What We Do In The Winter

There's a live event coming up this Saturday, the 7th of March 2020, in Dervaig Village Hall at 19.30. We'll be talking about Movies Made on Mull, Dervaig Village Hall through the years, the theatre production at Calgary Bay in 1993, delivery vans and local characters. If you've got anything you want to bring along to discuss, please feel free to do so! Cheers!

In this episode I talk with Gordon Bruce of Iona. Originally from Cumbernauld, Gordon has lived on Iona for the last 18 years or so. We talk about life before Gordon came to Iona for a good portion of the episode, and then, roughly half way through we come on to his life on Iona, the various jobs that he’s had over the years, and touch into the nature of life in a small community and touchingly, t...

In this episode I talk with Morag and Dugald Campbell of Sunipol, in the North of Mull near Cailleach. Originally from Grimsay in the Outer Hebrides, Morag will be well known to many listeners here on the island as a midwife. In fact she brought more than a couple of the listeners into the world. Dougie was born in Achahoish and moved to other locations in Argyllshire before settling here on Mull...

In this episode I talk with Iain Morrison of Penmore. Iain runs Turus Mara with his son Colin and wife Pat, and sails daily from Ulva Ferry to Staffa and the Treshnish Isles in the Spring, Summer and Autumn. We cover a lot of ground in this episode. We talk about growing up in Penmore, going to school at Mornish, where his Mum was the teacher. We talk about his parents, and a little about his gran...

In this episode I talk with Joanie and John Mackay of Tobermory. Joanie comes originally from Tobermory and John from Dervaig. Our conversation goes all over the place. We talk about when Joanie worked at the telephone exchange in Tob, when John’s folks ran the Bellachroy in Dervaig, the career of Joanie’s Dad, Pibroch, the renowned fiddler, John’s time in the garage and we also go into the early...

Howard Pitman hails from Dervaig and now lives in Glasgow. Howie and I chat about his memories of growing up in the village and what the nature of the island means to him.  He identifies lots of characters from the past and talks very touchingly about the first time he met his wife to be. His father, David, ran Coffee in Books in the village. There’s some cracking info on the film screenings that...

In this episode I talk with Chris Reade of Sgriobruadh Farm, Tobermory. Chris and her late husband Jeff founded Isle of Mull Cheese. We talk about her life in England as a child and how she and Jeff bought a farm in Somerset and then, through seeing an advert in an English paper, noticed some land on the Isle of Mull for sale. We explore her working life, family life, childhood, and how family is...

This episode takes a trip to Shetland to talk with Tim Matthew. Born down South, Tim first came to live on Mull at Tavool, past Tiroran on the way to the Burgh Peninsula in the South of the Isle of Mull. Tim talks about the nature of life in such a remote location and how he went to school in Pennyghael School, under the tutelage of Mamie Brunton. We talk about his parents, where they themselves h...

In this episode Catherine Evans talk about her life in Tobermory as a child, the shops along the main street and the many characters of the town. She then goes on to talk about student life in Belfast at the dawn of the troubles, and where her adventures took her later in life, leading to coming back home to Mull. At the end of the episode we return to the past to talk about Catherine’s grandfathe...

This is a special episode in this series of podcasts which normally comes from the Isles of Mull, Iona, Ulva, Gometra. In this episode you’re going to hear from some of the people who attended the Bunessan Show on the 2nd of August 2019. The Bunessan Show is an agricultural and cultural show which is held in the fields around Bunessan Primary in the Ross of Mull. I was invited by the show committe...

In this episode I talk with Netta Titterton of Colonsay. I’ve known Netta since I was a wee boy, as she’s a relation, so it’s an absolute delight to have gotten a chance to speak with her. We talk about Netta's family, and how her Dad's work with the Strathcona family, who have owned Colonsay for over 100 years, brought the family to Colonsay. The story of the Strahcona family and how they came to...

In this episode I talk with Carol and Donald (Peedie) MacNeill of Drumclach, on the Western Side of Colonsay. As you’ll hear, Carol is originally from Edinburgh and came to Colonsay as a young woman to work at the hotel for a summer job. It was there that she met Donald, who was born and raised on the island at Garvard, opposite Oransay. Our conversation covers a wide range of topics. Both Carol a...

