The morning of Sat 7th Aug, Regatta Day, was no different from most days this summer;
damp, grey and windy. Not very promising, but by noon, the skies had cleared with the wind easing back to a brisk northerly, giving Regatta Day glorious conditions for both sailing and shore events.

The start line was impressive with 13 boats jostling for position, the most Tiree Regatta has had for some years. The boats included the Tiree renovated lugs, Daisy and Morag Anne, and a stunning 26 ft gaff ketch Freya, which had sailed in from Iona the previous evening. Even more impressive was the actual start, with most of the boats making a perfect start. To the non sailors on the shore it was obvious that a very competitive race had begun.

At the 1st mark, a gybe, there was some very aggressive tactical sailing with Angus Maclean’s Catadh Mara taking the perfect inside line forcing Magnus Laird’s Soa to the outside. Spark, the catamaran, was revelling in the brisk conditions, and notwithstanding having to make an additional round of the course, won the Concise Cup.

The Lugs battled it out with Morag Anne taking the Skippinish Cup just nudging the “all-lady” crewed Passing Cloud on the line. Regrettably 2 of the lugs were forced to retire with jammed rudders which had been caught in creel lines.

Shore-side, Anna Macdonald and Christine Macarthur were having a marathon pillow fight contest. The referee had to call a time-out for everyone, including spectators, to get their breath back, after which Anna and Christine slugged it out to an epic conclusion.

For the Raft Race, the Airport Fire team entered the most radical raft design Tiree had seen for many a day. It was a light alloy monocoque hull with asymmetric outriggers. Alas the conditions on the day did not favour such advanced technology, as on the mark, the raft’s windage caused a capsize, upending the crew, who then had to battle to prevent their raft sailing off, unmanned, to Mull.

The Regatta drew to a close with the traditional Trawler race being fought out in its unique colourful way, viewed closely by many visitors, and Tirisdich, from Skippinish Tour’s Rib, on a high speed cruise around the bay in the warm afternoon sun.

For full results see www.tireeregatta.org.uk

A memorial service was held early this month for a ”treasured mother” and her four-year-old daughter who were killed in a tragic road crash.

Television producer Penelope ‘Polly’ Renton,40, and her daughter Rosita ‘Sita’ Renton were in Kenya when their car was hit by a lorry on a single track road. The car was cut in half, but miraculously Polly’s 12-months-old son Tristan and his nanny escaped uninjured.

The memorial service was held in Kirkapol Church on the Island which Polly loved and where the Renton family have had a house for many years. The minister, the Rev Robert Higham, said that Polly had enjoyed her holidays on Tiree and had first arrived on the island in her mother’s womb and that little Sita had already visited twice before the tragedy.

Polly’s parents, Lord and Lady Renton, heard Rev Higham tell the congregation that she had been a ”treasured part of a strong and loving family.” Her husband, Toby Fenwick-Wilson, who runs a safari guide business in Kenya, was also in the congregation along with little Tristan at the service on a Sunday night. At one stage the baby made a loud noise and everyone smiled as Rev Higham said: ” That is Tristan joining in the service.”

Polly had been living and working in Kenya for 10 years before the accident three months ago following a successful career in Britain as a TV producer. She was known for dealing with difficult subjects including documentaries on serious social issues.

In Kenya she taught people in the television industry how to produce programmes and worked with her journalist brother, Alex Renton, to make programmes on social issues .

Polly was the youngest of the five children of Tim Renton, the former Conservative government minister and his wife Alice, the author. She was educated at Windlesham House School, Roedean and Magdalen College, Oxford, where she read modern languages, rowed and played the violin. She worked with prostitutes and street children in Guatemala before threats to her life drove her out of that country.

Mr Higham said: ”As for Tiree, she loved the island. She loved sailing and all marine life, especially the dolphins. Polly and little Sita have left us with many precious memories which we will always cherish. We thank God for them.”

I’m sure many of you will have seen Will Wright whizzing around the island on his bike in recent months! Well all his hard work and dedicated training paid off last weekend when he completed an Ironman distance triathlon with an amazing time and competition placing.

The event was held in Nottingham at the National Water sports centre and consisted of a 2.4 mile Swim (I got very nervous when I couldn’t see the end of the lake!), a 112 mile Bike ride, and a 26.2 mile Run (marathon distance).

