Issue 58

Patricia Gibson M.P. writes

Like many people, I tried not to even think about Christmas until around mid-December. For that reason, for over a month I almost missed the John Lewis Christmas advert, preferring to revel in the Christmas spirit closer to the day itself. For those of you who had not seen it, the advert was a high-end, big budget, tear jerker, with a young girl peering through her new telescope at an old man who lives in solitude on the moon. Quite why he was banished there or how he exists in the airless vacuum of space is a mystery – but let’s suspend our critical faculties for a moment.

In the true spirit of Christmas, the young girl reaches out to the old man and sends him the gift of a telescope (by way of a bunch of balloons), allowing him to peer back at her and reconnect with the planet that appears to have shunned him. Complete with a haunting soundtrack, only the stony hearted could remain unmoved!

Whilst primarily designed to have us part with our money at the tills in John Lewis, the producers had a deeper message and, working in conjunction with Age UK, the advert explored the idea of loneliness amongst our older generation and asks what we might do to help.

According to Age UK, 100,000 older people in Scotland say they feel lonely often or always - regularly passing an entire month without speaking to anyone. Sadly, more than half said they consider television their closest company. In winter the situation can be exacerbated, with cold weather making it more difficult to get out and about.

The reasons for loneliness are multifaceted. Some older people may have lost a life-long partner, some may have struggled to adapt to retirement, many outlive their friends and some may have become detached from their immediate family. And whilst many of us feel lonely from time to time, living alone and feeling cut off from society over a long period can cause serious depression leading in turn to physical decline. Unfortunately, despite feeling lonely, many older people are too shy, proud or embarrassed to reach out for companionship. It is therefore important for all of us to recognise and challenge the stigma associated with loneliness.

Often craving a moment of peace to ourselves, it is easy for younger and more active people to overlook the possibility that someone close may be lonely. Indeed, I believe that the John Lewis advert will encourage people to reassess the assumption that they do not know anyone lonely and that there is nothing that they can do to help. Even saying hello to an older neighbour, inviting them for a cup of tea, or offering them a lift into town can make all the difference.

If you don’t know anyone who could benefit from some extra company, you could find it both interesting and rewarding to become an Age Scotland befriender – taking time out now and again to have a chat with an older person who has recognised that they do feel lonely. You can contact Age Scotland to find out more about volunteering.

For those who do feel down and alone, it's tempting to think nobody wants to visit you. But often friends, family and neighbours will appreciate an invitation to spend some time with you.

It is also important to remember that it is never too late to learn basic computer skills! If your friends and family live far away, a good way to stay in touch, especially with grandchildren, is by using a personal computer or tablet (a hand held computer). Only the other day my colleague was shocked and delighted to receive a Facebook friend request from his 83-year-old Gran!

As someone who grudgingly embraced the digital age, I appreciate how daunting it may seem to learn such a new skill. However, local libraries provide excellent basic courses which will provide you with all the know-how needed to keep in touch with distant friends and family.

With the Christmas period now over, we can all do our bit to help spread some cheer to those who need it most in the New Year. Age Scotland can be contacted on 0800 4708090.

Our Arran Artist/Maker for the month of January is Ruth Mae, who creates beautiful turned vessels at her workshop and gallery at Southbank Studio, Southbank Farm, East Bennan.

Ruth, how would you describe your work and the philosophy behind it?

All my work is made on a woodturning lathe where I create bowls and small vessels using hardwoods sourced mainly on Arran or mainland Scotland. I have been making in this way for about 14 years and am mainly self-taught. My current work with bowls grew out of an earlier period working as an architectural / artisan woodturner.

When I put a piece of timber onto the lathe my main aim is to produce as beautiful a form as I possibly can from that particular piece of timber. This is so whether the end product is to be an ash porridge bowl or a delicate vessel in holly. My idea of beauty in this case is simplicity and clear definition of line and form. I am interested in shapes and how particular forms can seem to hold meaning, perhaps not meaning that I find possible to articulate verbally, but that can none the less hold mystery and have the power to move and affect us.

One of the most interesting (and often frustrating) aspects of working with wood is its variability. It doesn’t allow for either a rigid or an absent minded approach and a full engagement with the individual piece on the lathe is vital. I may have an idea of what I want to make but cannot necessarily impose my own will! Through this ongoing process I have been able to develop coherent bodies of work and a distinctive style of my own. Ideas for my work develop slowly through making. And sometimes unexpected mistakes happen which may lead to something new.

Wood is a precious resource and I made a decision fairly early on in my work to use only Scottish grown timbers from sustainable sources or wood that was destined for landfill or burning. Rather than being a limitation, this decision has led me to a deeper exploration of the properties of a few woods such as holly and cherry. I do also use ash, sycamore and oak for more functional bowls.

