Issue 5

For a single, one-of payment of just £35 – or £20, if you are a non-profit organisation – you can have six full-colour adverts, one for each issue of the monthly Voice for Arran. This will promote your business right through the summer season and into Christmas and the New Year. Click on Advertisements for details, or e-mail us on info@voiceforarran.com  You will help us to meet our expenses – and we provide really great adverts. Help yourself! It’s the best deal you are ever likely to see.

On Sunday 12th June, don’t miss this extraordinary murder mystery film at Corrie Hall, starting at 8.00 pm. Lone Star, directed by John Sayles, is set in the fictional small border town of Frontera in Texas. It begins with two off-duty soldiers finding a partially buried human skull – with a Masonic ring lying beside it.

The remains turn out to be those of Charlie Wade, who had been Sheriff forty years earlier and disappeared in mysterious circumstances. Wade is played by Kris Kristofferson, better remembered as a singer/song-writer, though he won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford to study English literature. Chris Cooper plays the present-day Sheriff, Sam Deeds, whose late father, Buddy Deeds, became Sheriff after the disappearance of Wade. Buddy was a hugely admired public figure, but Sam starts to realise that his father may have been implicated in the killing. Men who knew both Buddy Deeds and Charlie Wade warn Sam that some things are best left hidden. However, the young Sheriff is determined to discover the truth. His investigations bring him into touch, (literally and delectably), with Pilar Cruz (Elizabeth Peña), whom he had known as a teenager until his father forbade him to see her any more. Sam had assumed that his father’s disapproval of Pilar was due to anti-Hispanic racial prejudice, but he uncovers facts that prove there is far, far more to it than that.

Lone Star will keep you on the edge of your seat, but it also has far-reaching things to say about the tensions that run below the surface in a multi-racial community. It’s an exciting, very intriguing film. The showing is open to the public and there is no charge, but a contribution to the Corrie Hall fund would be appreciated from those who are not Film Club members

see http://www.arranart.com/corriefilmclub.html

This coming Sunday, June 5th, sees the Lochranza Choir celebrating its 10th anniversary with a special concert in Lochranza Hall at 7.30 pm. (Please note the time, as the choir has been known to perform in the afternoon during the winter, as not everyone likes turning out on a dark and possibly stormy night.) As ever, this concert is directed and accompanied by the magical resident duo, Diana and Douglas Hamilton, as conductor and accompanist. The programme includes the whole of the Fauré Requiem, Mozart’s well-loved Ave Verum and the glorious Wie Lieblich Sind Deine Wohnungen (sung in its original language) from the Brahms German Requiem. There’s a good range of light-hearted music as well, ranging through West Side Story to a roistering version of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, and the Saints will come marching into Lochranza Hall like you ain’t never heard before. The audience gets its chance to join in as well, and the whole evening looks set to be a lot of fun. Tickets at the door cost £5, and proceeds will go to the Beatson Cancer Institute.

Virginia Rushton

 “The Natural, Hewn; The Practical, Honed” was the perfect title for Tim Pomeroy’s show that ran from 4 – 27 May at Agnew’s very prestigious gallery in Albermarle Street, London. Virginia Rushton, a long-standing friend of Arran, sends us this report.

I nearly walked past Agnew’s gallery in busy Albermarle Street, all patisseries and posh shops and galleries peddling the world’s arts and crafts.  But in the last fraction of time, Tim’s name, discreetly announced in white on a plate glass window, flicked into my field of vision.  You have to ring for permission to enter, so there is a moment for adjusting to a world from which you are separated by glass, and other things too; this world is calm, uncluttered, discreet. 

The atmosphere is created by and imbued with the quality and characteristics of Tim Pomeroy’s work.  The display of twenty-three exhibits, including sculptures and two-dimensional art works, is striking for its lack of colour; except for one piece covered in gold leaf and the occasional gold embellishment, every piece is monochrome.  The other striking thing is that nothing is superfluous, it is absolutely not “in your face”:  This art compels you to stand still and watch and – surprisingly – listen.

It is all so deceptively simple.   Each piece is rooted in the every-day or the natural: on one level you recognise something represented. String II looks like a weaver’s roll of yarn but the meticulously carved marble celebrates texture and line and pattern, invites the eye to travel the pathways of thread, leading through eye to mind to imagination.  Starfruit, in Portland stone, looks like its title; the planes of the shaped stone display grains and tonal flecks like fossilised pollen dust; but the shape itself reminded me of a jet propeller, and the piece confronted me with an uneasy juxtaposition, paradox and contradiction.  Mimosa in its composition of replicated globes of blossom cannot exist if even one globe is missing.  Something very interesting is going here.

Shape and material seem to be interdependent in Tim’s work.  But how does it work? What was it in a piece of Carrera marble that inspired him to shape a whorl?   What did the marble’s veins trigger in his imagination? What does the smooth whorl, a kind of materialisation of concentric circles that contain both nothing and something, suggest to the imagination and, indeed, to the mind of the person who contemplates it?

This is above all an exhibition for watching and for contemplation.  The sculptor’s skill of eye and steady hand allied to an inner thought and understanding really do make out of stone a visible pulse and rhythm through form and detail.  Here Tim’s other skills as poet and musician seem to be playing their part too: the power of each piece to resonate is truly astonishing.

Nicholas Usherwood wrote with great truth in the exhibition catalogue “...these are sculptures that reach out and touch us also for, as the painter Ken Kiff once observed ‘images that can have meaning for other people can only come from sources deep within oneself. If they come from these sources other people share them.’”

Click pictures below to see them in more detail.

Tim’s wife, Josephine Bruikheuzen, also well known as an artist, is pictured here with Kenneth Gibson at the opening of her one-woman show in the Dutch Consulate in Edinburgh. Unfortunately access is by appointment only as it's a working consulate with security issues.

