15 December 2023 Issue 2558 © ULLAPOOL NEWS
SUCCESSFUL ULLAPOOL VILLAGE HALL MEETING
At the AGM on 15 November, we were pleased to have a number of people step forward to take active roles in the Ullapool Village Hall Association committee as we move ahead with changing our constitution, seeking more funding and generally working to maximise use of the village hall. A subsequent meeting held to discuss who will take on the various office-bearer roles has resulted in the following appointments:
Chair: Craig Maddock Secretary: Deidre Couper Treasurer: Neil Anderson
Also new to the committee are Becky Thomson, Nat Wilson and Ben Williams. We are grateful to all committee members, in particular Deidre Couper who has agreed to continue in the role of Secretary for a little longer and Gillian Meighan who continues to assist as the new committee gets going.
We will shortly be advertising for a new caretaker as Nat Wilson has resigned in order to join the committee. Nat has kindly offered to continue as caretaker in the meantime on a voluntary basis. The hall belongs to everyone in the community of Ullapool. We wish everyone to feel welcome to offer suggestions and become involved in both the running and future plans for the building. Committee meetings will be publicised and open to all and we would welcome input from anyone who would like to join the committee, is able to offer practical help or who has ideas and suggestions. We can be contacted through the Facebook page and at uvhcommittee@gmail.com.
*****
Two Lochs Radio and Loch Broom FM:
Books for Christmas parts 1 and 2
Iain Meadows, Station Manager at Two Lochs Radio and Lochbroom FM, asked Ullapool Bookshop to recommend 6 books for Christmas in 2 separate features which have been recorded and are being broadcast on Sat 9th and Sat 16th Dec. Just in case you can’t listen in or missed the feature (It’s broadcast live only at 9.20am on www.2lr.co.uk or 102.2FM on Saturday 16th December), here are the 6 recommended books for Christmas, as chosen by Katharine Douglas.
I was asked to recommend 2 books for Adults, 2 for Children and 2 local books, because who doesn’t love a good story at Christmas.
Adult:
-Seafood Journey Cookbook by Ghillie Basan (inc recipes from The Seafood Shack and also featuring many local suppliers too)
-Wild History by James Crawford: A unique book documenting in photos and text, many unusual wild places, such as salt mines, hidden paths and roads throughout Scotland.
Children:
-The Story Orchestra: The Planets: a beautiful gift and music book for younger children, with music to play on every page.
-Neil Gaiman: What we need to be warm: a poem compiled from individual verses, beautifully illustrated and raising funds for UN Refugee Agency for displaced children throughout the World.
Local:
– Windswept by Annie Worsley (a beautiful memoir of the Crofting year in South Erradale, Gairloch)
-The Faultline by John McLellan (fiction, set in Kinlochewe, where a young group of people work, live and enjoy the summer of 1977, amidst the amazing unique landscape of Torridon).
Katharine Douglas, Ullapool Bookshop
******
An absence of gardening
Yes, that certain something has been missing from your Ullapool News over the past four months. Your gardening correspondent began an autumn inspired article in early October, but then, due to circumstances beyond my control as they say, life overtook my literary intentions.
First there was Storm Babet, featuring an exciting journey to Lochinver full of lashing rain, beautiful travelling rainbows and huge white horses on Loch Assynt. Then the next day seeing all the huge branches torn from one of our big sycamores, as the severe gales came from the east, not the westerly direction the tree branches had grown curved to mitigate.
The Sunday after the storm was a lovely sunny autumn day, so time to really assess the damage to our garden, and a tentative beginning to cleaning up.
Will wasn’t feeling all that great and the next day went down with Covid. I managed to look after him until the Thursday when I succumbed to this nasty virus too. Thanks to the goodness of our neighbours fetching shopping and cooking meals and soup for us, we slowly recovered.
However, it’s left us both with bouts of extreme tiredness, sudden drops in energy and difficulty in planning or even basic thinking at times! So I apologise to my garden for almost complete neglect over these past (nearly) 3 months – and also to you all, dear readers, for being unable to write and entertain you with my gardening tales.
A small and rather leftfield planet saving tip – engage your curiosity, not your hostility, when you come across someone or something you disagree with.
Barring more unforeseen hazards, I’ll be back in the New Year with a look back to 2023 and a look forward to 2024.
