals begin again this month, so the timing for new members is perfect.

The Music Society concert for February was in the Community Theatre at the High School, so as to take advantage of the beautiful Kawai grand piano, and 70 people enjoyed an excellent afternoon of music from the Cartha Trio. Comprising piano, clarinet and viola, the group offered pieces specially written for this unusual combination, and conveyed an overall feeling of lightness and something close to magic. Four Fairy Tales by Schumann began the programme, then we were treated to a trio by Gordon Jacob.

It was indeed a treat. Laura Baxter on piano, with violist Scott Dickinson and Barry Deacon on clarinet, unveiled a strange, highly atmospheric journey that, as someone commented afterwards, ‘could have been the accompaniment to a cartoon film’. Jacob’s piece evoked a sense of enchanted forest, all frosted spider-webs and strange things with long fingers, then moved on to an odd evocation of invaders, with a brisk, slightly bonkers march that in turn gave way to the resident magic. The players moved through the shifting moods of the piece with sure-footed skill, and the audience was enchanted.

Mozart’s tuneful and utterly enjoyable Kegelstatt Trio followed, and the programme ended with four intriguing Bruch pieces. Throughout, the players had great empathy, coupled with a technical skill that soared through the many complex passages. Perhaps the acoustic of the hall is slightly directional, but some people felt the viola was a little overshadowed by the clearer timbre of the clarinet and by the impressive piano. The impression may have been different in other areas of the hall - and certainly did not detract from a splendid afternoon of music.

The next Music Society concert will be on Saturday 16 February, again at 1.30pm, but this time back in Brodick Hall. Alba Brass comprises a group of five players, two trumpets, horn, trombone, and tuba, and they offer wonderfully varied musical styles. As well as the classic repertoire, they move happily in the worlds of jazz and folk song. They are internationally famous, appearing at concerts and festivals all over Europe, Russia, North America and the Middle East, and regularly commission new work. Last year they collaborated with Sax Ecosse and The Whistlebinkies in the première performance of Eddie McGuire’s UCS Work In Suite.

As individual performers, members of Alba Brass are in hot demand and can often be heard playing with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Scottish Ballet Orchestra. As a group, they have recently been recording for the BBC’s Songs of Praise and have also recorded for STV’s Spirit of Scotland awards.

Don’t miss these brilliant players - they really are a treat. Saturday afternoon, February 16th, starting at 1.30 pm in Brodick Hall.

Rachel Barnetson Phillips, to use her full name, has long been loved and admired on Arran for her skill and generosity in teaching Scottish dancing. She herself began dancing at nine years old, and is a Life Member of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society.

Rachel took her teaching certificates at St Andrew’s Summer Schools in the 1950s and has taught voluntarily since, initially in Barrow-in-Furness, Manchester and Swansea and then for 40 years at Chester St Andrew Society. In Chester she took all stage classes - beginners; improvers and demonstration teams which took part in Scottish Country Dance Festivals and competitions in Newcastle, Leeds, Liverpool, Stockport, Southport and performed internationally in Auxerre, France and in Colwyn Bay, Wales.

For 30 years, Rachel led the team organising Biennial Day Courses in Chester which attracted dancers from across the Northern Counties, Midlands and North Wales. On retirement to Arran, she took on the Brodick group, originally started by Margaret Hart, and helped Pirnmill and Brodick schools with preparation and performance for the Arran Annual Day of Dance held each November.

Scottish Country Dancing is sociable dancing with seven others in a set providing a variety of dance partners and exercise that is fun and entertaining. There is such enjoyment in dancing, and with so many superb Scottish tunes from the times of Neil Gow and Scott Skinner to those of Muriel Johnstone, Ian McPhail, Ron Kerr and scores of others, that one can no sit still. As has recently been medically proclaimed, it is the activity of mind and coordination of feet, arms and the whole body in remembering and performing the sequence of formations, that is so hugely of benefit and joy in helping to keep fit, and smiling - regardless of age.

