Effy Thomson and her daughter Cathie pumping water from a well at Ruaig
Photograph of Euphemia Thomson with her daughter Catherine pumping water from a well at Ruaig in 1944.
Courtesy of Ms Cathie Thomson
In this photograph taken in 1944, Cathie Thomson is watching her mother Effie pump water from a well at Ruaig. Before the mains water supply became generally available in the 1950s, most houses had their own well.
Wells were made by lowering open-ended concrete boxes about one metre square into a suitable hole dug in the ground. The sand or soil would then be dug out from the bottom of the box and another box laid on top until the well was around three to four metres deep.
The well would be covered with a slab and a hand pump installed. Before the days of concrete, wells would be lined with stones, a dangerous job as the water-logged soil was liable to collapse.
Black and white photograph of Euphemia Clark of Ruaig and her daughter Catherine Ann Thomson.
Euphemia Thomson nee Clark of Ruaig with her daughter Catherine Ann drawing water from the pump in Ruaig in 1944. (Original in Filing Cabinet 8 drawer 3)
Black and white photograph of Captain John MacKinnon and Neil MacDougall.
L-R: Captain John MacKinnon (1890-1953) and his brother-in-law Neil MacDougall (see photo E146). Captain MacKinnon was awarded the MBE in 1946 in recognition of his service in the Merchant Navy during WWII.
Black and white photograph of Margaret MacKinnon and Ann MacKenzie.
Margaret MacDougall (1894-1961), the wife of Captain Neil MacKinnon (see E148) and the daughter of Rev. Allan MacDougall of Milton and his wife Catherine MacDonald from Skye. The MacKinnons adopted the girl, Ann MacKenzie, two years old in the photograph, who is the sister of Alex and John MacKenzie of Milton.
Account of Meteorlogical Reconnaisance by RAF 518 Squadron during WWII
An account of Met sorties at RAF Tiree during WWII, with a map showing Met sortie flight patterns. Presented by Wing Cdr. Bryn Lewis at an RAF Historical Society seminar held in the RAF Museum, Hendon in April 2004. Includes a programme of events at the seminar.
Envelope with testing records and other material from the BT Repeater Station in Scarinish.
Brown envelope from the Scarinish Repeater Station containing record cards of weekly routine tests from April 1946 to December 1962, a Post Office Engineering Dept. works specification for modification of the testers with accompanying diagram and an instruction manual for operation of the Kathanode cells used for diesel engine starting.
Former airline pilot Bill Innes tells a humorous anecdote about Captain David Barclay, MBE, during an illustrated talk about the pioneers of Scottish aviation held in An Talla, Tiree on 5th July 2004.
The name David Barclay is synonymous with the development of aviation in the Western Isles and with the Scottish Air Ambulance Service. He flew his first ambulance flight with Northern & Scottish Airways in 1935 and at the end of his career had flown more than two thousand ambulance missions.
He was awarded the MBE in 1942 and invested with the order of St John of Jerusalem in 1950. Much loved and well respected by those who knew him, Captain Barclay retired in April 1965 with an overwhelming send-off from islanders in Barra and Tiree.