With holly, I have discovered a material of great beauty and delicacy. In the trunk, prior to turning, holly looks fairly unpromising – it is the beautiful red berries and spiky shiny leaves of the tree which are most noticeable – however, when turned and dried, this creamy white, dense grained timber may take on subtle undulating and fragile looking forms with a texture and appearance that is reminiscent of porcelain or shell.

Cherry is sometimes more suited to geometric or architectural shapes. This timber contains a lot of naturally occurring tannin and when an iron salt solution is applied to the surface of the work it will gradually turn black. With holly, the same process results in a blue/grey shade (reminiscent of the shades of the seas surrounding Arran). This “ebonising” process can add definition and depth to a piece.

Where did you grow up, go to school, and go to college or university?

I was born in Renfrewshire in 1950. My father, a weaver at that time, worked in a lace mill near Barrhead. Early memories are of the magical and ever changing multi-coloured water that ran in the burn at the bottom of our garden – the effluent of the dyes from the mill I guess (not so magical). We later moved to the Glasgow area and I went to Rutherglen Academy. I left school at the earliest opportunity (not a good student) and it wasn’t until my late 30’s /early 40’s when I was fortunate to study as a mature student at Strathclyde University and gained honours in Psychology and Philosophy and then go on to Glasgow University to do an M.Phil degree in Philosophical Inquiry.

What other jobs have you done?

I left Glasgow for Dorset when I was 17 to train as a registered veterinary nurse in both large and small animal work. After training it was my main work over a number of years; I worked in veterinary hospitals and practices in London, Wiltshire and Somerset. Other employment has included working for a bookseller, fish factory work and three years stint as a night shift nursing auxiliary in Lerwick, Shetland Islands.

Selected by David Underdown who also writes the commentary.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist
by Mohsin Hamid
Hamish Hamilton paperback, £10.99

This writer is, so to speak, at your elbow. 'Let me show you this.' The Reluctant Fundamentalist makes it impossible for any reader to jump to slick assumptions about terrorists – or, indeed about anyone. You have no idea who the man is who sits beside you on a bus or shares a table in a crowded cafe. You do not know what logic pervades his thoughts or what he intends to do.

Hamid is urbane, laid-back and, when your blood is not running cold, very funny. His style is conversational, taking place in a Lahore cafe where almost everyone except the odd American is eating with their hands. It is the odd American, however, who is the subject of Hamid's monologue, and by the end, you are wondering if he will get out alive. No, I'm not going to tell you.

The writing takes the form of an ongoing monologue by a well-educated, world-travelled businessman who happens to be in Lahore. He shares a table with an Indian diner who is a good talker – laid-back and amusing, courteous, generous, the kind that makes a Westerner feel in safe hands. What those hands might do is something else. By the end of the narrative, the good-natured American is shifting uneasily in his seat, and so are we. What's more, we may have developed a rather different view of American world intervention. By the end of this book, if your palms are not sweating, you won't ever have been quite human.

Alison Prince

Prawn trawl lobby tries to undermine Scottish Government MPAs as coastal communities bombarded with scare stories and spin.

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are designed to protect marine species and habitats (many of which are also fish nursery grounds), while at the same time allowing nearly all of the marine activities which already occur in these areas to continue. They are not No Take Zones. The Arran MPA will still allow bottom trawling in 36% of the area and in 51% of the Upper Loch Fyne MPA for instance. MPAs will encourage well-managed creeling and trawling, scallop diving, wildlife tourism and eventually, if managed effectively, a return of sea angling - all activities which used to support a far greater diversity and number of jobs around the Clyde than exist now.

Howard Wood, COAST Chair and a Clyde diver with 40 years of experience, puts it this way: 'The Clyde belongs to us all and must be managed in the public interest, as Marine Scotland is attempting to do. The South Arran MPA trawling restrictions on priority habitats such as seagrass meadows, burrowed mud and maerl beds equal less than 5% of Clyde waters. Big compromises have been made by the Government and communities like COAST, yet incredibly the mobile fishing lobby continues to make alarmist and unsubstantiated claims that these modest MPAs will 'decimate' communities. Ironically, it was bottom trawling which our predecessors (mainly fishermen) fought hard to get banned in the 1890s - to preserve the viability of fishing communities! They were wise. Since bans on bottom trawling in the Clyde were lifted in the 1960s and 80s our white fish stocks have declined to the point of being commercially unviable and sea anglers now go to Norway instead of the Clyde. Poor leadership and a lack of management has cost the Clyde hundreds of jobs and deprived Scotland of an affordable food source. MPAs can play an important part in redressing this situation and Marine Scotland needs our continued support as they finalise management for the entire MPA network'.