On a Saturday in mid-January, the Community Theatre in Lamlash contained a big display of boards detailing every aspect of the proposed scheme to generate timber-fired power on the Heights between Whiting Bay and Lamlash. Inventively, pads of Post-It notes stood on each table with an invitation to stick a comment on the relevant board, and the offer was being taken up with alacrity. Most of the comments asked sensible questions about waste heat and pollution, and no names or addresses were asked for.

Fergus Tickell, pictured here talking to Joe Trickett, devised the scheme originally as part of an affordable housing project that would have provided homes heated by the wood-burning plant, but this was disallowed by NAC on the grounds that is was outwith the village envelope. Since then, concerns have been expressed about emissions and possible air pollution - yet, as several people have pointed out, there is a big rise in people using wood-burning stoves as a response to the hike in oil prices, and nobody queries their emissions. Equally true is the fact that historically, houses and cottages have been heated by burning peat, wood then coal for several centuries.

Jo Morgan and Dave Tapson, whose house and candle-making workshop are the nearest habitation to the proposed plant, had strong reservations about the plan when it was first suggested. However, at the presentation, Jo said she was persuaded that the emission question was being responsibly tackled and felt that on balance, the scheme should go ahead.

Informal conversations between those present tended to centre round a basic agreement that Arran needs to generate sustainable, non-polluting energy in a variety of ways, both domestic (solar panels, ground-source, small turbines) and public. There seemed to be a growing agreement that the production of electrical power should be a co-operative enterprise, with a pay-back to all members of the community.

A copy of the presentation is shown below. It is also on the Arran Community Council website which you can see here. If you know someone who doesn't have access to the internet then please tell them that printed copies are also available in the Brodick Library. The closing date for responses is February 1st, so you need to be quick! A second consultation event has been organised for the 2nd of March (see the poster below) when you'll find if your views have been considered.

Katy Clark MP visited the food-bank at Ardrossan Church in December, and said she was appalled by the rapid rise in poverty resulting from the government’s policies. Over the last year, the Trussell Trust, the charity that has enabled the Ardrossan food-bank and community garden to be set up, has doubled the number of people it feeds. Craig Crosthwaite, the lead developer for North Ayrshire’s food-bank provision, estimated that 2500 people a year have come to the food-bank when in need - and the number is rising.

Ronald Gilchrist, of the Greenway School for Soil and Community Food Production, is also involved in the food-bank scheme. He explained that the North Ayrshire Food Bank operates a ‘donations café’ and composts any catering waste from the cafe as an organic fertiliser to grow herbs, salads and vegetables that in their turn are used in the cafe. He said, “We have been inspired by the warmth, generosity and community spirit which we have found in Ardrossan.”

Katy Clark is also deeply concerned that long term unemployment is still at its highest level since 1996 as a result of the Government’s “inadequate work programmes and low economic growth.” She points out that in North Ayrshire and Arran there are more than twelve people on Jobseekers’ Allowance for every vacancy advertised on Jobcentre Plus.

from Sue Davidson

Happy New Year to all of our friends and supporters!

As many of you know, I could not leave Albania until my resident’s permit was issued, which actually happened the week before Christmas. Julian wasn’t able to come until he sorted out some important details, so this was always going to be a strange holiday season.

A couple of weeks before Christmas a large tree was erected in the middle of Sheshi Skanderbeut, the main square in Tirana. This, I was told, was the New Year Tree. (Christmas was not allowed to be celebrated during the years of the Communist regime, so the tradition has become more secular.) Of course health and safety was completely ignored as men climbed up the scaffolding wearing only tee-shirts and jeans. Not a hard hat or safety harness in sight. The square looked really lovely with lights sparkling in all the trees. It did occur to me this was a bit extravagant in a country that is always short of electric power. A few veteran ex-pats thought we’d have restricted electricity in January because of this, but as Albanians often say with a shrug, ‘What can we do?’

