A School in South Uist
A
School in South Uist These are the memoirs of a teacher
from England who became headmaster of Garrynemonie School in
South Uist in the 1890s. At that time, the Hebrides were as
remote and forbidding to mainlanders as the Antarctic is in
the late-1990s. In the 1890s this island was one of the poorest
districts in the Outer Hebrides. Roads were no more than rough
tracks. Gaelic was the majority language, although children
had to learn their lessons in English and few allowances were
made for bilingual teaching. Epidemics were frequent and the
school had to close its doors because of outbreaks of smallpox,
whooping-cough, scarlet fever, mumps and measels. Rea's memoirs
show how he strove to meet these difficulties. His pupils recall
him as a sincere, hard-working man and an excellent teacher.
This work reveals his powers of observation and his interest
in the unfamiliar scenes and events he witnessed and recorded.
Old South Uist: With Eriskay and Benbecula
Old South Uist with Erisksay and Benbecula. Bill Innes, originally a native of the island, presents a delightful collection of photographs of life as it was on South Uist and this is every bit a book about people as it is about place. The author's own wonderful photos from the 1950s and 60s are augmented by images from the Margaret Fay Shaw collection, Kildonan Museum and other sources and many previously unseen images are included. Among the subjects featured are the old car ferry which ran until 2001, the Pollachar Inn, Walter Blaikie, the author(!), seaweed collection, the caschroom, Ian Campbell, Donald MacDonald, the Bute hospital, Daliburgh, Roderick MacDonald (Ruraidh Posta), emigrants leaving in 1923, Angus Maclellan and Donald Macintyre, Ormiclate, Howmore School, Flora Johnstone's seashell-covered cottage in Eochar, the 1936 cattle show. the Creagorry Inn, Benbecula Aerodrome and more.
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