And hot off the press, the Marine Conservation Order for the South Arran Marine Protected Area has now been laid before the Scottish Parliament. All going well, in early February, 4 fishing zones will be established - shown in the map below. Dredging would not be permitted anywhere within the MPA.

However COAST holds serious concerns on some of the changes made to other sites (Small Isles, Wester Ross, and Loch Sunart to the Sound of Jura). See here for more details.

The film for January 10th at 8.00pm in Corrie and Sannox Hall is Judgement at Nuremberg, directed by Stanley Kramer (USA 1961) Cert 15.

In 1947, four German judges who served on the bench during the Nazi regime face a military tribunal to answer charges of crimes against humanity. Chief Justice Haywood (Spencer Tracy) hears evidence and testimony not only from lead defendant Ernst Janning (Burt Lancaster) and his defense attorney Hans Rolfe (Maximilian Schell), but also from the widow of a Nazi general (Marlene Dietrich), an idealistic U.S. Army captain (William Shatner) and reluctant witness Irene Wallner (Judy Garland).

We hope you will join us for this classic film.

"How to Change the World - the beginnings of Greenpeace"

Wednesday 20th January, 7.30 at Lamlash Fire Station. Free viewing, donations welcome.

How to Change the World is the dramatic story of the beginnings of Greenpeace, chronicling the adventures of an eclectic group of young pioneers – Canadian hippie journalists, photographers, musicians, scientists, and American draft dodgers – who set out to stop Richard Nixon’s atomic bomb tests in Amchitka, Alaska, and end up creating the worldwide green movement.

How To Change The World is an intimate portrait of the group’s original members and of activism itself—idealism vs. pragmatism, principle vs. compromise. They agreed that a handful of people could change the world; they just couldn’t always agree on how to do it.

Everyone is welcome to come along to see this entertaining and inspiring film.

On Wednesday 9th December a new, beautifully crafted landmark was unveiled at Brodick Pier. It marks the start and end of the Arran Coastal Way.

The unveiling was due to be performed by Cameron Macneish, but he was unable to attend and Christine McKerral and Val Sim stepped in. Cameron sent the following message:

"I'm truly sorry not to be with you today. I still have very fond memories of my initial visit and walk on the Isle of Arran Coastal Path all those years ago when Val and Dick and Hugh and Christine looked after me so well.

On that occasion I took the opportunity of not only cutting the ribbon to open the new route, as it was then, but to walk the route in its entirety. That was a revelation. Until then I had really only known "climbers' Arran", the Arran of the big granite peaks and ridges, but I found myself wandering along a coastal route that was as grand as any part of Scotland's glorious coastline.

It was with that coastal walk in mind that brought me back last year to include the Arran Coastal Path as a section of a long walk I was doing for BBC Scotland, the Western Way, a long walk from the Mull of Galloway to Oban, taking in Arran, Islay and Jura.

As I wandered round the coast towards Lochranza Dick and Hugh were very much on my mind and I was pretty sure that these grand hillmen would have appreciated all the work that has been done to the path in recent times.

And I'm sure hundreds and probably thousands of others will enjoy this route in years to come. Arran has so much to offer the outdoors enthusiast and it's wonderful to see the Isle of Arran Coastal Path getting a new lease of life. I hope I'll manage over to Arran in the next few months to give it a go.

So, congratulations to everyone involved and have a wonderful day."

Following the ceremony there was a short presentation, by Rachel Sedman, about the history of the Arran Access Trust and it's support for the Arran Coastal Way.

There's much more about the Arran Coastal Way on their website.

Can South to make three no-trumps? West leads the ♥J.

Dear Voice,

I’m sure you’ll be aware of the Holy Isle planning application for wind turbines on the island. Lama Yeshe Rinpoche, the Abbot of Samye Ling and the creator of the Holy Isle Project, is a strong believer in environmental sustainability and feels that with the wind turbine project we will complete his vision for the island as an example and inspiration for those who wish to live lightly on the earth and in harmony with our environment.

We are all beginning to experience the negative impacts of climate change. Through the Holy Isle Wind Project and our other environmental projects and activities on Holy Isle, we believe that we are contributing in our own small way to reducing these damaging effects and that we are providing an inspiration for others to do the same. It is our intention to make the island as self-sufficient in energy use as possible and for it to be a beacon of sustainability. In doing so, we will also make the Holy Isle project more financially secure and sustainable in the long term. We will then be able to redirect the very large sums that are currently paid to electricity companies towards important social and community related projects and activities.

Kind regards,
Holy Isle team