Will completed the event in 10 hours 35 minutes exceeding his own expectations of wanting to finish in under 12 hours and came a fantastic 56th out of 750 finishers (roughly a 1000 started but many didn’t complete.)

To add to the occasion the event was 3 days before Will’s 30th birthday and all of his family had made it from different parts of the UK to support and cheer him on including his 90 year old Grandad!

It was a really wonderful weekend and a massive achievement for Will. He had such determination and pushed himself so hard that I nearly burst with pride at the finish line. So I know he will hate me putting this in but I had to say Well Done Wills & a very Happy Birthday!

Becky Wright

Recently the annual 5 aside tournament was held at the reef pitches, luckily the sun shone and brought along a happy crowd of spectators.

Given the early start due to the number of events that weekend there was a good turnout of teams including a couple of junior teams and seven senior teams that played against each other with a mixture of fun, laughter and jolly spirits carried on from the previous night’s festival.

The two teams fighting for the coveted winners’ trophy provided a thrilling final – one of the goalies spilled the ball gifting a goal to the opposing team, then at the other end a goal was created due to the lack of height of the goalie to make it one a piece. By the second half both teams were feeling the effects of the gruelling weekend and it looked like extra time was looming until a speculative shot from Findo screamed into the back of the net. 2 -1 with time running out it looked like it was all over but a sudden surge and scramble of bodies into the box at the other end and somehow the ball was in the back of the net. With the score even and in keeping with the state of the players’ stamina the majority decision was to go straight to penalties. These were mostly best forgotten but in the end On Death’s Door just edged.

The junior winning team were the Crazy Cousins, the best young player award went to a very talented visiting lad who out shone most of the adults. Steven Cameron was best senior player with Donald Roddy Mackay picking up highest goal scorer for the second year in a row. Niall MacKinnon, Hillcrest was awarded the most entertaining player of the day as he enthralled the crowds with his antics! On Death’s Door picked up the Winners Trophy.

A big thank you has to go to Neil Connor and Bino who stepped in as referees for the day with out which no match could have been played.

Here’s hoping next year’s tournament turns out just as exciting.

In spite of cancelled flights on the Saturday and disruption to the Tiree ferry service, visitors and artists made their way to Tiree to be part of the unmissable music event. From Tirisdeach acts such as Skerryvore, Skipinnish, Gunna Sound, Trail West and the Defenders to visiting musicians Fortunate Sons, Crooked Reel, Torridon and international artist Sandi Thom, the music line-up proved to be a winning festival formula for all.

Held on the grounds of the An Talla community hall in Crossapol, the Tiree Music Festival was hosted by actor and presenter Arthur Donald, who hails originally from the township of Vaul on the east end of the island. Beyond the music, the festival boasted other exciting activities including whisky tasting, an open stage for wannabe performers of all ages, gaelic drama workshops and a children’s ceilidh with local band Trail West.

The inaugural event was launched on Saturday evening with a procession by the Tiree Pipe Band to the festival site, and music festivities made a grand finale on Sunday evening with a unique performance by the All Star Tiree Ceilidh Band which united the island’s array of talented musicians on stage including pipers, guitarists, accordionists and drummers.

Festival organiser and Skerryvore musician, Daniel Gillespie, is thrilled with the response to the weekend’s event:

“After almost a year of organising and planning it was incredible to finally see it all come together. The reaction from locals and visitors was fantastic and their support and conduct throughout the weekend meant that this first festival was a huge success. “Plans are already underway for TMF 2011 and with such a high demand for tickets this year, we hope to increase the capacity for next year so that more people can come join in the festival experience in this unique location. “A massive thanks to all who supported the event, especially the sponsors, staff and volunteers and of course the bands whose talents kept the masses entertained all weekend!”

Watch out for news on TMF 2011 at www.tireemusicfestival.co.uk.

Fans can also follow TMF on Facebook and Twitter.

The spectators were entertained watching the serious business of the judging of livestock,  but the largest crowd gathered to watch the Dog Agility team performing their routine through tunnels, along wobbly planks and over hurdles

- many comments were heard about there being “no way my dog could do that”.

Deciding on the winners in the pet and home produce sections was a difficult time for the judges and the effort put in by all entrants was apparent with the standards of entries once again being very high.

By the middle of the afternoon the sun had retreated behind the clouds and the wind turned cooler but still the children played on the bouncy castles and the queues at the refreshment stands continued.

