Islay Weblog News Feed

Introducing Lesley Lutomski - Candles and Web Design

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:09:01 +0000

She makes candles, he repairs bicycles, she builds websites, he paints pictures, he runs (half)marathons, she also likes knitting and tatting and they both live in Port Ellen. Do you have a clue already? This post is about Lesley Lutomski, wife of Jim Lutomski of whom I wrote a while back. I was triggered to write this post by an ad in last week's Ileach where...

Ileach Calendar 2009

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:27:06 +0000

The 2009 Ileach calendar will be on sale from Tuesday 11th November at the Ileach office. We were delighted to receive literally hundreds of photographs from readers following our appeal, and our staff had the pleasant, if difficult, task of choosing those they thought most appropriate. Photographs from Jan Walmsley, Charlotte Hannett, George Robertson, Carl Reavey, Graham Logie, Stanley Hunter, Oliver Straub, Donnie McNeill, Lloret Allan, Alistair Hutchinson, Pat...

Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:39:08 +0000

There is more going on at Bruichladdich than whisky, given the press release Bruichladdich submitted last week about the 2008 collection of Renegade Rum. To get you in the mood, first some information of a previous press release from last year. "A new premium brand has been launched specialising in rare, single-distillery rums. The Renegade Rum Company offers small batch b...

Second Silo Taken down at Port Ellen Maltings

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:37:12 +0000

After the first silo at Diageo's Port Ellen Maltings collapsed in the early hours of Friday last week, the second silo was taken down as well due to the fact that this one was damaged by the collapse of the first silo and became instable. At this moment the main road is still closed and there is a lot of police on the scene, I don't think Islay has seen so many policemen on the island at the same time before.

The pictures below, in chronological order, tel...

Islay Nature Report 45 - Long Tailed Duck

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:45:39 +0000

Welcome to this weeks Islay Nature and Wildlife report. The format of the Nature Report has changed somewhat and from now on the report will be solely written by Jeremy Hastings, apart from the weeks that he is not able to.

This weeks Islay nature report, nr 42, by Jeremy Hastings, the ...

Ardbeg's Visitor Centre Best in Scotland

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:12:35 +0000

The Glenmorangie Company’s Ardbeg Distillery Visitor Centre has been named 'Best Visitor Attraction' at the Whisky Magazine’s Icons of Whisky awards in Glasgow. The Visitor Centre, which remains one of the leading visitor attractions on Islay, already carries a Visit Scotland '4-star' rating and more recently has undergone a significant refurbishment programme duri...

Islay Panorama Kilchoman Road Looking North West

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 14:17:54 +0000

Every now and then I have a look at my panorama images of Islay. I don't know how you look at them, but for me looking at these panorama pictures is almost like actually being there and seeing everything all over again. This week I want to show you a panorama picture which I took a couple of weeks ago on a passing place at the Kilchoman road. It had been raining all night and early morning too and suddenly the rain cleared and the sun came out. The panorama shows the houses on the left ne...

Storage Bin Diageo Collapsed

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:48:02 +0000

I received the following email from George Rhind this evening: A quick e-mail to say that one of the two huge conical storage bins at the North end of the Port Ellen Maltings, owned by Diageo, collapsed this morning, fortunately without injuring anyone. I did try to get you some pictures but the light was so poor and I couldn't get close enough to take anything worthwhile. Some of the nearby Argyll Community Housing Association houses were evacuated, presumably on the grounds that if one bin has collapsed then the structure of the other one would need to be checked out and it wo...

Islay Seasonwatch - Pinkfoot Geese

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:51:52 +0000

A very warm welcome to this new series of Islay Seasonwatch. Ron has kindly invited me, Teresa Morris of Islay Wildscapes to make a regular contribution to his Islay weblog on a Friday evening. I will be exploring Islay's tremendous wealth of wildlife and special landscapes during the coming months by focusing on individual species or habitats and providing some in...

Better Health Better Care for Islay and Jura

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:53:14 +0000

Argyll & Bute Community Health Partnership (CHP) is looking at involving local users, carers and the public about how to improve Health Services for the future health needs of Islay & Jura. We need to know how YOU think Health services should be provided on the islands and local doctors, nurses, ambulance staff and surgery staff are all making their ideas known. We want to know what you think too.
To realise that you can help us identify the key issues to ...