The Samsons in the Garngad

From The Garngad – God’s Garden – to the Great Garden – High Corrie By Peter Finlay I started as minister to Townhead Church in 1988. Townhead Church sits atop Garngad Hill in Glasgow’s East End with its amazing 198 foot high spire. The Hill is one of the highest places near the centre of …

Dúlamán

From vital sustenance to the production of iodine, Róisín Á Costello considers the Irish historical importance of seaweed. First published in Caught by the River, 14th August 2022. It is a grey morning and rain is puckering the flat expanse of the Irish sea. If the sun were out, I would be able to see …

National Tree Week: The Tree Charter

First published Tuesday, 19 November 2019, Forestry and Land. The Tree Council’s nation-wide celebration National Tree Week is here, taking place on 27th November to  5th December 2021! Back in 2017, the Council and dozens of partner organisations and charities got together to create The Tree Charter, or to give it its full title, The …

A short history of COP

By Nicolas Eliades. Originally published on 17th September 2021 in The Ecologist online magazine. Featured image credit: Nick Breeze Come to think of it, what does COP26 actually stand for? Most people will by now have heard how Glasgow will be hosting an international Climate Conference in November: COP26. Some may even be aware of …

Share your West Coast Stories

“The Coast that Shaped the World” is a new, three-year project that is being led by the University of the Highlands and Islands, funded by NatureScot’s Natural and Cultural Heritage Fund with match funding from UHI and Calmac. This project will honour the diverse geography of the area and the cultural impact the coastline has …

The 11th Commando – part 6

11th Commando Black Hackle – Part 6 In the final part of his history on the 11th Commando, Jim Henderson takes a closer look at a couple of the soldiers whose lives were closely linked to Arran, and the missions they took part in during the 2nd World War. Marshall, Walters and Burma Walter Marshall …

History repeating itself?

Sent in from Mo khan January 2021. Dippen house caravan, Dippen, Isle of Arran Proof positive that current world events are not as unprecedented as many would suppose.     Histories (Latin: Historiae) is a Roman historical chronicle by Tacitus. Written c. 100–110, it covers c. 69–96, a period which includes the Year of Four …

ShantyTok

ShantyTok: is the sugar and rum line in Wellerman a reference to slavery? By Dr Adrian York, Senior Lecturer in Commercial Music Performance, University of Westminster, writing in The Conversation on January 21st 2021. Featured image shows fishermen singing a sea shanty, circa 1870.Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images Amid the global media coverage of the pandemic …

The 11th Commando – Part 5

In the next part of Jim Henderson’s series, we hear about the 11th Commando’s first engagement at Litani after their period of training on Arran. The featured image shows the Qasmiye Bridge where the 11th Commando were sent. Part 5. The Litani River engagement and Rommel Raid Password ‘Arran’ The first active engagement by the …

Arran Gaelic Place-Names

By Dr Jake King – a blog posted on the Arran Arts Heritage Trail website Arran is first mentioned in an Irish poem of around 1200 as Arand na n-aighedh n-imdha ‘Arran of the many stags’. The majority of the names of larger Scottish islands are very old, and Arran is no exception. We cannot …