Women’s Guild outing at the Reading Room in the 1930s

Photograph of a Women’s Guild outing at the Reading Room in the 1930s.

Courtesy of Mr Donald Brown

Constructed in the 1880s with money collected by the Tiree Agricultural Show Committee and a donation from the 8th Duke of Argyll, the building was originally designed as a waiting room for the ferry when it lay off Scarinish harbour.

After the completion of Gott Bay pier in 1913, it was used as a hall for ceilidhs, weddings, Red Cross classes and also as a bank, dental surgery and polling station. Teas were sometimes served inside during Agricultural Shows when they were held in Scarinish.

It appears in the 1890 Ordnance Survey as the Reading Room and was endowed at some time by Mr James Coats of Paisley with a library of books. It now houses An Iodhlann, Tiree’s historical centre.

Black and white photograph of Women’s Guild outing at the Reading Room in the 1930s.

Women`s Guild outing to the Reading Room in the 1930s. Women’s Guild outing to the Reading Room in the 1930s. L-R: (back) Mrs MacLean, Vaul – Donald Brown’s great-grandmother; Greta MacDonald; Annie MacKinnon, Peggy MacLean’s sister; Mrs MacDiarmid, Hugh MacDiarmid’s daughter-in-law; Miss MacFarlane, Baugh, Dr MacFarlane’s sister; Mrs MacKinnon, wife of U.F. Church missionary; Catherine Graham née MacLean, Donald Brown’s grandmother; Rev MacDonald Ross’s mother-in-law; Annie MacIntyre, Rosie’s mother; Mrs Marion Graham, Heanish; Peggy MacKinnon, wife of the butcher in Scarinish; Mrs Dan MacArthur of Scarinish Store; Mrs Hunter, the doctor’s wife; Mrs Hughina MacCallum, Scarinish; Mary Dugald MacLean née MacDonald, Scarinish, known as ‘Dougie’; Catriona MacKinnon, Rum View, Vaul; Mary Flora MacKinnon, Dunmore, Vaul; Catherine MacDougall, Mary Flora’s sister; Mary Munn, Baugh Farm; Katie Lamont, ‘Mount Carmel’ known today as Diobedal; Mrs Peter Anderson, the gamekeeper’s wife; (middle) Mrs Malcolm MacLean, Kirkapol; Rachel MacArthur, Brock; Hannah MacFadyen; visitor; Maggie MacFadyen, Hannah’s sister; Mrs Hugh Lamont, Ruaig Post Office; Mary MacLean, Earnal, whose sons Duncan and Alasdair were killed in WW1 – Cathie MacNeill’s house in Scarinish was built for her; Katie Ann MacLean, Caoles Farm; Jessie MacArthur, wife of Hugh MacArthur of Scarinish Store; Danina MacCallum, Port Bàn; (front) Rev MacDonald Ross, Church of Scotland relief minister; Hughina MacKinnon, Anne Langley’s mother; Isabella MacIntyre, Gott, Donald MacIntyre’s mother; Mrs MacDonald Ross, the minister’s wife; Rosie MacIntyre; Irene Graham, Glasgow; Grace MacDougall, Oban, who worked for ‘Dougie’; Mary Ann MacDonald née MacIntyre, Heanish; Mary Ann MacLean, Bayview, Scarinish machair; Janet MacLean, Scarinish; Norman Campbell, Harris, Church of Scotland missionary.