On Sunday 23rd we went to a Christmas fair which was very interesting, with people from all over Albania coming to sell their crafts. It was warm and sunny and there were outside cafes selling mulled wine and other delicacies. All was going well until we turned the corner - and there we saw lots of turkeys waiting to be purchased, not for Christmas but for New Year.. The only problem was, they were still alive. There was a man on hand there to wring their necks once they were purchased, but without going into too much detail, it was messy and smelly. Some friends had invited me to join them for Christmas lunch at an American restaurant, and I was quite glad that turkey wasn’t on the menu!

Christmas day dawned, bright, sunny and eighteen degrees, not at all like Christmas weather. It was so strange to see people going to work and the shops open - very much business as usual. We went to church and it was Christmas. We came out into the street and it was a normal day. Then in the restaurant it was Christmas again and we had a good time together. Travelling home, we were back in normal rush hour traffic. The next day it was as if nothing special had happened.

New Year, on the other hand, was totally different. There was an air of excitement as local housewives had rugs and curtains scrubbed and hanging out on balconies to dry. Fireworks were to be heard every day all over the city, and Julian could even hear their crackling and banging while we spoke on Skype. They were pretty powerful fireworks and it really scared me to see children holding them in their hands as they lit them. Apparently every year this results in many accidents but they are still available anywhere and sold to anyone.

I spent New Year’s Eve with Vali’s family and they had a special meal. It seemed more like everyday food to me but a special event for them. As the end of the year approached, the sound of fireworks grew louder and more frequent and the smell of gunpowder permeated the air. It was not necessary to look at a clock or the television to know when it was midnight. The sky was alight with cascades of colour and there was a cacophony of sound. From our balcony we could see the display of impressive fireworks from the centre of Tirana. I have to say it completely superseded any displays I’ve seen in Britain and it went on for half an hour.

All this celebration in a country so poor that it can’t fulfil its social responsibilities! In December, Vali and many of her friends with disabilities did not receive their monthly government payment. It isn’t much but families depend upon it. When Vali’s father went to find out what the problem was he returned saying in his accented English, ‘They have no manny’ - an all-too-common phrase. Now Vali and the others just have to wait and see if they receive their payment in January and are powerless to do anything about it. Is Britain really so bad?

As far as the Valdete Trust is concerned, we’re now meeting with people we want to have as board members. The next step is for everyone concerned to go to a lawyer’s office and register as an organisation. There are quite a few formalities to go through. Meanwhile, we’re visiting social services and talking to the Bashkia (local council). I’m told that it’s good to foster relationships as it helps to cut through the bureaucracy.

Julian is arriving on the 29th of this month and I have plenty of practical jobs to keep him busy. In spite of all the problems, I’m loving life here and just have to learn to shrug and say, ‘That’s how it is in Albania!’

Lucky Carrie Marr is married to Gerry Marr, CEO of NHS Tayside. And lucky Carrie has just been given charge of a key directorate, though the job was not advertised, either internally or to the wider public.

Shadiness and NHS Tayside appear to have a natural affinity. According to a Herald report, the board has been wangling the status of its waiting-time targets by marking patients as ‘unavailable’ for treatment. A spokesman has apologised, promising that new controls will eradicate the practice. However, there are still plans in place to cut the level of emergency surgery provision at Perth Royal Infirmary.

Gerry Marr’s salary for 2011 was between £170,000 and £175,000.

Everyone seemed to like MV Hebrides, which was on the Brodick-Ardrossan run for the first time while the Caledonian Isles was away for an annual health check. 'She's a nice, cosy ship,' someone said after a much-enjoyed crossing, 'and you can see out!' Makes a change from an observation lounge where you can't observe more than a passing seagull without standing up. The Hebrides, Glasgow-built in 2000, feels warm and comfortable, with well-designed areas for snoozing or snacking or getting a bit of work done - desks with their own work-lamps, brilliant! The ship is quiet, too, with no manic clanking and shuddering when the steering engines kick in. The harbour gangway at Ardrossan, needless to say, had a fit of the heebies at the mere thought of connecting with a strange boat, so foot passengers trudged off via the car deck. In every other way, being aboard the Hebrides was a pleasant experience, and despite some rough weather, she sailed in and out of Ardrossan with nonchalent ease. Whatever we have after the C - (supply your own adjective) Isles, let's hope the same mistakes don't get made again.