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You can now get in touch with Arran Community Council on its new, splendidly clear website, www.arrancommunitycouncil.org.uk . It comes up at the top of the Google list and has clocked up nearly 600 visitors since it became available last week, so it is obviously doing something right! Beautifully designed by John Baraclough, it has contact information about all Community Councillors and details what the ACC does and when its meetings are. If you have any queries, suggestions or a point of view to express, there’s a contact box for that purpose, together with a list of current topics that are of particular concern.

The Arran Community Council minutes will now be published on that site.

Jim Henderson

On Saturday 14th May the Arran contingent heading for the big event in George Square, Glasgow, hit a snag when there was no train beyond Paisley.  Buses said to be waiting at Johnstone were not there, so arrival in the Square was a bit delayed. But they got going quickly and the event was a resounding success. A representative of Glasgow Council said that the attendance on Saturday was almost a record for an event being held in the Square.

Stalls mounted by a vast array of island businesses from Arran Asia to Arran Dairies, with every kind of enterprise in between, raised great interest. In the main large marquee Arran food was on sale and samples of whisky from the Arran Distillery were much appreciated. In the main Square Radio Clyde was mounting a live live radio show, and on the stage of the Arran Haulage lorry Arran Events was offering a great array of talent from Arran performers. .

All the bands had at least one participant with an Arran connection, and several were totally island-based. The memorable ones were Johnny and the Jetpatchers, the Biff Quartet, Rambling Boys & Robin & Amy. The music certainly did a lot to encourage the public to stay around for most of the day

Returning home on Sunday, feeling a bit tired but well satisfied with the weekend, there was again a glitch when a replacement bus meant to leave Central at 4.15 was rescheduled for 4.50. Would it make the ferry? After some frantic mobile phone calls to Cal Mac, the ferry waited and all was well.

Thanks to www.rumble.tv for Pictures in the Square & Jim Henderson for pictures of the dog & the Band

The first Open Meeting of the Arran Mountain Festival was held on 10 May at the Arran Mountain Rescue Team’s base at Cladach.  The evening was a resounding success with a good mix of islanders coming along to hear about the pass successes of the Festival and the highlights of the forthcoming one, 16-19 September 2011.

The annual Festival enables locals and visitors alike to explore Arran’s fantastic mountains in the safe hands of experienced guides.  In its fifth year the Festival attracts many repeat visitors to the island.  It is a community-run event, organised by a committee of volunteers and made possible by dedicated volunteer walk leaders donating their time and expertise.

The Festival concentrates on high level all-day walks. This year there are 18 walks on offer over the four days, taking in 14 different routes, including Caisteal Abhail and Cir Mhor, Three Beinns, and the A’Chir ridge walk.  There are six new routes this year: the walks programme will be on the website shortly, and bookings will open on 1 June  www.arranmountainfestival.co.uk  There is a 2-day navigation course on offer and other outdoor activities in conjunction with Arran Adventure and Flying Fever.

A tour of the Arran Mountain Rescue Team’s base following a presentation by the Festival chair, Corinna Goeckeritz.  The Team provides vital search and rescue assistance to walkers and climbers.  It is made up of volunteers from the island who give up their time freely and without pay when an emergency arises.  All Team members receive regular training through a mix of formal courses and workshops at the base and planned exercises out on the hills and mountains.  The Festival especially thanks the AMRT for the use of their base for the Festival meeting, and for their continued support over the years of the Festival.

For anyone that didn’t make it along to the Mountain Rescue base, the Festival is still looking for volunteers, “Friends of the 2011 Arran Mountain Festival”, and Sponsors.  All Festival supporters will receive a 2011 Arran Mountain Festival car sticker.  If you would like to support the Festival, email info@arranmountainfestival.co.uk or phone Corinna on 01770 302462.

Jim Henderson

In that first bitter winter of 1829, the Arran emigrants to Canada could not have survived without the help of the Abenaki Indians, who had a small encampment on the north shore of Lac Joseph. A larger camp of some 100 Indians was located near Lysander Falls approximately 15 miles further north, on the Becancour River.. The difficulty of communication must have been extreme, for the Indians spoke no language but Algonquian, but the Scots were in desperate straits and had nobody else to ask for advice.

The Abenaki (or Wabanaki), meaning People of the East, had been a widespread tribe of about 40,000 people, occupying New England, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and New Brunswick, occupying their traditional lands for as much as 10,000 years. Their villages were always on agricultural land beside rivers that they could navigate in their bark canoes, and their livelihood depended on hunting, trapping, fishing, and gathering nuts and berries. Their communities shared maize, beans, corn and squash, ensuring that everyone had enough. During the winter period they moved around following the herds of game, returning to their villages by the rivers in the spring. But when the first Europeans arrived in the 16th century they brought with them diseases to which the Indians had no resistance. An epidemic of unknown illness in 1570 decimated their numbers, and typhus in 1586 followed by smallpox in the early 1600s reduced the tribe to about 5,000. Over the next 150 years they were almost wiped out by recurrent epidemics of influenza, diphtheria, measles and chicken pox. After the American Revolution [1775 – 1783] the total number of Abenaki was little over 1,000. In 1759 Major Robert Rogers and his rangers fought the French and Abenaki, a story told in the film Northwest Passage. It was almost the end for the Indians. Then the settlers themselves took a hand to improve things.

By 1830 a mission had been established on the Becancour River, later called the ‘Wolinak Reserve’. Many of the Abenaki spent their winters there, moving to Lac Joseph and Lac William to trade fish in the spring and summer period with the settlers. This may have been the reason why they were so helpful to the Arran settlers – for by then the Abenaki were losing their traditional lands to forestry and mining development, and their sustainable independence was becoming harder to maintain. Many of them left the land, but a few remained in the Inverness area, maintaining links with the Scots, becoming more inter- dependent on each other. One Indian called Peter Mountain was renowned for his knowledge as a herbalist and clarinet player. He became the Scottish families’ physician and was buried in the Boutelle cemetery located on the Dublin Road, Inverness. Today there is a population of approximately 12,000 Abenaki Indian people, spread over Canada and the United States of America.