The day was marked with a tinge of sadness as Alex MacArthur who has been announcing livestock results and prize winners for many years is hanging up his microphone and retiring from being the voice of the Show.

All the tickets for the Show Dance at An Talla were sold out and once again locals and visitors of all ages danced until the early hours.

The weather on Saturday was decidedly grim with the sort of misty rain that soaks you as soon as you go out, unfortunately this meant that the Sports day was cancelled and didn’t take place till Tuesday. By 6pm the rain had more or less stopped and the first ever Tiree Music Festival Kicked off with a procession to An Talla led by Tiree Pipe Band.

On Sunday at 11am the place to be was down at the Reef Pitch to either watch or take part in Tiree 5 A-side Tournament. Details of this competition will be in the next issue.

Without exception the opinions of all who joined in the events of the weekend were, that it had been a huge success, tiring for both organisers and participants, but something to talk about for many weeks and a highlight to look forward to next year.

The service was conducted by Rev. Dr. Frank Gibson, assisted by the Interim Moderator, Mr Donald MacKinnon, Oban and the Session Clerk Mr Danny Lapsley.

The new Elders are Mrs Elizabeth Brodie, Mr Charles MacDonell, Mrs Caroline MacLean, Mrs Jennie Niven and Mr Ian Sharp.

From left to right: Ian Sharp, Jennie Niven, Caroline MacLean, Elizabeth Brodie, Charles MacDonell.

Eight-week-old Archie Briggs was baptised in front of the congregation. by the Rev Frank Gibson, the former head of the Kirk’s Social Works Department and a former parish minister on Islay. His mum, April, began coming on holiday to Tiree 32 years ago when she was only one year old. Her own mother, Mrs.Rhona Gilbert, was brought on holiday to the  island by her mother in 1959.

April is originally from Newton Mearns, near Glasgow, where her father Charles is a local district councillor. She now lives in Wakefield, near Leeds with her husband Malcolm. They originally met on Tiree when he was wind surfing, and were married two years ago in Kirkapol Church by the Rev Bob Higham. Little Archie’s baptism took place coincidentally on a Sunday when the congregation was holding one of its occasional light lunches in the church after the morning service and the Christening party added to the fellowship.

Pictured from left to right: Charlie Glbert (Grandparent), Rev. Dr. Frank Gibson, Morris Philipson (Godparent), April Biggs (Mother) and Archie, Malcolm Biggs (Father), Rhona Gilbert (Grandparent), Eilidh Gilbert (Godparent).

The opening of Tiree’s 18th annual summer Art Exhibition was tinged with sadness as tributes were made to the memory of former art teacher Brian Milne.

In his opening address committee member Brian Findlater said that the exhibition began in 1993 and that Brian had worked for it tirelessly for many years. He said that Brian had been a colleague of his at the local school, taught his children art and had also been his next door neighbour.

Mr Findlater, the former science teacher at the school, said:
“Brian is greatly missed by all on the island, not just by those of us on the art committee”.
He also said that Brian’s wife Anne and family were attending a family wedding and were therefore unable to attend the opening night.

The programme carried a dedication to Brian Milne who sadly died last year after a brief illness. It read:
“ For many years Brian gave his time and commitment to the arts on Tiree and he will long be remembered as the principal teacher of art at Tiree High School before his retiral in 2006. Brian inspired young and old with his enthusiasm for the arts and shall be remembered with fondness by all who knew him”.

Mr Findlater also thanked the staff of Rural Centre, the staff of the Cobbled Cow tearoom, Neil Connor, Craig Smith, and Jane Isaacson.

More than 40 paintings and one sculpture are in the exhibition which is being staged in the new cinema at the Rural Centre until August 14. The first exhibit to be sold at the opening was a beautiful oil painting entitled Kenevara by local artist Lesley McLean for £400. Prices for the exhibits range from £35 to £600.

Coll and Tiree provided a ‘hive’ of activity, with experts converging on the islands during National Insect Week.

Visitors included Bob Dawson representing the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and a group of four entomologists; including Darren Mann (Oxford University Museum of Natural History), Geoff Hancock (Hunterian Museum, Glasgow), Garth Foster (Aquatic Coleoptera Conservation Trust) and Jeanne Robinson (Glasgow Museums), sponsored by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the Glasgow Natural History Society (GNHS) to survey the island’s insects and to investigate sightings of a very rare and special beetle.

