Photograph of two young children at Silversands in Vaul in 1924.
Courtesy of Mr Ronnie MacLean
Sarah MacMillan and Morag MacIntyre of Silversands in Vaul regularly took in summer visitors who left a record of their holidays in a number of small handmade photograph albums. This photograph of two young children is from an album dated 1924.
The children are playing in front of a water butt which collected rain from the roof and would supplement the well water. An outdoor WC can be seen in the background. This almost certainly contained a pail under a plank of wood with a circular hole. Each time it was used, sand was added to pail. The housewife would have the job of burying the contents every day.
Septic tanks were introduced in the thirties and forties. They were flushed with water from a large tank in the outhouse roof which was filled daily by hand pump.
Black and white photograph of two small children playing at Silversands in 1924.
Two small children playing by the water butt at Silversands in 1924. Note the outside WC.
Black and white postcard of Scarinish in the 1920s, with the school right of centre (the larger building), and the Reading Room (now An Iodhlann) on the extreme right.
Black and white photograph of the first plane to land in Tiree in the late 1920s.
The first plane to land in Tiree on the Tiree Association Sports Day in 1927 or 1928, from a small album from Silversands, Vaul dating from the late 1920s.
Black and white photograph of the first plane to land in Tiree in the late 1920s.
Tiree Association Sports Day in 1927 or 1928. Captain A. N. Kingwill was hired to fly the first plane to the island, bringing with him the day’s newspapers. Short flights on the plane were on offer at 2/6d (12p) a time and Captain Kingwill gave a display of stunt-flying.
Hugh MacIntyre 1856-1932, father of Morag (see photos B129 & B131) and brother-in-law of Sarah MacMillan (see photo B191), from a small photograph album from Silversands in Vaul titled ‘1927’.
Photograph of three young people in Scarinish in 1927.
Courtesy of Mr Ronnie MacLean
These three young people were photographed in front of the petrol pump in Scarinish on the day of the Tiree Agricultural Show in 1927. One of the major events of the local calendar, it was well attended by locals and visitors alike.
Held in Scarinish school grounds, the Show was a day-long affair with numerous sections for horses, cattle and sheep, poultry, dairy produce and other home industries. After the judging, there were piping and dancing competitions and field sports.
A greasy pole was erected, the prize for which was a bottle of whiskey, much sought after on what was then a temperance island. The last event of the day was a fiercely contested tug-of-war between islanders and visitors.
Black and white photograph of three young people by a petrol pump in the 1920s.
The petrol pump at Gott Bay pier, from a small photograph album from Silversands, Vaul dating from the late 1920s.
Photograph of Sarah MacMillan, Hugh and Morag MacIntyre at Silversands in Vaul in 1827.
Courtesy of Mr Donald Brown
Sarah MacMillan (front right) is pictured with her niece Morag behind her and Morag’s father Hugh MacIntyre outside Silversands in Vaul in 1927. Besides running the shop attached to the house and looking after her aged aunt, Morag also took in visitors during the summer months.
The shop was used as an assembly point for Scottish Airways passengers when the planes landed on Gott Bay beach before 1939. Morag also acted as secretary of the Vaul Golf Club, and players had to pay their green fees to her. A map of the course was on her shop wall.
She never had a bank account and paid all her suppliers by Postal Order purchased at Ruaig Post Office. The shop closed around 1960 after serving the community for almost one hundred years.
Black and white photograph of a group of people outside Silversands in 1927.
Outside Silversands in Vaul in 1927. L-R: (back) unknown; Hugh MacIntyre (1856-1932); his daughter Morag (1897-1967); (front) unknown; Sarah MacMillan (1856-1948), Hugh`s sister-in-law and Morag`s aunt.