Footnote:

From the late 18th century, European Canadians encouraged Aboriginals to assimilate into their own culture, and these attempts worsened into forced integration. As in Australia, the residential school system that removed Aboriginal children from their homes for placement in Christian-run schools has led to suggestions that Canada can be tried in the international court for genocide. In 2008 Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued an apology on behalf of the Canadian government and its citizens for the residential school system

Lucy Wallace

“Granite….” The name rolls around my gritted teeth. I’m a lover of granite, and just saying the word makes me want to climb mountains and feel rough crystals against my palms.   If geologists are interested in how rocks are formed, mountaineers obsess about how a rock feels to feet and fingers. Granite is a rock for the tactile. Formed deep in the bosoms of volcanoes, a geologist will tell you that the main constituents of granite are quartz, feldspar and various forms of mica. The sizes of the crystals define its texture. It is featureless, massive, and hard.

My love affair with granite began with wrestling the gymnastic crags of the Cornish coast, before it flourished on the warm rosy slabs of the Alps. Here on Arran it has matured in to a slow burning passion that draws endless delight from perfect pockets, biting cracks and wind- sculpted hollows.  At the end of a hard day in the Northern Hills, my hands are stinging from hours of happy tussling with an unforgiving but eternally intriguing rock.

           
Today Arran is shining like a jewel in the sea. I’m looking forward to a day walking a tightrope of granite that hangs from the sky like a twinkling curtain from Sannox to Brodick. I will climb quickly, and then hardly descend until I reach Goatfell, my feet treading a highway in the heavens hewn of solid rock.
 
           
Leaving the main path in Glen Sannox I cut up above the glen towards the Devil’s Punchbowl. Shadowy sunless cliffs loom above me, their mood in keeping with the sinister name. Just below the coire rim, a rough deer track cuts under the slopes of Cioch na h’Oighe.  A loose path weaves between steeper sections of scrambling, and I seek the direct route on bare rock wherever possible. I feel my way up creased slabs of cold granite. Thousands of years of rain and seeping vegetation have worn the slabs smooth and I search out grooves and hidden edges for my boots. Already my hands feel sore and black peat is rammed under my fingernails. The way is steep.
 
           
Breathing heavily, at last I crest the wave of rock, and I’m perched on the summit of the Cioch that curls upwards in to the heavens. A cold wind hits my face and the sudden sunlight dazzles me. My hands look pink and raw. It is time to hunker down between the summit blocks to refuel for the next stage.  I lie back against a boulder and look up at the blue sky. Briefly, the sickle shape of a soaring kestrel arcs overhead before diving in to the rocks far below.

Beyond the Cioch, a narrow ridge of jumbled blocks and heathery notches forms a bridge to the massive bulk of Mullach Buidhe. Most of the difficulties can be avoided, but it is more fun I think to pick my way over the tottering blocks balanced against each other on the crest. They look improbable, but the colossal friction of hard crystals and their sheer tonnage mean that they have come to an enduring rest in these positions. In between, the wind and the rain have eroded softer sections of the ridge, leaving treacherous scoops of golden gravel, ready to sweep the unwary into Glen Sannox.

Before long, I’m labouring my way up the slopes of Mullach Buidhe.  The ridge widens, and the heather gives way to a miniature rock garden of mosses that cling to the loose slopes in the wildest of weather. Mullach Buidhe itself is a broad peak with several craggy tops and a steep west face. A lone raven sits on the highest, and as I approach, the bird flings itself in to the abyss before shooting back in to view with a raucous cry on an updraught as if fired from a cannon. On this sunny day, Mullach Buidhe itself feels like a rocky meadow floating high above the world.  The grass here is soft and short, and the gentle gradient gives my hands and legs a rest. Looking down and left towards the sea, I can see the village of Corrie shining in the sunlight on the shore while further out, the Caledonian Isles is emerging from Brodick Bay. It is breezy, and even from here I can see the whitecaps skipping past her. I drop down from Mullach Buidhe, and begin the climb up to the summit of North Goatfell.  Here I get my first glimpse of in to Glen Rosa, and the scrambling begins again. From North Goatfell there is an escape path that runs along the east side of the ridge. This is a useful route for those who don’t like heights or in poor weather.  The scramble over the top of Stacach ridge itself although short, involves serious situations and one or two “technical” moves.

I slither down from North Goatfell over granite slabs and turn my attention to the ridge.  A series of blocky tors bar my way and I must seek out the easiest way up, over and down each one. The largest involves a series of shelves above a huge drop, known as the “Giant’s Steps”. Climbing these is like getting out of a swimming pool over and over again, and I inelegantly heave my way on to each shelf. The rock here is fantastic. Rough slabs grip the soles of my boots reassuringly while I grapple with coarse blocks and flakes. I get a few grazed knuckles, but it is a small price to pay. I take my time, savouring each moment, as Goatfell looms into view.

At the highest point on Arran a magnificent panorama unfolds before me. The deep defile of Glen Rosa drops away suddenly, and each of the buckled peaks of the Goatfell Range rises up to meet me. A ribbon of ocean encircles the island, and beyond I pick out Ben Lomond, the Arrochar Alps, and the Paps of Jura.  I know that I can see Glencoe from this point, but it is impossible to identify the individual peaks amongst the tangle in the north. To the south, I can see Ailsa Craig like a distant cone floating on the sea, and the shadowy shape of Northern Ireland against the sun.

At last from here my way is down, and I stick to the natural line of my journey, taking the bouldery South Ridge of Goatfell for as long as possible.  Finally, I say goodbye to this fine granite highway just before it plunges steeply to Glenshant Hill, and turn east down a heathery flank towards the main path that takes me safely back to Brodick. 

Tips for enjoying Arran’s hills:

• Make sure you are properly equipped for changeable mountain weather.
• Always carry a map and compass and know how to use them.
• Take your litter home with you
• Leave a route card with your estimated return time.

