I WAS intrigued by Gavin Bell's article regarding Mae MacLeod's return to St Kilda 75 years after leaving it as a child (Weekend Extra, April 12).
Her story brought back many nostalgic memories. As a young reporter with the Glasgow Evening News I was assigned to report on the official evacuation of the island. The fact that I was born on the Gaelic-speaking island of Luing may have influenced my editor's decision.
I was with the large section of the islanders allotted for forestry work at Lochaline in the Sound of Mull. Even to this day I'm conscious of the sense of foreboding that affected the islanders as they were shepherded ashore on the quayside at Lochaline in the late afternoon in the late afternoon of August 29, 1930.
A young woman was collecting her meagre belongings as they were being unloaded on to the quayside. She had two spinning-wheels, which I admired, and she remarked sadly, ''What am I going to do with these?''
Would she care to part with one, I asked. She shyly assented and since that date I've made that spinning-wheel a feature of my lounge. It's in perfect condition and a source of admiration.
This is the purchase note I've got in my possession.
''On this the 30th Day of August, 1930, I sold to Mr Angus Shaw my spinning-wheel from St Kilda.''
Signed, ''Widow McQueen''.
As they settled down in their new environment I spent several years with the St Kildans, taking the youngsters on a car tour of the district and attending their first church service.
But that wasn't my final association with St Kilda. With my growing family I usually spent a fortnight's holiday over the years on the island of Seil, which then had as its minister St Kilda-born Mr Ferguson, an intrepid sailor who over years frequently sailed back to St Kilda in a lug-sailed open boat. We were firm friends over the years.
On a slightly incongruous note I may add that I had an audience with the King of St Kilda (Finlay McQueen) in, of all places, a Gorbals tenement a few weeks after the evacuation.
Recalling these incidents of long ago I feel like Rip Van Winkle coming down from the Catskill Mountains. But I'm on good terms with the local dogs; they don't bark at me.
Angus Shaw,
14 Skuma Court, Skelmorlie.
April 12.
I THOROUGHLY enjoyed the very well-written article on the return to St Kilda of the last of its natives (Weekend Extra, April 12).
As a young man I had the thrill of meeting some of these folk who had been resettled at Larachbeg in Morvern, and at Jara Lodge on Mull.
I vividly recall a lady at the former telling me how scared she was every windy night at Larachbeg when the trees creaked and rustled in the wind, because she had been well on in years before ever seeing a tree.
I myself was destined to live for a time in a part of Scotland with few trees. This has the opposite effect and I hankered after a decent forest.
A Denis Williams
372 Perth Road, Dundee.
April 15.
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