Scotland’s north-westerly tip has long been a favoured area for bomb practice, at times excluding the public, but now the Ministry of Defence proposes to buy the whole area and remove it from the public completely. What they will then do with it, nobody knows, and few would like to guess. If you are appalled, there’s still time to add your name to an online petition. Just click on the following link:

www.ipetitions.com

selected by David Underdown

Western wind when wilt thou blow.

Western wind when wilt thou blow
the small rain down can rain
Christ if my love were in my arms
and I in my bed again

Poems, or lyrics in this case, don’t come much shorter than this, a whole story hinted at in just four brief lines. Sixteenth century, anonymous, and heartrending.

Most of us have given up Hogmanay promises to do better, but Natalie Bennett puts forward a sleeves-rolled-up list. We need, she says, to do the following:

• Keep the NHS publicly owned and run
• Move towards community-owned, decentralised energy production
• Promote local banks and credit unions
• Re-nationalise the railways
• Be as self-sufficient in food as possible
• Abolish Trident and get British troops out of Afghanistan

Natalie Bennett is the new leader of the Green Party.

This picture, taken by Jim Wilson for the New York Times and published on September 3, 2011, shows a ground flare at a pad in Belfield, North Dakota.

The shale gas industry in America is running into trouble. US financial journalist Wolf Richter, writing in Business Insider at the year’s end, pointed out that production at any new fracking well ‘falls off a cliff from day one.’ After the gush of initial release, production levels out at roughly a mere 10% of the first flow. So in order to keep the income statements looking in any way feasible, companies are forced to keep drilling new wells to compensate for the dwindling productivity of existing ones.

This constant expansion threatens a gas-glut that will cause lower prices, and the big financial guns are not happy about it. Rex Tillerson, CEO of the giant oil company, Exxon, complained last autumn that the US natural gas glut was dramatically decreasing profits. Putting it even more bluntly at a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations, he told them, ‘We're making no money. It's all in the red.’

The New York Times website carries a torrent of correspondence from experts in the field who offer evidence that fracking is a doomed short-term chase for easy profit. A sorry tale is emerging of hit-and-miss geological exploration and dangerous methodology. Nuclear explosive was used in one underground search, and the ‘slick water’ used to force the underground strata apart is a cocktail that contains hydrochloric acid. However, those at the top are not concerned about the environmental effect. It’s the financial double-bind that may in the long run put paid - or unpaid - to the fracking industry.

Right now, the only way for the frackers to stay in the black is to limit the public supply of shale gas so as to keep the price high. About 30% of the natural gas produced in North Dakota is burned as waste. It is a perfectly viable fuel, but the energy companies would rather see it go up in smoke than be sold at a low profit.

Shale oil and shale gas are two different things, but the breaking of underground seams in search of oil can often release near-by reserves of natural gas that are stored underground. Both the gas and the oil are regarded by the British Government as a great golden egg that will solve all energy problems. People in Lancashire have already felt earth tremors caused by exploratory drilling for shale oil and/or gas, but their fears are ignored. Perhaps the instability of fracking as a financial prospect may carry more weight.

‘Shale only releases the oil when it's fracked; therefore a large field will presumably have to be fracked chunk by chunk, which must require multiple wells. … This will make reserve calculation tricky. … Oil companies are valued by their reserves, which means the amount of oil in the licences/concessions they own.’