The chunky silhouette of Ailsa Craig is well known to us on Arran, as well as to seafarers. Its sugar-loaf shape used to be known as Paddy’s Milestone, a welcome sight to the Irish ferries heading for Ardrossan or Glasgow, or even for today’s returning air passengers looking down at the familiar marker.

Ailsa Craig, with its 245 acres of largely bare rock, used to be occupied by a family who made a living by hewing blocks of the uniquely close-grained granite to be shaped and polished into curling stones. A part of the little island has fertile soil, and with sheep and goats, chickens and vegetables, life could be sustained and enjoyed. But now the island, owned by the 8th Marquess of Ailsa, is being sold for an asking price of £2.5 million.

Knight Frank and Vladi Private Islands are handling the sale of Ailsa Craig and also of Sanda Island off the east coast of the Mull of Kintyre. The Craig is leased to the RSPB until 2050, but Dr Dave Beaumont, RSPB Scotland regional reserves manager, stressed that the organisation could not consider purchasing it at such a high asking price. He said,  “We rely on the generosity of individuals and grants from public and commercial bodies for our income, and as a charity we need to make sure these funds go as far as they can. Our lease on the island runs until 2050, and this currently allows us to achieve our conservation goals. We will be watching the sale closely and will be very keen to work with the new owners to further the conservation of this magnificent island.”

Ailsa Craig is home to the third largest gannet colony in Scotland, and provides a perfect nesting site for guillemots and kittiwakes. For some reason, it also has a population of some of the UK’s largest slow worms. In the 19th century, stow-away rats installed themselves on the island and decimated the population of tens of thousands of puffins that used to breed in burrows at the top of the island’s cliffs. A vigorous rat-eradication programme has been successful, and the puffins are beginning to recover.
 
Landing on Ailsa Craig is not encouraged at present due to the poor state of the pier, as well as possible disturbance to the birds, but there are occasional boat trips, both from Arran and Girvan, which give you a good close-up view of the massive bird colonies.

Find out more by visiting: www.rspb.org.uk/ailsacraig.

Jan Inglis

In the late 90’s a group of local people, knowledgeable boating enthusiasts, decided to build a replica Viking boat to celebrate Arran’s Viking past and to extend their own sailing skills. The boat is based in Corrie port. (Near-by Sannox has a Viking name.) The working group included among others, Mark Brown, Neil Bulger, Luke Furze, the late  Frank Halliwell, Peter McKinnon and Nigel Wilde. They gratefully accepted an offer of working space at Monyquil Farm. A fibre-glass hull for a 50ft. boat was made from moulds lent by a Viking group in County Antrim. After this, they constructed wooden gunwales and thwarts and a 30ft mast together with a set of 10 oars – a considerable undertaking , the finishing work done by Mark Brown and Frank Halliwell.

The boat was named “Black Eagle” by Ewen Bulger. Her Viking character  was further enhanced  by a magnificent eagle-head at the prow and a dragon-tail at the stern, carved by Marvin Elliott who also designed and printed  the sail – the Black Eagle emblem on unbleached canvas with iron-red borders. Her presence has struck both admiration and fear in shipping up and down the Firth.

A Viking Uphellya is held each year. A torch-light procession, including some Picts, walks from Corrie to Sannox keeping pace – more or less – with the “Black Eagle” at sea. After a Pictish/Viking battle onshore, the night ends with a dramatic boat-burning (though not, of course, the “Black Eagle” and fire-works.

The Arran Viking Longship Society, set up in 2002 with a good proportion of women, has sailed and maintained “Black Eagle” ever since she was built. It welcomes new members, offering some work and much pleasure. Membership £15  p/a. Contact Elsa Rodeck on  elsarodeck@gmail.com

see more at http://www.arranart.com/arranvikings/

Judith Baines

Working from found objects is always exciting.  Things can be represented in so many different ways.  A flower or feather can be portrayed in a simple running stitch outline or in appliqué, using various fabrics and threads, as shown in the pictures.  Pebbles, shells and mushrooms look good in 3D.  Cut a circle out of fabric, work running stitch round the edge with strong cotton and pull it up and you have a Suffolk Puff!  Suffolk puffs are invaluable and can be used in lots of different ways, according to what you choose to put inside them.  They can be made of plain fabric and painted or decorated with stitches.  They can be pulled over cardboard or pelmet Vilene shapes.  One child dyed some cotton and made a good representation of the ancient paving slabs in a church.  The bell was a great mathematical challenge, solved by using a compass to make graduated circles.  Only the largest circle at the bottom was pulled round a card disc; the others were just pulled up, secured and threaded on a thin cord.

You’d think it a bit odd if you turned the tap on and the water coming out burst into flames, yes? But a 2011 investigation by the New York Times has investigated samples from 68 private water wells near gas-drilling areas in the US and found methane concentrations so high (17 times above normal) that the water is actually flammable. One of the authors of the study said, "That sort of concentration is up at a level where people worry about an explosion hazard." As well they might. In Colorado, Ohio and Pennsylvania several homes have blown up after gas seeped into their basements or water supplies. In Pennsylvania a 2004 accident killed three people, including a baby. Has the US fuel industry gone completely insane?

No, it’s just responding to the rather secret fact that oil is running out. We are past the ‘peak’ of easy extraction, and from now on, the stuff is going to be harder to find and a lot more trouble to get hold of. So there is a desperate scramble to find new oil and gas resources. You may have noticed the rumpus over the tar sands business, which extracts a rather small amount of oil from ‘washing’ the tar out of tarry sand, a process that discards vast quantities of highly polluted water all over the landscape. More ambitious, and until now easier to hide is Hydraulic Fracturing, known casually as ‘fracking’.

