Marc Smith with the rest of the HebNet team enjoying their 15 year anniversary on Eigg. BY KIRSTY WATT HebNet, the Small Isles’ community-interest broadband company, has just reached a major milestone this month celebrating 15 years of providing the area with fast, reliable internet. Based in Eigg, HebNet CIC’s origins began in 2010 when Simon Helliwell launched an experimental pilot scheme to see if usable broadband could be wirelessly transmitted to Eigg. By the end of the year, HebNet CIC was formed and the majority of Eigg’s businesses and households were connected, with each household contributing £75 to materials. Since then, the CIC has gone from strength to strength with Ian Bolas, Davie Newton and Marc Smith joining Simon in the team of directors, helping to connect Rum, Canna, Muck, Knoydart and Elgol into the network. Not stopping there, the team are upgrading the service and have already moved...

The absolute legend, Archie Law. Photograph: Radio Skye BY KIRSTY WATT Skye teenager Archie Law saved the lives of two men last Saturday after they got into difficulty on an inflatable toy dinghy in Broadford Bay. 15-year-old Archie was praised by the RNLI for his ‘quick thinking’ as he took his own boat out to rescue the men after seeing them floundering on an inflatable dinghy between Scalpay and Pabay around 9pm on Saturday night. Speaking to Radio Skye earlier this week, Archie said: “I was just having dinner when I saw a little boat out in front of our house. I never really see any boats in front of the house, not wee ones like that. “I could see it was just a rowing boat going in circles and I was a bit confused about it. I decided I would get my boat out and see if they needed...

Heading from Plockton. BY KIRSTY WATT ‘Art in a Bus’, Scotland’s travelling art gallery, brought the ‘wow’ factor to youngsters in Skye and Lochalsh last week with their technology-inspired exhibition on wheels. The Travelling Gallery, which has been bringing contemporary art exhibitions to communities across Scotland since 1978, was toured by high school and primary pupils, as well as members of the general public, when it pulled up in Plockton on Tuesday 12th May, and in Portree on Wednesday 13th and Thursday 14th May. Featuring the work of five artists, MV Brown, Nina Davies, Gavin Gayagoy, Hardeep Pandhal and Gregor Wright, this year’s exhibition was titled ‘real-life friction’ and explored our relationship with the technological world. Jo Arksey, Travelling Gallery learning and engagement officer, told the Free Press: “[This year’s] exhibition is almost all digital artwork and is dark inside, so it has a bit of a wow factor! “The...

Hard rockers BY DANIEL CULLEN A new alternative music festival on Skye has been described as a “roaring success” after drawing crowds from across Scotland, the UK and beyond to Kyleakin Hall last weekend. Dùn Rùin Festival – a two-day metalcore event organised by Layla Sawford – welcomed around 200 attendees each night on Friday and Saturday, with festival-goers travelling from places including Aberdeen, Cardiff, Cambridge and even Los Angeles to attend. The event featured eight bands from across the UK alongside DJs, a metal quiz and (what organisers believe to have been) Skye’s first-ever ‘Metal Cèilidh’. Among those performing were Gun Ghaol, the world’s first Gaelic metalcore band, and Switch Angel, a live coding DJ who travelled from Boston, Massachusetts to appear at the festival. While the event brought a heavier musical genre to Skye, the atmosphere across the weekend was notably welcoming and family-friendly. The Free Press spoke...

Bryn, Owen and Hughie on the shores of Loch Broom. By Kirsty Watt Kirsty Watt spoke to Ullapool man Bryn Higgs, who, along with hundreds of others, was en route to Gaza when he was kidnapped in international waters by masked black-clad Israeli agents. Luckily, Mr Higgs was not subjected to the brutal violence others endured… Bryn Higgs from Ullapool was sailing in the Mediterranean last month when it happened. He was on a 39-foot yacht with four other sailors; civilians. One boat, surrounded by around 60 others, who were all aiming to take humanitarian aid to Gaza – the Palestinian territory currently held under siege by Israel. They were part of the Global Sumud Flotilla… until they were kidnapped, imprisoned and held at gunpoint for 36 hours.“We were sailing in international waters, carrying humanitarian aid. We were all trained in non-violence and we were all on our way to...

Harbour manager Lachie Gillies hands over keys to new tenant Corran Coffee. A new community harbour building in north Skye is proving an aromatic hit with local people and visitors. Coffee beans sourced from all over the world are being roasted at Staffin Harbour and enjoyed by customers in the premises by the very first tenant, Corran Coffee. The new café and coffee supplier, run by Andi Dunkel and Paul Milne, has taken on a five-year lease of the harbour facilities building which includes much-needed public toilets and showers. It is the latest addition to the harbour which has been owned by Staffin Community Trust for less than two years. A number of businesses now operate out of the harbour after seven work sheds were built last year and include a sauna, fish farming, scallop diving, bike hire, Gaelic outdoor education activities, bike hire and boat tours. The revenue from...