Colin has expert legal knowledge of the field, and is certainly right to point out that the whole fracking industry is based on an unknown resource. Which makes the British government’s eagerness to embrace it seem even more reckless.

Meanwhile, the international protest gains momentum. The French government yielded to public outcry in 2011 and banned fracking indefinitely, reaffirming the ban in September 2012. Elsewhere, the fight goes on.

The photo below, showing demonstrators outside the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan as Governor Andrew Cuomo holds a birthday fundraiser, is by CREDO: Cuomo Policy Summit / Flickr, and appeared on www.truth-out.org. The second one is of protesters in Hastings, further up the Hudson River, and was taken by Danny LoPriore for the Yonkers Daily Voice.

From the beginning of 2013, the Scottish Government has decreed that every council in Scotland must provide settled accommodation to anyone who is unintentionally homelessness.

Until now, it has been only those in priority need, such as families with dependent children, who have been recognised as in need of housing, but that has changed. The only stipulation is that the applicant must have become homeless through no fault of his or her own. There must be no question of having contributed to becoming homeless ‘through deliberate action or inaction.’ The arguments centred round this question can well be imagined, but removal of the priority need test will probably give around 3,000 more people a year the right to settled accommodation. It must be saluted as brave and humane-thinking move.

Our trip to South Island was going to be lightweight backpacking as we were travelling by bus and train. The Inter City buses in New Zealand run a great service and are relatively cheap. A variety of passes are available and we chose one which gave us 20 hours of travelling time and could be used on the Interislander ferry.

We took an early Sunday morning flight from Tauranga to Wellington and, having a few hours to spare before catching the ferry across the Cook Strait, explored the centre of the City and harbour area. Just by chance we came across the Victoria Street Farmers' Market and spent a couple of happy hours taking in the sights and smells.

The ferry crossing is just over 90km and takes three hours. About half of the journey is on the open sea with the rest being in Wellington Harbour, the Tory Channel and the Queen Charlotte Sound. It's definitely a journey which should be made in daylight as the approach to Picton along Queen Charlotte Sound is stunning. We had chosen to stay the first couple of nights in a Backpackers' Hostel and, as we disembarked from our ferry, there was a somewhat dilapidated minibus waiting. The state of the minibus however belied the hostel itself which very pleasant and clean. The next morning was quite wet so we dropped in to the i-SITE Tourist Information office and asked what we could do on a wet day. A tour of the Marlborough Wineries was suggested and we booked for the afternoon trip with lunch. We spent the rest of the morning in the fascinating Edwin Fox maritime museum. Our tour guide had her own winery and was an endless source of wisdom on every aspect of running a vineyard. As it was still early spring, we were the only ones on the tour and a winery tour with a personal guide is not to be taken lightly! We finally had to call a halt after six (or was it seven) tasting sessions.

We were travelling down the West coast of South Island as far as Franz Josef glacier and, after a brief overnight stop in Nelson to change buses, our first stop was Punakaiki. Luckily it was high tide with a strong westerly blowing when we arrived and we were able to experience the full force of the blow-holes at the Pancake Rocks. If you think the beaches on Arran are littered with flotsam, it's nothing compared to the huge tree trunks which end up on the beach in Punakaiki, blown across the Tasman Sea from Australia. Travelling by Intercity bus is great fun but you need to be prompt as there is only one bus each day in each direction. So if you stop anywhere it's another 24 hours before you can move on again. In the morning we had time for a short walk along the banks of the Pororari river before returning to the bus stop and the bus for Hokitika.

Hokitika is a craft town and the centre for New Zealand Jade (Pounamu). It's also a big Whitebait fishing area. When we arrived it was only a week or so into the Whitebait season, but it was hard to track any down in the restaurants. New Zealand Whitebait is very similar to our British elvers and usually served in a fritter. After a morning in several of the galleries and craft centres and a quick visit to the local library for an update on our email, it was time to board the next bus to Franz Josef glacier.