This is a process of drilling down to the rock layers deep in the earth’s strata and splitting them open by forcing water into them. This releases pressurised liquid methane that promptly mixes with water and goes wherever it thinks it will.  Water samples in the states of Pennsylvania and New York were tested and some were found to have 64 milligrams of methane per litre, compared with a normal level of one milligram or lower. The U.S. Department of the Interior has said the average concentration of methane in the water wells near drilling sites is dangerous and requires urgent "hazard mitigation" action. The research was conducted by scientists at Duke University and they found that the gas detected at high levels in the water was the same type that energy companies were extracting from thousands of feet underground. Residents in the areas studied said their water supply had been clean until the ‘fracking’ began.
 “We certainly didn’t expect to see such a strong relationship between the concentration of methane in water and the nearest gas wells. That was a real surprise,” said Robert Jackson, a biology professor at Duke and one of the report’s authors. Methane is not regulated in drinking water, and while research is limited, it is not currently believed to be harmful to drink. But the methane is dangerous because as it collects in enclosed spaces it can asphyxiate people or lead to an explosion.

Could the earth be trying to tell us something?

Chosen by David Underdown

Sonnet of Intimacy

by Vinicius de Moraes

Farm afternoons, there’s much too much blue air.
I go out sometimes, follow the pasture track,
Chewing a blade of sticky grass, chest bare,
In threadbare pajamas of three summers back,

To the little rivulets in the river-bed
For a drink of water, cold and musical,
And if I spot in the brush a glow of red,
A raspberry, spit its blood at the corral.

The smell of cow manure is delicious.
The cattle look at me unenviously
And when there comes a sudden stream and hiss

Accompanied by a look not unmalicious,
All of us, animals, unemotionally
Partake together of a pleasant piss.

 

Vinicius de Moraes (1913 - 80) was born in Rio de Janeiro and nicknamed O Poetinha, the little poet. He was first and foremost a lyricist and pioneered the bossa nova. In this sonnet translated by a fellow alcoholic, Elizabeth Bishop, he captures perfectly the simple pleasures of hot, dusty afternoons and communion with animals.

A warning note comes from Argyll and Bute, who send out chatty and practical e-mails. They point out that presents from well-intentioned gardening pals may land you with a frightful pirate like Japanese knotweed or rhododendron Ponticum – though it’s hard to imagine we’re that daft. It regards Himalayan balsam as a menace, too, along with Gold Deadnettle, and even warns against Skunk Cabbage, that rather exotic damp-loving plant with its startling poker-shaped stamens in an equally bright yellow hood.

Australians are always astonished that Britain makes no attempt to keep out imported plants and soil. Complaints about the arrival of such pests as the New Zealand flatworm are greeted with no sympathy at all – but on the other hand, you can be banned from Melbourne if they find you with an apple in your flight bag. Maybe the Brits have an inbuilt taste for risk – though Health and Safety are clearly unaware of this. The latest idiocy from them was to forbid Marvin Elliott to do chainsaw sculpture in George Square during the Arran weekend. No good pointing out that islanders are perfectly used to this and still retain their hands, feet and fingers

Carers Week runs from 13-19th June this year, and its theme is ‘The True Face of Carers’. It calls for greater recognition for the vast amount of work done by people who have caring responsibilities. Katy Clark MP writes to state her support. She says, “Thousands of people in North Ayrshire and Arran sacrifice not only their time, but also their money and their health in order to care for a loved one. Together they save this country an incredible £119 billion every year. They deserve to be recognised for their contribution to both our local community and to wider society.”

Katy is taking part in Carers Week “to show my respect and appreciation for our carers.” She wants to let them know that there are services out there to help them, and says, “Caring can be so incredibly demanding. It’s important that carers know that they don’t have to struggle on alone.”

For more information about local events and activities taking place as part of Carers Week, visit www.carersweek.org.

To arrange an interview with Katy Clark please contact 01505 684 127.

Birthdays and nostalgia

Alison Prince

In my early years, birthdays were a thrill. The cards, the parcels, the party, a new frock, blowing out candles … it was all marvellously special. The whole thing seemed a kind of miracle, utterly different from normal. But of course, ‘normal’ was so lacking in thrill that a cake with thin little candles on it was truly exciting. It takes more than that now to make a big impression. From what I gather, the birthday child and all its mates has to be taken on some expensive outing, or at the very least stuffed to capacity in Mac Do’s or whatever food outlet is the pet choice. The days of Musical Chairs and Blind Man’s Buff are over.

But miracles are insubstantial things. They melt like frost if you try to do them too often. Like rainbows, they work best against a dark sky. You need a background of mild deprivation to make them truly glow, and in many ways, we’re deprived of deprivation now. Before carers and paramedics start e-mailing to say I should see what they cope with every day, yes, you’re right. There are vast numbers of social casualties and it will get worse in the coming years, but what we don’t have is a background of workable bareness. We live among glitzy objects and an assumption that the norm is a high level of possession and amusement. And that was not true in the early years of people who, like me, are getting on a bit. From a plain background that made a picnic outing memorable, we have moved into an assumption that you can have anything you like – provided that you can pay for it. Perhaps that’s the big difference. Years back, there were dreams that some could afford, right enough, but that was in the world of film stars and the stinking rich, and had nothing to do with us.

The big change happened so fast. Even the basic advances like tractors on farms (if those were an advance – there’s serious doubt now) didn’t really get going until after the war. Looking back, it’s obvious that the idea of ‘having it all’ was a direct result of finding the planet’s apparently boundless oil reserves. It was liquid money, liquid power. It made cheap transport easy, provided plastics and fertilisers and pharmaceuticals, brought us food from all over the world, gave us cars and flights and computers. We relaxed into its comfort and gave up bothering to make things or mend things. And it is all so recent. It started hardly more than half a century ago, which is the blink of an eye in human history, let alone when set against the unimaginable age of the planet. Like almost everyone, I didn’t see that it was going to be a bonanza that would come to an end, but just thought we were in an onward march of progress, ever upward. Clean water, antibiotics, the Internet – are these not blessings? Yes, they are. But the system underlying them is starting to fall apart. Oil is running out. I’m not scare-mongering here, it’s a fact. Best estimates by the economists and scientists give it about another 30 years before it has become too rare to afford.