Good wishes to you all
Rosie Christmas.
*****
SUCCESSFUL ULLAPOOL VILLAGE HALL MEETING
At the AGM on 15 November, we were pleased to have a number of people step forward to take active roles in the Ullapool Village Hall Association committee as we move ahead with changing our constitution, seeking more funding and generally working to maximise use of the village hall. A subsequent meeting held to discuss who will take on the various office-bearer roles has resulted in the following appointments:
Chair: Craig Maddock Secretary: Deidre Couper Treasurer: Neil Anderson
Also new to the committee are Becky Thomson, Nat Wilson and Ben Williams. We are grateful to all committee members, in particular Deidre Couper who has agreed to continue in the role of Secretary for a little longer and Gillian Meighan who continues to assist as the new committee gets going.
We will shortly be advertising for a new caretaker as Nat Wilson has resigned in order to join the committee. Nat has kindly offered to continue as caretaker in the meantime on a voluntary basis. The hall belongs to everyone in the community of Ullapool. We wish everyone to feel welcome to offer suggestions and become involved in both the running and future plans for the building. Committee meetings will be publicised and open to all and we would welcome input from anyone who would like to join the committee, is able to offer practical help or who has ideas and suggestions. We can be contacted through the Facebook page and at uvhcommittee@gmail.com.
*****
Two Lochs Radio and Loch Broom FM:
Books for Christmas parts 1 and 2
Iain Meadows, Station Manager at Two Lochs Radio and Lochbroom FM, asked Ullapool Bookshop to recommend 6 books for Christmas in 2 separate features which have been recorded and are being broadcast on Sat 9th and Sat 16th Dec. Just in case you can’t listen in or missed the feature (It’s broadcast live only at 9.20am on www.2lr.co.uk or 102.2FM on Saturday 16th December), here are the 6 recommended books for Christmas, as chosen by Katharine Douglas.
I was asked to recommend 2 books for Adults, 2 for Children and 2 local books, because who doesn’t love a good story at Christmas.
Adult:
-Seafood Journey Cookbook by Ghillie Basan (inc recipes from The Seafood Shack and also featuring many local suppliers too)
-Wild History by James Crawford: A unique book documenting in photos and text, many unusual wild places, such as salt mines, hidden paths and roads throughout Scotland.
Children:
-The Story Orchestra: The Planets: a beautiful gift and music book for younger children, with music to play on every page.
-Neil Gaiman: What we need to be warm: a poem compiled from individual verses, beautifully illustrated and raising funds for UN Refugee Agency for displaced children throughout the World.
Local:
– Windswept by Annie Worsley (a beautiful memoir of the Crofting year in South Erradale, Gairloch)
-The Faultline by John McLellan (fiction, set in Kinlochewe, where a young group of people work, live and enjoy the summer of 1977, amidst the amazing unique landscape of Torridon).
Katharine Douglas, Ullapool Bookshop
******
An absence of gardening
Yes, that certain something has been missing from your Ullapool News over the past four months. Your gardening correspondent began an autumn inspired article in early October, but then, due to circumstances beyond my control as they say, life overtook my literary intentions.
First there was Storm Babet, featuring an exciting journey to Lochinver full of lashing rain, beautiful travelling rainbows and huge white horses on Loch Assynt. Then the next day seeing all the huge branches torn from one of our big sycamores, as the severe gales came from the east, not the westerly direction the tree branches had grown curved to mitigate.
The Sunday after the storm was a lovely sunny autumn day, so time to really assess the damage to our garden, and a tentative beginning to cleaning up.
Will wasn’t feeling all that great and the next day went down with Covid. I managed to look after him until the Thursday when I succumbed to this nasty virus too. Thanks to the goodness of our neighbours fetching shopping and cooking meals and soup for us, we slowly recovered.
However, it’s left us both with bouts of extreme tiredness, sudden drops in energy and difficulty in planning or even basic thinking at times! So I apologise to my garden for almost complete neglect over these past (nearly) 3 months – and also to you all, dear readers, for being unable to write and entertain you with my gardening tales.
A small and rather leftfield planet saving tip – engage your curiosity, not your hostility, when you come across someone or something you disagree with.
Barring more unforeseen hazards, I’ll be back in the New Year with a look back to 2023 and a look forward to 2024.
Good wishes to you all
Rosie Christmas.
*****