In this episode I talk with Gordon Connell, originally from Blairmore near Dunoon, Gordon moved to Tiree to teach History in 1962. Gordon is an accordion player and one of the most significant teachers of accordion, the list of his pupils is rather impressive. We talk about growing up in Blairmore, going to school in Dunoon, university life in Glasgow, how it was to move to Tiree in the 60's, and...

This episode takes you away from Mull and over to Tiree where I talk with John Holliday. John was the doctor on the island for 30 years and is often known as 'Doc'. Originally from the England, John lived in Australia before settling on Tiree. We talk about his work in Australia with the Pintupi people, the choice of coming to live and work on Tiree, the nature of rural locations, his engagement w...

This episode features a return to Iona, where I chat with Joanne MacInnes. A proud Dundonian, Joanne has lived on Iona for many years now, where she and her husband John are raising their family. We talk about Dundonian cultural identity, college life, work life and what it is like to move into a small community and make your life there. We also mention the Iona Village Hall Music Festival, which...

In this episode I chat with Iain Thomson. As you’ll hear Iain’s had a long association with the Isle of Mull, and now divides his time between the island here and Sweden. Iain has been involved in farming and the land since he was a young boy. Our conversation goes into some detail about his life and work and fascinatingly, the relationship between farmers and their dogs. We also talk about Iain’s...

This episode is a little bit different in that it’s a conversation I had with two people who I’ve previously spoken to individually for the podcast. After I released Alasdair MacLean’s episode last year Nick Turnbull said to me that I could have got deeper in on some of the fishing things, so I thought it would be a good idea to put the two of them together and see what happened when they chatted....

This episode is a conversation between Mhairi Killin of Iona and myself. Mhairi and I met in her office at Aosdana, on the Isle of Iona at the start of this week, half way through May of 2019.

 We talk about a whole host of topics, a lot relating to our cultural identity and sense of place. We even talk about Mhairi and her sister's plans for what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. We go int...

In this episode I talk with Jim Corbett of Lochbuie. 
The Lochbuie estate has been in Jim’s family since 1922, and Jim and his wife are just about to celebrate their 40th year living here on Mull. 
 We talk about Jim’s family background, how the family came to live in Lochbuie, the Maclaines of Lochbuie and Kenneth Maclaine in particular. 
We also mention Moy Castle, I Know Where I’m Going, Eye of...

In this episode I talk with Anna Mockford from near Kintra in the Ross of Mull. Anna is a professional photographer and was born in the South East of England. She grew up in the 70’s and 80’s before going off travelling with her partner Nick, who is also a photographer. 
 We recorded this episode at Anna and Nick’s home near Kintra. You’ll hear the birds singing loudly in the background throughout...

In this episode I talk with Davie Kirkpatrick of Iona. Davie has lived in Iona for the vast majority of his life. 
Our conversation covers lots of ground. We talk about growing up on the island, going away for school, various characters and community members of the past and present. 
We talk briefly about the politics of passenger ferries, the start of commercial crabbing. We also talk about a rem...

In this episode I talk with Hugh MacPhail. Hugh talks about his life on the island of Ulva, the construction of the big house, farming, fishing, other people who lived on the island at the time. At one point he has a fantastic series of reminiscences about the puffers, the small coastal ships that brought supplies such as coal from the mainland to the islands. Thanks for listening! Episode links c...

In this episode I talk with Neil Munro. Neil is our first participant to hail from Ulva. We recorded this episode in the study of Ulva house. Ulva, which is now, I’m delighted to say, a community owned island. The ground floor of Ulva house has a beautiful wooden floor, which you’ll hear throughout the course of the episode, as my dogs clatter around on it quite a bit. For which I apologise. Both...

In this episode I talk with Andrena Duffin. Andrena has lived all over the world, but has never been more than 6 months without being back on Mull. 
When she was younger her family owned Erray farm, outside of Tobermory, which she talks about around 15 minutes into our chat. 
Her parents then moved over to Ulva Ferry, from where her father ran boat trips to Staffa. There’s so much detail in Andren...

In this episode I talk with Gordon Buchanan of Tobermory. 

Born in Alexandria outside of Dumbarton, Gordon moved to Mull with his Mum, brothers and sister in the late 70’s. In our conversation we cover lots of anecdotes about growing up in Tob, building dens, raiding gardens for fruit, local characters of his youth, the challenges of going to school in Oban, his love of horses, and towards the en...