It’s quite exciting, in a way. We are going to have to find new – or very probably, old – ways of doing things. The vast commercial chains that flog us imported goods will shrivel. Aeroplanes won’t have the kerosene to bring tools and clothes from China. We’ll have to think afresh and rediscover practical skills that we once had. Arran will be better placed to cope than the cities and suburbs, because we have never gone quite so far into the unthinking network of the external, paid-for support system. The challenges are going to be huge,. And so interesting. For the first time in several years, I find myself hoping for a good few more birthdays, to watch what’s going on. At least on Arran we can make our own cake, and our own candles

If you’d welcome a chance to express your views on the Council Tax and Benefits system, NAC is running a survey for the next 4 weeks. On the address below, you’ll find a series of yes/no questions about their target response times, but on the final page there is a box in which you can type words of your own choice to express criticisms or suggestions. Have a look.

http://www.north-ayrshire.gov.uk/NewsArticles/CouncilTaxSurvey.aspx

NAC has announced that it intends to submit a planning application for affordable houses to be built south of Benlister Road in Lamlash, adjacent to the High School sports field. It does not specify the number of dwellings proposed, but plans will be on show between noon and 2.00 pm on Friday, June 24th, in Lamlash Church Hall. If you are interested or concerned about the development, it would be a good idea to go and have a look

In the gradual emptying of Scotland’s seas of most fish species, fishermen have taken some comfort in the belief that at least there were plenty of prawns. However, on May 20th no prawns at all were landed at Fraserburgh, normally the UK’s top prawn port. The Fishnews EU website said one market user described the increasing prawn shortage as “very acute.”

Prawn scarcity is being put down to a number of factors including a general lack of fish plus the impact of closures to protect juvenile fish. The list of challenges facing white fish catchers includes an ongoing haddock scarcity.

John Kinsman

The Brighter Morn , a prawn trawler from Barra, fouled her propeller and was adrift north west of the Cairns of Coll in strong winds and 4 metre seas last Monday, May 16th. The Tobermory all-weather RNLI lifeboat was launched at 3-30pm and, on reaching the drifting trawler, established a tow line, and brought the trawler into the safety of Tobermory harbour. On arrival at the harbour, at 7pm, essential repairs were carried out, and the Brighter Morn was able to return to her home port on Barra and land her catch of prawns.

Anne Adams

Creamed Leeks and Smoked Haddock

Ingredients

(1) 250 ml milk
(2) 200g smoked had dock, flaked
(3) Tiny pinch nutmeg
(4) 55g butter
(5) 400g leeks, cleaned and chopped to ½” rounds
(6)  2tbsp plain/all purpose flour
(7) 50ml single cream
(8) Sea salt and black pepper

Preparation

(1) Place the milk, haddock and nutmeg into a large saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer and poach the fish for 5 minutes.
(2) Remove from the heat, then carefully lift the fish from the milk. Keep the milk to one side.
(3) Melt the butter In a large frying pan over a medium heat until foaming but not burned.
(4) Add the leeks, cover with a tight fitting lid and cook for 10 mins, shaking the pan occasionally.
(5) Remove the lid, add the flour and stir. Cook for two mins stirring constantly, then add the reserved milk and repeat.
(6) Cook the leek mixture over a medium flame for a further five minutes. If the mixture thickens too much, add a little more milk.
(7) Lower the heat, add the haddock and cook gently until the haddock is warmed through -approx 10 mins. Stir in the cream and season with salt and pepper.
(8) Serve on thick chunks of toasted bread with a side salad.

On Friday 8th July, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Wind and Brass ensemble brings a wonderful programme of music by Beethoven, Scheidt, Gounod and Mozart to Whiting Bay Hall, starting at 8.00 pm.  Anyone who has been to the SCO concerts given by its string section in two previous years will be delighted by this chance to hear Scotland’s leading professional chamber orchestra again.

The programme features their talented wind and brass players, and sweeps through three centuries of music , giving each instrument an opportunity to shine. It includes music from Mozart’s The Magic Flute and a special arrangement of Beethoven’s Symphony No 1. Canzona by the early Baroque composer Samuel Scheidt, features two trumpets and two horns, and it is followed by Beethoven’s Sextet for clarinets, bassoons and horns, written when the composer was a young man in his 20s.

Charles Gounod’s light-hearted Petite Symphonie has much in common with Mozart’s popular wind serenades, but whereas Mozart wrote these mostly for oboes, clarinets, horns, and bassoons, Gounod included the flute in his work and created a beautiful solo for the instrument in the second movement. SCO Flautist Lis Dooner spoke with enthusiasm of ‘the charm and elegance of 19th century France.’

The concert is presented in association with the Isle of Arran Music Society. The programme will also have been performed at Seil Island Community Hall, Easdale on the previous Wednesday and at Crear, near Kilberry in Argyll on the Thursday. The SCO’s busy international touring schedule has recently included Italy, Poland, Hungary, Turkey, India, Germany, Austria, Spain, Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the USA. That Arran continues to be included in these magical musical tours is due to the enthusiastic support shown for their concerts in previous years. Make sure you don’t miss this one! These players are truly fantastic.
 
Tickets are £12 for adults, £10 for senior citizens and £5 for children, students and unemployed people. You can pre-book them at Inspirations of Arran in Brodick or online at www.thebooth.co.uk, and they will also be available at the door on the night of the concert.

