Arnish Lighthouse

Spoke to someone from the St Kilda Centre Development Group earlier this week. The website for the centre has gone live, which (as Lewis based blogger) I would like to highlight. The centre is to be constructed on cliffs overlooking Mangurstadh, on the road just north of Islibhig.

It has also come to my attention that the locations that lost out in the bidding process are still not accepting defeat. Whilst recognising that the link with St Kilda is not as strong from Mangurstadh as it was in relation to Leverburgh; and that the view of the archipelago is most prominent from North Uist, I would like to appeal for some common sense in this saga. The Western Isles are an archipelago of only 25,000 people, and continuing the unseemly squabble over the St Kilda Centre will benefit nobody. In fact, it will only serve to put the island group as a whole in a bad light.

Rather than rolling in the streets like fighting tomcats in March, isn’t it an idea to work together to make this a success story that all of the islands involved could benefit from? How about a satellite centre in Leverburgh and one at Cleitreabhal (North Uist), referred to from Uig. I’m probably naive…

The unseemly squabble over the St Kilda Centre continues, with the supporters of the Cleitreabhal site in North Uist threatening to open their own centre. Meanwhile, the Ionad Hiort working group in Uig has started work towards making the centre at Mangurstadh a reality. A website is to be set up shortly, and I refer to the Comunn Eachdraidh Uige for further updates and details.

Meanwhile, I would also like to recommend for contemplation this letter by a South Uist resident. I agree with each and every point raised.

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar have decided this evening to site the proposed St Kilda Centre in Mangurstadh, in the Uig district of Lewis.

Apparently, there was a lively debate (read: the feathers fairly flew) where those in favour of Uig said there was nothing wrong with the way the decision was reached, and those against (mainly North Uist and Harris representatives) said there actually was something wrong. The final vote afterwards showed 17 votes against and 14 votes in favour of running the entire selection process again - so Mangersta it is.

Two pillars of the local economy came into focus today. Highlands & Islands Enterprise, Hebrides News reports, has approved a 25-year lease for the site of the proposed salmon processing plant at Arnish. This could generate 100 jobs, a veritable bonanza of employment by Western Isles standards. When putting the link through a URL shortener, it made me smile because the title came out as:
Arnish Lighthouse caledonia lease.

What has been annoying me over the last couple of weeks is the unseemly squabble over the site of the St Kilda centre. There are three contenders: Mangurstadh (Lewis), Leverburgh (Harris) and Cleitreabhal (North Uist). A consultancy firm has conducted a survey of the three bids, and Mangurstadh came out on top, as I reported a few days ago. The Harris and North Uist bidders are now calling on Comhairle nan Eilean Siar to reject that advice when its tourism committee meets in the next couple of days.Yes, let’s carry on fighting like ferrets in a sack. At the end of the day, there are quite a few places inside AND outside the Western Isles where the St Kilda Centre could be located. I recently read a piece by a man from Ness, who argued that his area in North Lewis had the strongest cultural link to the St Kildans of old: they still go hunting for birds, to name but one argument. How about Glasgow, from where the steamer used to depart? How about Lochaline in Morvern, where the St Kildans landed after they were evacuated in 1930?

However, each of the three bidders has a lot to lose by not getting the Centre, so this fight will carry on to the bitter end.

Over the past couple of weeks, a controversy has been raging in these islands over the recommendation for the St Kilda Centre to be sited at Mangurstadh, in Uig, Lewis. Two other locations in the Western Isles, Leverburgh (Harris) and Cleitreabhal (North Uist) are also in the running. Upon learning of the recommendation, those backing the bids by Leverburgh and Cleitreabhal suggested that the scoring criteria had been altered after the bids had been submitted. The consultants, hired to research and formulate the recommendation, have now recalculated their scorings on the three bids according to the first set of standards, which still show Mangurstadh to be the most suitable location.

I can only hope that this is the end of the controversy, but with so much at stake for the winning location, that hope could well be a vain one.

Cliffs at Mangurstadh

BBC Highlands & Islands announced this afternoon that the St Kilda Centre is to be sited at Mangurstadh, Uig in the west of Lewis. There were two other sites, Cleitreval (North Uist) and Leverburgh (Harris). There is also to be a St Kilda trail throughout the Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of St Kilda itself, 45 miles west of the Outer Hebrides, makes the siting of the centre in that island unpracticable.

All sites were commended by the working group for putting forward a strong case for themselves, as all 3 sites had great development potential. I am pleased that Mangurstadh, one of the remotest townships in Lewis (40 miles from Stornoway), will be the site of this centre. It will also boost tourism and visitor numbers to the district of Uig.

A series of events takes place in Lewis and Harris this week surrounding St Kilda and its culture. Street theatre will feature on the streets of Stornoway on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 12 and 12.30pm. The mainstay of the event is St Kilda, a European Opera. This will be performed on Friday evening at 20.10 GMT, which is 21.10 BST, and can be viewed LIVE on-line on www.bbc.co.uk/stkildaopera. This link will not be operational until the night of the performance.

The week’s events are highlighted on a dedicated website, which has all the latest information.