Depute Head in charge of Primary and Pre 5, Jessie Gray, retired last week after 39 years as a teacher.

Jessie started her teaching career on Tiree at Hillipol Primary School before moving to Dunoon.
She returned to Tiree in 1990 to take up the position of Depute Head teacher.

Now that Jessie has all the time in the world she is planning to pursue her hobbies of travelling sewing and golf.

Particular thanks are due to Monica and Lesley at Hynish who, as usual, make Alan Stevenson House such a great place to bring a group to. Thanks also to William Angus and his crew at Wild Diamond Windsurfing, the airport firemen, Kennedy’s coaches, McLennan’s, McLeod’s, Cal-mac staff, and the many patient motorists who put up with the long ‘snake’ of 28 cyclists!

One of the activities the group did was a clean up of the beach at Happy Valley, bringing back over 20 rubble sacks of assorted rubbish. Included amongst this was a bottle, found by one of the girls, Beth Rocca, which contained a message. Although much of the message was faded, there were contact details there and some information which revealed that the bottle had been launched from Newfoundland in June 2009.

Beth, pictured with the bottle, has emailed the person who has launched it and is quite excited about getting a reply. Thanks again to everyone who helped give these youngsters, who are more accustomed to a big town environment, the opportunity to sample a world that is very different from their every day experience.

Beating some very stiff competition two locals were awarded prizes in the classes they entered.

Iain MacInnes, with British Blue Heifer Ruaig Dotti Et, who was placed 2nd in her class to the eventual reserve female leader. Iain was also 3rd in class to the overall reserve champion with British Blue Bluebell Conor.

A fantastic win for 15 year old Alasdair with his homebred shearling tup. Placed 1st out of a class of 40, Nutcracker went on to win Male Champion then won the Supreme Beltex Champion from 245 entrants, the largest sheep section at the Show.

Over 150 people attended a public meeting on 15th June to discuss the likely impacts of the proposed offshore wind farm at Skerryvore. Tish MacKinnon, chair of the Tiree Community Development Trust, led the meeting and Lloyd Gudgeon, the Trust’s Manager, made a short presentation. Ralph Thornton and Morna Cannon from the developers Scottish Power Renewables were on hand to answer questions, as were Councillors Len Scoular and Donald McIntosh, along with several senior officials from the Planning Department, HIE, the Health Board and the Police.

The wind farm will be huge, costing £6 billion to build (at todays prices) and estimated to provide about 20% of Scotland’s electricity needs. The impact it will have on Tiree will also be huge, with an influx of people coming to work for the wind farm, new housing, much wider roads and bigger harbour and more jobs. It will also bring helicopters, noise and disruption to what has been up to now a peaceful place.

The meeting heard how plans to site between 300 and 500 giant wind turbines (some up to three times the height of Skerryvore) between the land and the lighthouse would require major structural alterations to the Island including a building the size of a football pitch to house the equipment to convert the electricity when it comes ashore and up to 4,000 square meters of office buildings. In answer to a question from a resident, Ralph Thornton admitted that there was no way the islanders could stop the wind farm from going ahead if consent is given by the Scottish Energy Minister.

Opinions of locals is divided, some feel that the development will bring only good to the island – upgrading to health, housing, education and policing and the potential creation of jobs and leisure amenities along with a possible community financial bonus being amongst the improvements on offer. Others feel that the necessary changes to the Island “will destroy our whole way of life, this will be the end of Tiree as we know it” and that “our gaelic culture will suffer and we will lose our peaceful existence. No doubt this scheme will be railroaded through in the guise of national necessity, no doubt some people will get very rich out of this construction at the expense of others”.
Andrew Montgomery, factor to the Duke of Argyll, told the meeting;
“ No one could, in their wildest dreams imagine the impact this development will make on Tiree. Argyll Estates has a duty of care for the people of Tiree and the island and having attended this meeting we now have serious concerns about the plans which will affect the way of life here”
One resident pointed out that “whether we want it or not if the wind farm goes ahead we must get a decent rate of return on our investment. Our whole way of life will change, and it must not be allowed to change for the worse .”

It was also revealed that two other off shore energy installations are being proposed for the seas around Tiree – one a wave power installation, the other a further wind turbine site. This could mean the contract workers and maintenance crews for all three sites could be based here, turning Tiree into a huge terminal for renewable energy possibly changing the very essence of Tiree beyond all recognition and repair.

The meeting finished with a renewed mandate being given to the Trust to continue working on behalf of the community to ensure we do not suffer unduly from this development, should it go ahead.

Background documents and links to relevant sites can be found on the Trusts website; www.tireetrust.org.uk

There could hardly have been a better way for Tiree RFC to have ended their first full season than to have had four of our players represent Argyll and Bute against Uddingston RFC’s touring U16 and U17 sides.

