On The Grapevine

The schoolchildren gave Kevin a magnificent thank-you card when he retired as schoolbus contractor, and he also wishes to thank the parents and staff for the sumptuous leaving dinner at The Colonsay and a most generous gift;  Harbour View is now fully-fettled for its new role as a holiday let, and the refurbishment of Hazel Cottage is almost finished (it took longer than the Large Hadron Collider and probably cost nearly as much); Angus Howard is about to celebrate his ...

We had a nice start to the year, with the highest temperature to date being recorded on 9th April at 16.0 C. but unfortunately we then encountered a bitterly cold period lasting 6 weeks (so far) – the second highest temperature was only 14.7 degrees, recorded on 24th May and only on ten days in May did the temperature reach or exceed 12 degrees; Kevin retires as schoolbus driver at the end of term, and a new contractor has been ...

Kilchattan Primary School has arrangements in hand for the next expedition and will be holding a ceilidh to raise funds; please make a note of Monday May 4th for a delightful day of MacPhee Bagging;  Maghnus bought a 60ft launch in Fremantle and has been moving it closer to its new home in Hong Kong, crossed the equator on 25th and reached Sandakan on 28th March; work on the Baptist Manse has taken much longer than expected; ditto work on ...

The honeymooners are thought to be heading for the south of France, via a week in Jamaica; the Homefield satellite broadband equipment is here and will soon be installed; the Colonsay Meteorological Observer (unpaid) is hoping to retire in the autumn after 25 years or more and would like to hear from anybody interested in the succession;  Ivan is welcomed back again, to manage the hotel for the 2015 season; Colonsay House Gardens are to be open on Saturdays as ...

Gavin was away again! This time he was in the Canaries but he seemed to be making the best of it; Anne and Jim were on the High Seas once again; Dave and Jan are in Oz; Helen and Dell took Eve and Ella to Fuerteventura, they must be keen on islands; work on Hazel Cottage is going ahead well, the annexe found is in place and a new porch went up this week; two of the Housing Association properties ...

The most exciting news appeared on FaceBook – Colonsay is expecting a baby, hopefully about mid-summer, and we wish every happiness to the prospective parents and grandparents; Roz and Chris are hoping to move permanently into the island; the Argyll & Bute PC in the Service Point has been offline for three months, which means that it is unavailable for the registration of births, marriages or deaths; the editor had a fault on his BT telephone and broadband from November ...

OK – this time Bill and Annie really have gone to Oz;  Argyll & Bute Planners came to give their views on possible wind-turbine locations and possible low-cost housing; the Screen-Machine came – an articulated lorry that transforms into a 100-seat luxurious cinema – and was warmly supported across four public performances plus a bonus one for the schoolchildren; beach-cleaning continues and that Balnahard eyesore really will be attacked in December; no progress yet on the two west windows in ...

The piershed at ferry time is the place to find out what’s going on – sometimes the stories are even true!

*Wednesday’s ferry from Colonsay was full for cars – for the first time in years*Mary Anne Kennedy gave a brilliant concert in the Hall on Wednesday night*It is not too late to buy tickets for the Colonsay Music festival – but hurry*There is now a Colonsay wind turbine steering committee but room for more volunteers*The RNLI sale was a great ...