Einar was a school in 1874 and here’s the report by the headmaster written on 29 August 1874: School in again all this week. As usual, lessons given in usual order but progress not so satisfactory. Seemingly the scholars are longing for the vacation. Not much has changed.
Nancy remembers the Hall as it used to be; a school. So does Catherine. “It’s the first time I’ve been in here since I left 60 years ago,” she says. There’s so much history and memory surrounding the building because generations of Westray folk went to school there, firstly in the peedie (small) end and [...]
The Church of Scotland Kirk has a wonderful sign of the Saltire and the burning bush painted on a Westray stone flag outside the entrance.
Tommy is very kind. He’s decided I should have some of his green and some of his purple Curly Kale. Tommy’s garden is at Dead Man’s Nose, a small point on the bay where a ship’s officer was washed ashore many years ago. The lady of the house cut off the buttons of his tunic [...]
The Westray Industrial Show is nearly upon us. It’s when folks here get competitive over cabbages, but not Tommy. He says more people should enter and not be afraid of entering. The problem is that when your cabbage looks as good as this, there really is no competition. We talk for half an hour about [...]
Orkney has precious few trees. And I mean precious. Perhaps I should say Orkney has a few precious trees. Windswept, almost barren to the eye, the landscape is largely bare of woodland. Wood has been a scarce commodity on the Islands and so beachcombing for flotsam and jetsam has been an essential part of the [...]
Westray is an Island with a sense of community. Large extended families live here, with a high possibility of seeing distant relations on a daily basis. That’s one of the factors that leads to a low crime rate, after all, you wouldn’t steal from your own family, would you? There’s a significant moral code which [...]
Pierowall is the name of the only village on the Orkney island of Westray. The problem I had was how to pronounce it. The Westray accent is beautiful and soft and difficult to understand without extreme concentration. Pierowall must be pronounced ‘Pierrot-wall’ I thought at first. But then I heard a few people speak its [...]
There’s just time to pop into a shop on Westray before it closes for lunch. “It’s not a very fine day today is it?” is the greeting awaiting me as I enter through one of the two doors on the storm porch (one for each wind direction – if the wind was strong I wouldn’t [...]
Today is an important day in the social calendar of Westray. It’s the day of the 75th Annual Westray Industrial Show. Entries have already been delivered to the designated drop-off points, clearly labelled with their section number and class, with the competitor’s name inside. Judging has already taken place. It’s time to see who has [...]
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