What We Do In The Winter

This episode is a conversation with Alison and Angus Johnston of Iona.

Many listeners will know Alison and Angus from their time running the Columba Hotel on Iona.

We talk about their lives before Iona, with memories of life in Dublin and an amazing account of the WW2 victory parade in Edinburgh, then come to talk about life on the island and the characters of the past, the loss of Gaelic on the island, hopes for the future and finally we talk about what it is that so many people feel so drawn to Iona by and what it means to them.

Episode links and more on whatwedointhewinter.com

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This episode is a conversation with Christine Leach of Balevulin, Tiroran.

Originally from near Portsmouth, Christine has lived on Mull for many years.

Christine runs Pennyghael in the Past Historical Archive.

PPHA is a remarkable archive full of the most interesting materials that shines light onto the history of Brolas and its surrounds.

I’ve always found Brolas here on Mull to be a very tricky area to define. There are Macleans of Duart, Lochbuie and Brolas, Duart and Lochbuie are easy enough to locate in your mind, but Brolas less so.

It is for that reason and many more, that I wanted to talk with Christine.

Christine’s book Hebridean Healers, about the medieval Beaton family, who were located at Pennycross is out now and very much worth your while. It’s a great resource to explore Mull’s past. Christine was joined by Andrea Cameron, Elizabeth Carter and Miek Zwambourn in the writing of the book.

We also talk about Christine’s journey to coming to live on Mull, what brought her here and how it swiftly began to feel like home. There are many names mentioned from that past that I know many listeners will be delighted to hear again.

Christine has given me loads of photos to help illustrate her story, so do have a look at whatwedointhewinter.com for episode links and more info.

Thanks for listening!

This episode is a conversation with Allan and Cameron Maclean of Tobermory.

Cameron and Allan are brothers, Cameron born in Tobermory and Allan on Tiree.

I’ve wanted to speak these gentlemen for quite a time, so to finally get a moment to spend time together was very special.

We talk about so much in this episode. Places of the past, people of the past of both Mull and Tiree, fishing practice and fishermen.

There's a lot to take in.

For episode notes and more please visit whatwedointhewinter.com

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Hello, this is a test episode. This won't be out around for long. I'm having a few issues with what we do in the winter disappearing on all podcasts, flat platforms and flatforms. 
So what I'm going to try and do is just put this out as a we test recording much like when you might use a a plunger to unblock the toilet and see if it reactivates the RSS feed then brings all the podcasts back. I' not quite sure what's happening, but soundloud are updating their systems and I don't know if it's something like that that's gone wrong within some kind of feed issue. So anyway, um yes, if you hear this, um say hello on social media or, you know, sitting a thumbs up or something, but uh it's really just a testing of about a minute in length just to see if I can get a bit of sample out there just to reset the RSS feed on my sound cloud, so there you go all the best you could have you are stags are still rooting outside here and uh yeah, anything else Cheers.

A conversation with John Pirie about Skerryvore and lighthouses.

Dr John Holliday of the Hynish Trust and Alasdair Satchel of What We Do in the Winter talk with John Pirie, retired lighthouse engineer about Skerryvore lighthouse and the culture of working in manned lighthouses.

Recorded at An Iodhlann, Tiree, June 2024

I'm putting this out as a side episode of What We Do in the Winter, so there's no introduction or music.

Thanks for tuning in, happy listening!

In this, the 78th episode of WWDitW, Anda Campbell shares some time with us to talk about his life.

We talk about his childhood in Bunessan, his family life, members of the Bunessan community of the past, tales of adventure crossing snowdrifts to help out cabinet ministers, the musical visitors to the Arms, sport on the island, his involvement in the Rally and much, much more.

For episode links and more please visit whatwedointhewinter.com

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A special live episode about the Mull Rally, a car rally that started on the island in 1969. As Alasdair doesn't know too much about this subject he invited Duncan Brown, who spoke to us for episode 56, to host the episode. This episode was recorded on Zoom.

For photos from the history of the rally and other links, please visit the whatwedointhewinter.com for more information.

Thanks for listening!

This episode is a conversation with Gail Struthers.

Gail hails from the Hillfoots, the villages and towns around the foot of the Ochil Hills, near Stirling.

She’s lived on Mull for many years now and has worked principally in catering in hotels and cafes in the North of the Island. She currently works at Bowman Court and our local hospital in Craignure.

Our conversation takes us through Gail’s childhood, her working life and travels away from the island, her life here on Mull, including her time running the Glengorm Café, where I first met her, and then into her passion for reading.

For links and more please visit whatwedointhewinter.com

Thanks for listening!

This episode is a conversation with Eilidh Young. Originally from Penmore in North West Mull, Eilidh lives in Lochdon, where she was the head of Lochdonhead Primary for many years.

Our conversation brings the North of Mull to life during the second world war, so much so that we’ll hear what the infamous Lord Haw Haw, Nazi Propogandist on ‘Germany Calling’ had to say to the people of Tobermory one evening. Eilidh has tales of herself and her father, her training in Edinburgh at Moray House, her work as a teacher in St Neots, Murihouse and of course here on Mull.

Eilidh and I spoke in December in the midst of a great big storm, which you’ll hear in the background to our chat.

Image of Eilidh Young courtesy of Meriel Young, with thanks!

Thanks for listening!

Episode notes and more can be found on whatwedointhewinter.com

This episode is a talk between Seamas Carey of The Reason Why podcast and me, Alasdair Satchel, of What We Do in the Winter which explores the nature of our podcasting work.

Seamas’ podcast The Reason Why was released in the spring of 2022. It consists of 10 themed episodes and two live episodes which round the project off.

It explores the social issues, hidden history and culture wars of contemporary Cornwall.

What We Do in the Winter is an oral history podcast about the lives of the people of the Isles of Mull, Iona, Ulva, Gometra, Erraid and Little Colonsay.

The conversation you’re about to hear took place in An Tobar, Tobermory on the 4th of October 2023 in front of a live audience.

It came about thanks to Rhona Dougall and Nina Pope where were at the time of recording the curators of the visual arts programme at An Tobar Mull Theatre.

Sound at the event was by Louise Gregory and Tim Olden.

Episode links and more can be found on whatwedointhewinter.com

Thanks for listening!