Franz Josef has an annual rainfall of 5,100 mm which is nearly three times that of the wettest parts of Arran and it seemed as though a lot of it fell whilst we were there! We had hoped to fly over the glacier in either a plane or a helicopter, but the cloud base was too low the whole time, so we had to content ourselves with daytime television, lots of reading and a visit to the West Coast Wildlife Centre. Run by the Department of Conservation, it is the official breeding facility for the Rowi - also known as the Okarito brown kiwi. They are only found in the Franz Josef area and with fewer than 400 birds left in the wild, are the world’s rarest kiwi.

The three nights at Franz Josef were a welcome break in our journey and, despite the rain, it seemed all too soon before we had to set off North again for Greymouth.

Sally Campbell sends us a photo of a van in Norfolk, where the designation of Blakeney Marshes as a potential Marine Protected Area caused outrage among local residents. Two thousand of them, including fishermen, samphire-gatherers, bait-diggers, duck-shooters and winkle-pickers signed a petition to Defra Minister Richard Benyon - and won. Normal for Norfolk, as the saying goes.

North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb handed a 1,185-strong petition to this week, highlighting local opposition to Natural England’s plans to designate Blakeney Marshes a Marine Conservation Zone. A decision on whether to include Blakeney in a public consultation on the proposed sites is expected any time now.

The proposal, first mooted more than a year ago, would see access to the area restricted and has prompted deep concern among local people. It is feared that if the plans go ahead they could have a negative economic impact, affecting local fishing and harming tourism. It could also end traditional activities such as samphire-gathering and bait-digging.

www.fishnewseu.com employs a chirpy editor whose headlines are often worth a smile.

RSPC, eh? appeared recently over a report that the RSPCA is awarding its Freedom Food certification to Scottish farmed salmon, to the immense indignation of the Salmon and Trout Association.

Head-less boat blamed for death was equally apposite, though it told the sad story of a scallop dredger crewman, lost when relieving himself overboard because the boat had no ‘head’ - meaning toilet.

The details are appalling. The Kirkcudbright-based scallop dredger, St Amant, was equipped with a toilet when built, but this had been removed. The crew’s only washing facility was the galley sink, and their lavatory was the sea. Since the crew often stayed on board for up to ten days, the domestic state of things must have been unspeakable. There was no fridge, either. Scallops, anyone? No, thank you.

On Wednesday, January 16th, a trawler called Amy Harris went on fire off the south coast of Arran. The crew of four put out a distress call just before 3.00pm and made their life raft ready for use, but a helicopter from HMS Prestwick arrived in time and winched the men to safety. They were all uninjured, and were taken to Campbeltown.

My name is Yajun Deng. Everybody calls me Ya, so when Scottish people say “Hiya” to each other, I think they are saying hello to me. I am from Sichuan (Szechuan), a province that is famous for its spicy Chinese food, so perhaps I‘m also a Spice Girl! I did my master‘s degree in Economics at Glasgow University, but I never liked finance and did not want to work in a bank. Talking to people and meeting new friends is much more fun, so I began to dream of becoming a journalist. I got a two-year post-study work visa, but could not find a job, so I set up an online magazine called ChinaGirlsAbroad and set out to discover more about Scotland that would interest Chinese people. Someone told me that Arran is Scotland in miniature, so it seemed a good place to start.

On the ferry, I met Susie Thompson, who makes dragons! Chinese people claim to be the descendants of dragons, so of course I was fascinated. I went to Susie‘s home the next day and was amazed by her dragon collection. Most of them are of Susie‘s own making. There are dragons in tins, a dragon clock, dragon embroidery and a dragon couple, as well as wedding cakes, love-birds, the Mad Hatter, and lots of mice. All of them are made in such detail.

I fell in love with Arran at once. The most magical thing about it is that you can be in the forest at one minute and the next, you are beside the sea. You can spend ages listening to the birds singing and smelling the wild flowers, cycling or jogging or climbing the mountain, playing with the colourful stones, looking around the castle. Everything is so beautiful and peaceful, and people are so friendly. So there was my first article for ChinaGirlsAbroad!