It has been an excellent year that has seen the number of pupils attending the rugby club increase both at primary and secondary levels. We have had a couple of visits from Billy Thomson, the SRU’s representative for Argyll and Bute, which have been extremely useful and thoroughly enjoyed by the pupils. The skills of all of the youngsters who have attended the Saturday morning club have increase drastically and this was very evident in our four players that went to Mull last weekend.

Three of the four boys had never played in a rugby match before and I am sure that the thought of going into a full contact game against extremely experienced players must have been daunting but our boys never showed it. Jamie MacDonald and Daniel Hayes both played the first half of the U16 game and put in very solid performances.

Jamie was the first to put all his practice to the test by putting in a thumping tackle against a significantly larger opponent, who ended up landing on top of him, much to Jamie’s surprise. Daniel, not one to be upstaged, decided to take on two of the opposition and ended up at the bottom of an eight man ruck (pile-on). He did win the ball for his side but unfortunately ended up with a twisted ankle for his efforts and had to sit the rest of the game out. Bruce Thomson, the club’s only experienced player, was on for the full match as a wing forward and despite having never been in a scrum before seemed to know exactly what he was doing. He was the nemesis for the Uddingston team as not one player was able to get passed him and he seemed to be everywhere. His performance was so solid that it drew the attention of the Argyll and Bute county team scout. Ewen, unfortunately, only got onto the pitch for the last 10 minutes of the U16 game but still managed to stamp his mark. The first time he got his hands on the ball he made a great run, breaking through one tackle and making 10 yards on the ‘gain line’ before he was brought down but he retained possession for his team. He then went on to play for the U17 side where he was positioned in forwards and continued Tiree’s new but rising reputation of producing formidable tacklers.

All of our boys put in excellent performances and played a crucial role in securing a 19-5 victory for the U16s and an 18-5 victory for the U17s. A special mention should also be made to Sean, Finn and Jack who have attended almost every training session since the club started. Also to George, Joseph, Connor, Beatrice and Colin who have attended regularly as well as all of the others who have started to turn up.

The club is growing in numbers and ability and it would not have happened if it wasn’t for these youngsters coming along on Saturday mornings. Of course nothing would have happened at all if it hadn’t been for the time and effort that has been volunteered by Tiree’s rugby champion, Aurélie Stevens, and the coaches Steve Thomson, Bruce Kemp and Robert Trythall.

The rugby club would like to thank ‘Active Schools’ for the funding that they have provided which will help us get more equipment and subsidised last weekends trip to Mull. Also to Tiree School for making the premises available on weekends and the support we have received from the PE department.

The club has gone from strength to strength and will hopefully continue to do so as Tiree rugby has already started to get a reputation for itself and I am confident that this is just the beginning of great rugby achievements for the youth of the island. As for future Scotland players, watch this space……………

As past and present members arrived for the lunch they were welcomed with a complimentary drink from the hotel.

They were able to peruse the display set up with photographs and articles of events spanning the fifty years. When everyone was seated, the president, Caroline Maclean welcomed the group. After the meal, Caroline talked about the minutes of the first meeting held fifty years ago and read out cards from the former presidents who were unable to attend.

The only two original members from that meeting were Annie MacKinnon amd Nan MacLean, who were invited to cut the cake, which Caroline had made for this special occasion.

After the lunch photographs were taken in the lovely sunshine, the members enjoyed the lively conversation and the occasion will become one of the memories to recall in fifty years time. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the delicious lunch and service on this celebratory occasion.

Members of the Tiree Workshop were given an interesting insight into the work of an Argyll-based charity by the co-founder when he visited the island recently.

Mr John Challis told the workshop group, which meets in the business centre each Friday, how eight containers of medical equipment, agricultural and other humanitarian aid are shipped to Malawi each year.

Accompanied by his wife Sue, Mr Challis thanked the workshop members for their support over the last few years. Mrs Challis, who helped set up the charity with her husband when they owned the post office at Struchur, Argyll, said that financial help from the Tiree group was appreciated. But, she said, the 10-inch high teddy bears knitted by the group were a “big hit” with the orphans in Malawi.“These children have nothing and the look on their faces when they are given one of the teddy bears is a delight to see.”

Fiona Maxwell thanked the couple, who run the Raven Charity from Struchur, on behalf of the group.

As part of the Skills for Work programme Ruaridh Munn and Ewan Brown have been helping at The Reef Reserve since 2009.

The help they have given includes building a stock bridge over a burn – ensuring easier accesss for cattle to different parts of the reserve, providing new areas of nesting habitat by raking out gravel and sorting out waterlevels in the wetland area of the reserve.

John Bowler from the RSPB says “ Both Ruaridh & Ewan have been a real asset to the reserve over the last few months and have worked really hard to learn new skills and then put them to good use. They built the new bridge in around 2 hours, but it will hopefully last for years and make it easier for stock to move between wetland compartments without them churning up the ditch-banks as they had been doing”