Order of service for the funeral of Rev Bob Higham (1937-2020), and a letter to John Holliday, Balephuil, from Bob’s wife, Di Higham, dated 9/03/2020. Rev Higham was the Church of Scotland minister of the Parish of Tiree during 1995-2002. He published a book about life as a minister on a Hebridean island, was a driving force behind the Tiree Heritage Society, and is buried at Polwarth in the Scottish Borders.
Colour photograph of a model ship in a bottle, ‘The Mary D’, made by Sam Stevenson, Crossapol. Sam Stevenson made several ships in bottles. ‘The Mary D’ is the last one he made. Courtesy of Monica Smith.
Results of an academic study ‘Ancestral tourism & heritage work in a Hebridean island’ conducted by Joanna Rodgers, UHI, on Tiree in 2015-2018. From the book ‘Creating Heritage – unrecognised pasts and rejected futures’, Routledge 2020.
Abstract Roots-seeking travel is an increasingly popular activity around the world, and such visitors are particularly ubiquitous in Scotland. As a heritage practice, this ‘ancestral tourism’ has been predominantly interpreted in terms of its national or regional significance, with previous research focusing largely on ancestral tourists in the context of official heritage institutions or commercial tourism events. The distinctive contexts of ancestral tourism destinations at the local scale are rarely attended to on their own terms and residents’ perspectives have received little attention. Consequently, the practices and meanings connected to this form of tourism are only partially understood: the “heritage work” (Byrne, 2008; Harrison, 2010) of both residents and visitors in quotidian, unofficial spaces remains unexamined. Drawing on 18 months of multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in the island of Tiree, this chapter addresses these gaps and explores the heritages connected to ancestral tourism “from below” (Robertson, 2012).
A digital photocopy of the full text is available from An Iodhlann.
Booklet ‘Tiree 50 years ago’ composed of photocopied photographs, documents, notices and newspaper articles from 1968. Created in 2018 by An Iodhlann for Tigh a’ Rudha Eventide Home, Scarinish, to commemorate its 50th year since opening.
‘The Countryman’ magazine (Aug 2019) containing an article ‘Not the Last Straw’ on the traditional making of corn-dollies and harvest knots in Staffordshire, pages 24-31. The tradition was also part of Tiree’s harvest culture – see A’ Chailleach and harvest knots.
Music CD ‘Steer by the Stars’ by Skipinnish, 2019.
Tiree Memories calendar 2019 produced by Alec Walker. Images include the ferry Columba, Archie MacLean with his boat at Scarinish in 1934, sheep shearing on the Reef in 1934, Balemartine School photograph 1947, Baugh & Heanish postcard 1906, postcard of a crofter’s stable with mare and foal in the 1920s, postcard of Rossdhu in Kenovay 1938, Ruaig football team 1928, Johnny MacKay collecting tangles by donkey and cart 1957, Scarinish harbour 1935, Ruaig School 1950s, airport control tower 1960s, tramlines on the Gott Bay pier 1920. All of these images are available independently via An Iodhlann’s website.
Softback book ‘Flight from the Croft’ by Bill Innes, 2019. Bill recounts his career as a pilot during the 1950s-1996, which included flying BEA passenger aircraft between the Scottish islands. Tiree and Captain David Barclay are mentioned on pages 31, 41, 72 & 73.
Transcript of a tribute to the artist Kirsty Laird (nee Noel-Paton; 1934-2019) given by her children at Mortonhall Crematorium in August 2019. Much of Kirsty’s art was inspired by Tiree, where she spent many years working from her house at Brock.
Booklet ‘Smuaintean bho Cheann a’ Bhara – Òrain agus bàrdachd le Niall M Brownlie’, 2016. A collection of Gaelic songs and poems written by Niall Brownlie, Barrapol (1925-2015), compiled by his niece, Flora MacKinnon.