China‘s economy is developing dramatically, and so are people‘s minds. Changes that took the western countries hundreds of years to go through are happening in China within one generation. People are going abroad and finding out about other countries, and for girls particularly, there are new freedoms that used to be unthinkable. Most people from my parents‘ generation (especially girls‘ parents) would never think it‘s all right to have sex before marriage, but the truth is over 70% of young Chinese now do have sex before they get married. There are still many things that people don‘t talk about in China, like mental illness, sexual abuse and domestic violence, or being gay. But such issues are being increasingly discussed, so the purpose of ChinaGirlsAbroad is to encourage public debate about those sensitive but important issues and to look at alternative attitudes towards them that we may find in western countries. All that apart, the magazine wants to tell students how to have a good time abroad, so we will run features about good things to eat and good places to go. We will advise on how to find the best way around a new city and where to sample its music, films and festivals, how to enjoy its humour and meet interesting people.

Please click on the links below:

chinagirlsabroad.com - Isle of Arran

www.chinagirlsabroad.com - Susie Thompson

The packs of smoked mackerel sold in the Brodick Co used to contain three tiny fish. One of us from the Voice wrote to the Co-op to point out that juvenile fish of this size were far too young to breed, and killing them meant that the species couldn’t reproduce itself and would die out even faster. This was met with an automated reply and we didn’t have much hope that anything would be done - but perhaps other people were equally concerned. Whatever the cause, packs of smoked mackerel sold in the Co now consist of three fair-sized fillets - ie. one and a half mature fish, rather than two or three baby ones. We do not, of course, kid ourselves than any fewer little fish are being caught, but at least customer opinion has been listened to. Thank you, Co-op.

Jan Inglis is well known to her friends and lucky guests as a creator of inventive and delicious food. In the first of a regular series, she offers this recipe for a rich, red, immensely tasty soup.

Beetroot Soup

Ingredients

Onion, 1 medium-sized
Potato, 1 small
Raw beetroot, 1lb (450grms)
Butter or margarine, 1oz (25grms.)
Vegetable stock, 2 pints (1.21ltrs.)
Cider vinegar, 3 tables.(45mls.)
Yeast extract, 1 teasp.(5ml.)
Salt & pepper to taste
Ground nutmeg to taste
Soured cream or yoghurt
Chopped parsley

Chop the vegetables. Melt the butter and sauté the onion until transparent.
Add potato, beetroot and stock, bring to the boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for ½ an hour.
Allow to cool, then blend in liquidiser. Return to saucepan, add remaining ingredients, season generously.
Reheat to serving temperature and then stir in the cream or yoghurt and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

May be served chilled.

Serves 6.

Ingredients

Bacon and Egg Pie
250g shortcrust pastry – ready-made or your own
90g cold unsalted butter for the filling
3 tbsp olive oil
2 large red onions, chopped
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
400g back bacon, chopped
6 eggs
Salt and pepper
Handful of fla -leaf parsley, torn

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/355°F/Gas mark 4.
Heat the olive oil in a large, thick-based pan.
Add the chopped onion and soft brown sugar and cook, stirring over a gentle heat, for about 10 minutes.
Add the chopped bacon and cook, still stirring, for another 5 minutes, until it is a juicy pink colour but not crispy. Remove from the heat.
Whisk the eggs in a jug and season well with salt and pepper.
Roll out the pastry to fit a 30cm (12in) tart tin.
Bake blind for 15-20 minutes, until the pastry is lightly coloured and dry.
Remove from heat and turn the oven down to 170°C/340°F/Gas mark 3.
Arrange the bacon and onion mixture on the base of the par-cooked tart and pour in the seasoned egg mixture. Sprinkle with fresh torn parsley.
Cook for a further 35-40 minutes, until the tart is firm in the centre.