Rory Cowan

Oliver Hughes of Vigor (www.vigorrenewables.co.uk ) led the meeting to discuss the projected wind turbines in Sliddery. The proposal has been turned down by NAC, but there are further plans to be considered. More than anything Mr Hughes, an ex-merchant banker, was setting out to educate us as to what he was doing on Arran with his firm. He stressed the fact that his company is NOT American and that he was not setting out to plaster windmills across the island. He has three projects which have been running for a little time now. The one in Sliddery has been declined by Planning but is likely to appeal. Mr Hughes is working with Proven Energy on the projects on Arran, but there is no financial relationship between the companies and he works with other companies as well in different parts of the country. He described the projects in some detail in terms of feed-in tarriffs, visual and audible impact etc. Interestingly, he asked how many people at the meeting were pro wind energy. From where I sat it seemed that all but one were in favour. The single dissenter had got her figures together well and was philosophical about the way matters were headed.

The definition of a windfarm apparently is 3 or more turbines in proximity and linked as a project or by ownership. However, there is no definition of ‘proximity.’ Another matter which certainly appeared to be controversial was the lack of joined up policy for the councils to work to. Some think 700 metres from nearest un-associated habitation is OK. Others think 500 metres and some think 200 metres. North Ayrshire seems to have no policy yet, as far as is known.

Janice Christison

Many readers will remember Valdete, the young woman from Albania who was brought to Arran by Sue and Julian Davidson of Whiting Bay in 2008.  Valdete developed cerebral palsy after contracting meningitis at the age of two.   She seemed destined to spend her life in a wheelchair.

However, due to the generosity of the people of Arran and the skill of a pioneering surgeon in a Blackpool hospital, her deformed foot was successfully straightened in 2009 and she could return to her home in Albania for further physiotherapy to help her learn to walk.

A number of her friends on the island have kept in close touch with Vali, as we call her, and have travelled to her home in a suburb of Tirana, the capital, to see her and her family.  Last week it was my turn to fly out to Albania to see for myself. “Albania” I hear some of you say, “whatever can it be like?” Well, I fell in love with the country straightaway.  It is a land of great contrasts.  Only 20 years after the end of the very oppressive Communist regime that left it the poorest country in Europe, Albania is slowly emerging into the modern world. Yes, there is some crime, but there is crime in our own backyard.  It is a beautiful country of mountains and valleys and at Durres you reach the sea, the Adriatic.   I found the people warm and friendly.  Money has been coming into Albania recently with improved roads and some very modern buildings.   All in all, I can’t wait to go back.

Now to Valdete. She continues to charm everyone who comes into contact with her.  She faithfully goes twice a week to physio and continues to improve slowly. But – and it is a very big but – there is so much disability in Albania, a lot of muscular dystrophy but cerebral palsy as well.  Usually disabled people are kept hidden away, as any kind of disability is a real stigma there. That is why a number of us have set up the  Valdete Trust  (a registered charity) to provide a centre where disabled people can come to receive medical treatment, support and information as to how they can help themselves.
If, on reading this, you feel you could offer financial help, it would be most gratefully received.   Donations can be left at the Royal Bank of Scotland, marked for “The Valdete Trust”

On Friday June 10th, the Jazz Café Band will be playing in Corrie Hall. It’s a mere £3 entry, and you can bring your own bottle and settle in at a cosy table. There will be space for dancing if you feel so inclined, or else just enjoy a mixture of traditional jazz, swing and blues, with the wondrous Biff Grey socking it to them like no-one else can.

The Long Emergency, by James Howard Kunstler, was written in 2005, but its shrewd author foresaw the financial meltdown that was looming even then. And he sees a whole lot more, set down in a clear, almost chatty style that holds you riveted. Kunstler, an American of the kind you don’t hear much about, unrolls a persuasive scenario for the future. Oil, he points out, is already more than half used up. Within the next twenty years, we are going to enter an emergency that will not be a matter of weeks but a permanent thing.

The US, with its massive sprawl of comfortable suburbs, depends totally on goods being available through the supermarket chains, notably the super-powerful Walmart – but what will happen when air freight is hit by the growing scarcity of oil? The kerosene-powered jet engine is the only known way to get a big aeroplane into the sky, and scarcity of this fuel will first produce colossal price rises then an actual scarcity. The implications are immediate. Imported goods will dwindle to virtually nothing, and road transport will be increasingly impossible.

The mind boggles uncomfortably at this scenario, and the temptation is to ignore it or deny it. Surely there’s something we can do? Shale oil is being explored, isn’t it? Yes, but the trouble is, the costs of getting some kind of oil out of shale are very high. There is also the small inconvenience that the process leaves vast areas inundated with polluted and highly toxic water – not to mention the other basic fact, that water itself is a finite commodity, not entirely to be relied on.

Kunstler is not entirely downbeat, however. He hold that the coming emergency is going to mean that everything will get much more local. We’ll have to rediscover old skills and be prepared to do a lot more manual work, as we used to before the short-lived oil age of the 20th century snatched us all into its comforts, from which it will drop us as it withers. Communities are going to matter in much more than the woolly way sketched by Westminster’s current leader. Scotland, in fact, is making the best possible start with its determination to move into 100% renewable energy. The movement of wind and water is inherent in the way of the world, and using it involves no burning of ancient subterranean resources. Here on Arran, our topography could not be better. Our hills and tides, wind and rain, are all blessings that may keep us going while cities founder and governments try to think of something sensible to say.
Wha’s like us, indeed.

James Howard Kunstler The Long Emergency, Atlantic Books paperback. £12.99, but you can pick it up on Abe Books (www.abe.books.com ) second-hand section, for half that.

EARTHJUSTICE, acting for a big group of environmental agencies including Greenpeace, Ocean Conservancy and Friends of the Earth, is asking for a proper environmental impact assessment before the first ever genetically engineered (GE) salmon are passed for human consumption. A citizen petition signed by over 400,000 people has been submitted today to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA, urging the Agency to withhold final action until the risks have been properly considered. The petition opposes the “Frankenfish” and demands mandatory labelling of any GE fish approved for sale to US consumers. FDA has not yet taken final action on the AquaBounty application.