Walks and talks were organised on both islands and lots of people came along to find out more about the rare and interesting insects they share their islands with. There was even interest from the national media; a film crew came out to Tiree for a day to film for the National Lottery Awards, who have supported the Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s work on the islands. The visiting group were particularly interested in the short-necked oil beetle, Meloe brevicollis, thought to be extinct in the UK since the 1940s, before making a surprise re-appearance in Devon in 2007. No one expected that the next sightings would come last year from Coll, but a digital photograph sent to the beetle expert Darren Mann indicated that this was the case. These unusual looking beetles are dependent on solitary bees for survival. After hatching out of the soil, the beetle larvae sit around on flowers waiting for visiting bees to grasp onto. They must get to a bee’s nest, where they kill their young and feast on their pollen stores. Their host bee in the Inner Hebrides is the Northern Colletes bee (Colletes floralis) – also a rare species!

Whilst the bees are doing very well on both islands, no oil beetles were found on Tiree. Coll however was found to be extremely active this year, with about 40 beetles being recorded from 4 different coastal sites over 2 and a half days. A local high school teacher from Tiree came along to the beetle talks and was keen to teach his students about the beetles and enlist their assistance in surveying for them. These beetles can be relatively easily spotted along coastal paths and often identified from good photographs. Photographs can be submitted to the experts directly or via the RSPB wardens. The public can play an invaluable role in monitoring the status of these insect treasures in the islands. The general insect survey has also been revealing, resulting in many new insect records including at least a dozen species that have not been recorded from Coll and Tiree, including the diving beetles Ilybius guttiger and Hygrotus novemlineatus and the cranefly Erioptera nielseni. You can find out more about the insect survey on the National Insect Week blogs: http://blogs.nationalinsectweek.co.uk/jeannerobinson/

Hot on the heels of this peculiar beetle was Britain’s rarest bumblebee, the great yellow bumblebee Bombus distinguendus. Rather more mobile than the oil beetle, the queens emerge from hibernation mainly in June, and during the week were busy collecting pollen and searching for nests. Tiree and Coll are important areas for this species in the UK, largely because of the machair and its management.

After spotting a couple of queens on Coll, including one sheltering behind an Escallonia hedge in a strong wind, Bob Dawson of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust arrived at Ceabhar, Sandaig, to be shown a photo of a great yellow bumblebee by Duncan and Polly. Remarkably, it had flown into the restaurant! This was a good omen, with one or two more sightings, including one in John Fletcher’s garden, before a Bumblebee Safari at Balephetrish saw beautiful weather and a good turnout by people and bees alike. There were perhaps as many as 8 queen great yellow bumblebees among the dunes, mainly feeding on kidney vetch. An earlier Bumblebee Safari at Totronald on Coll had missed out on the great yellow bumblebee this time around, but the two other rare bumblebee species were present: moss carder bee Bombus muscorum and red-shanked carder bee Bombus ruderarius.

Coll and Tiree are the only places in the UK where these three rare bumblebees can be seen together, and if anyone would like more information on how to identify and record bumblebees please get in touch at the address below. We really need to know how the numbers are doing on the islands from year to year. Keep up to date with what’s happening with the great yellow bumblebee on ‘Bob’s blog’ http://gybb.bumblebeeconservation.org/

All of Coll and Tiree’s bumblebee species were out and about, including the unusual Barbut’s cukoo bumblebee Bombus barbutellus, which takes over the nests of other bumblebees. It was mainly the large, queen bumblebees that we were seeing, of the eight different species on the islands, but there were a few of the (smaller) workers out and about, which would be from nests started by queens back in May. These would have emerged from hibernation before the great yellow bumblebee, back in April and May.

There was also a bumblebee on Coll (at Cornaigmore) that ought not to be on the islands – a buff-tailed bumblebee Bombus terrestris. This is still a common species on the mainland, but it seems the sea crossing is not too serious a barrier for this large, mobile species. There are regular reports of bumblebees visiting boast a few miles from shore, which are usually the commoner species. Who knows, perhaps some of Coll and Tiree’s speciality bumblebees can make it to the mainland and establish nests there? Almost as quickly as they arrived, the experts reluctantly departed, convening on the M.V. Hebridean Isles for a quick debriefing over lunch. We were all agreed that these are very special islands indeed, and with a lot of analysis to do back at our respective bases.