Scottish Islands Explorer 40: Nov / Dec 2016

Editor’s Welcome / Guest Columnist
Editor
John Humphries
on associates
There is again something that feels new about this edition
of the magazine. We are with Buxton Press which, of course,
applies different production techniques. Alas, the family-firm of
Hastings Printing, was taken over and closed. Sadness was felt
because the company knew how to handle our commercial
needs in both a friendly and professional manner.
We felt an association with them for they owned two
magazines, which like our title, encouraged those with a passion
- in their case for ships and aircraft. One of the features of the
British, and its males in particular, is a liking for an activity that
creates a bond of common interest. Obviously on a large-scale
this can involve soccer or, with its full title, Association Football.
Fans (and sometimes fanatics) can be drawn to mass
movements which are sporting, political, religious or social. Yet
the appeal is to find those enthusiasts who focus on the often
unnoticed and the unexpected. They derive pleasure from
exploring, sometimes collecting, but always looking at structures
or topics that demand a certain meticulousness.
I had the privilege during the summer of spending time with
members of the Relative Hills Society in the Isles of Scilly. Before
you start contacting me about a group of Marilyn-baggers
(dedicated climbers of certain hills of over 1500’ in Britain and
Ireland) being on low-lying islands, you should know that here
was a group interested also in SIBS - Significant Islands of Britain.
I now urge you to google your way out of ignorance and then
to listen to my account of how I was impressed by 20 individuals,
male and female, who visited small islands, climbed to their
highest and photographed, if there, the relevant trig points and
then proceeded to search for and identify one or more of the
Ordnance Survey bench-marks, of which there are some halfmillion
nationwide.
So let us rejoice that our heritage is being preserved for future
generations, efforts are being made to enthuse others, individual
passions are aroused and a ‘good time had by all.’ Those of us
who are associates on this magazine - editor, contributors,
publisher, designer, proof-reader, circulation-manager and
printer - have a common cause that demands meticulous
attention to creating a publication.
John Humphries
Guest Columnist
Emily Richards on the
Isle of Rum’s effect
What do we mean by ‘the real world’, anyway?
In 2013, I le London for an unknown wilderness,
having abandoned job, income, friends and family
to live with my wife in Kinloch Castle on the Isle of Rum,
one of the wildest places in Britain. We shared an island
with just 42 other people, plus eight eagles, 900 deer and
100,000 Manx shearwater.
During the two years that we lived there, my encounters
with Rum's vast wilderness and its tiny community at
first led to depression, even fear; but Rum was also
beautiful, comical and, ultimately, life-changing. And
when I wanted to run away, I was inspired to stay by the
story of Lady Monica Bullough, the Edwardian beauty
who once owned both castle and island.
Here I was able to find my own voice and to write - at
first a blog - then a whole book, Twelve Months with
Lady Monica - A Beginner’s Life on the Isle of Rum. One
reason for writing it was to tell the story of an island. But
I also wanted to communicate that change is possible -
but not easy. Living inescapably close to nature is not a
romantic dream. It's more like a surgical intervention
that changes you, body and soul.
Even though we are now back in the ‘real world’ - which
sometimes feels far less real than Rum - I am still stronger.
My senses are sharper, I sleep more deeply and I know
how to walk without footpaths; I used to feel cold all the
time, now I feel warm. I am not passive in the way I used
to be; I do not rely as much on other people;
I have learnt what it means to feel free. is is what Rum
gave me.
So what happens now? Islands are not places where you
can run away from life. Instead, if you take them
seriously, they make you confront their realities.
My challenge now is to put what I learned on Rum to
use - to bring some of its freedom and wildness to my
own life and, maybe, to other people’s too.
Emily Richards
4 SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2016