The application material released to the public raises serious concerns regarding potential destruction of wild salmon populations. The petitioners argue that the environmental assessment AquaBounty previously submitted, together with the FDA’s evaluation of it, fails to provide assurances that AquaBounty’s AquAdvantage Salmon, engineered to grow twice as fast as wild Atlantic Salmon, will not endanger natural fish populations. The protesters’ concerns are heightened by the fact that AquaBounty has publicly stated its intent to expand production and commercialisation of AquAdvantage Salmon throughout the US and abroad.

George Leonard, Ocean Conservancy’s aquaculture programme director, said, “As far as we and the public can tell, FDA has not comprehensively assessed the full range of environmental risks. Instead, FDA is relying on the company’s own scientific analysis that no fish will escape, survive, or reproduce in the wild—even though that type of security cannot be guaranteed.”

Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director of the Centre for Food Safety, went further. He said, “This genetically engineered fish has no redeeming value. It has lower nutrition and represents other potential hazards to consumers; it puts the entire US salmon industry at risk, and most importantly it could threaten the very survival of our native salmon populations. FDA needs to assess all these risks and then take the only rational step, which is to deep-six this hopelessly misguided and dangerous product.”

Ingredients

8 pieces of monkfish tail
8 to 9 sun-dried tomato-halves per person
1 small shallot, chopped very fine
3 tbsp mixed and chopped herbs: Either a) lemon thyme, rosemary (young leaves) and basil or b) dill, chervil, marjoram, lovage and chives. Use rosemary and lovage sparingly, because they tend to be too dominating.
1 tbsp chopped parsley, preferably the flat-leafed kind
1 pressed garlic clove
1 fresh and very young bayleaf, chopped extremely fine
pepper, freshly ground, and salt
8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1tsp olive oil
1 tsp unsalted butter

Preparation

Cut the dried tomatoes in very fine strips and just cover them with piping hot water. Let them stand for about 20 minutes, then drain. Mix the olive oil and vinegar and add the mixed herbs, parsley, bay, garlic and shallot. Season with pepper and salt to your taste. Let this vinaigrette stand for an hour. Taste it again and balance the flavour, if necessary by adding more of one or another herb, pepper or salt. Put aside until needed.

Melt the butter in a pan, add the oliveoil and heat until it has stopped foaming. Fry the monkfish quite fast but not too long, so it doesn't get dried out. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. After lifting the fish out of the pan, pat it carefully dry with some kitchen paper.

Serve with the vinaigrette and the herbs on top. The fish needs some oil and vinegar on it  as well as the tomatoes and herbs, but be careful not to have them lying in a big oily pool. Serve with rice and a vegetable of your choice. Courgettes go well with the fish.

Since monkfish is not always available and can be quite expensive, I sometimes use fresh scallops instead. Depending on the size, you will need 3 – 5 per person. If you dare, flambé the scallops with a dash of cognac or brandy! The taste is wonderful.

Yellow tree paeony (Paeonia lutea var. ludlowii)

I love this strong shrub,  which produces its lush gold flowers for a few glorious weeks in May. It will reach six feet high and wide, studded with lush bowls of gold, and  when not in flower it's still a handsome foliage plant with elegant deeply cut leaves. Despite the exotic looks, it's from Tibet and as tough as old boots. Easy to propagate when the pods< split open  to reveal  shiny round black seeds the size of marrow peas..

Across
1 Fulcrum, 5 Sack, 8 Advocated, 9 Pot, 10 Kelly, 11 Open air, 12 Fünf, 14 Used, 16 Traipse, 17 Usage, 19 Ire, 20 Upsetting, 21 Apse 22 Tarnish.
Down
1 Frankenstein, 2 Level, 3 Rocky, 4 Method, 5 Sadness, 6 Copland, 7 At arm's length, 12 Flare-up, 13 Neptune, 15 Bedsit, 17 Utter, 18 Alibi.

June crossword by Dave Payn

Across
1 & 16ac Haunting CD release (3,5,2,3,12)
8    Condemned without right and blamed (7)
9    South African girl has a bath (5)
10  Paid Christ to destroy tyranny (12)
11  Lessen the contents of an open fire, then end session (3,3)
13  Politician appearing in television needs sanctuary (6)
16  See 1ac
20  Machine part is the same when back to front (5)
21  Appreciate genuine taste, one hears (7)
22  A country where you can settle in niche, maybe? (12)

Down
1    Relax? About what? (4)
2    Attractive headless impression (7)
3    Eton's strange beginning (5)
4    Natural state of untidy mess (6)
5    Former pupil to distribute catch (7)
6    A bit of a blow (5)
7    Old flame is large model (7)
11  Free Royal Academy when involved in defamation (7)
12  Exhibit in a bureau near the city (7)
14  Particular creep is unhinged (7)
15  Some beavers end up being antagonistic (6)
17  Composer to experience at the weekend, for instance (5)
18  Look at commercials, lots of them (5)
19  Spotted old queen coming out of river (4)

John Baraclough

On Sunday 29th May, the Lauren L visited Brodick. This 90 metre luxury yacht is only four metres shorter than the Caledonian Isles, but only carries a maximum of 40 passengers. Any passenger on this charter yacht is guaranteed the attention of one crew member per passenger. At a charter rate of €635,000 per week that's the minimum one should expect! Unfortunately, even passengers who can afford to travel in this style cannot control the weather and the Lauren L had some trouble landing passengers with one of her lifeboat/tenders and a RIB. She repositioned twice (apparently due to her anchor dragging) but never managed to berth at the pier. Whether it was due to the high winds, or the chosen anchorage for the Lauren L, is not clear but the Caledonian Isles had to reverse out from the pier twice during the day.

Arran Folk festival http://www.arranevents.com/ArranFolkFestival.php

Lamlash Golf News

The first club championship final was held on Saturday 28th May at Lamlash when Euan Evans was in the final for his first time against past champion Iain Murchie. Extremely entertaining to watch, a final which see-sawed, both being 3 up at one stage over the 36 holes. Experience told in the end with Iain winning at the 35th after young Euan found trouble at the short 16th.