Caroline Clouston, who helped to put the exhibition together, is pictured at a section dedicated to the late Karen MacLeod, who enjoyed a fantastic career in international athletics. Photography: Willie Urquhart. BY MICHAEL RUSSELL Photos and newspaper articles and attendance registers from the 19th century were among the exhibits on show last weekend to help celebrate the 150th anniversary of the old primary school in Kyleakin. It was a particularly emotional day for two families from the southern hemisphere, the Mansells from New Zealand and McColms from Australia. Ruth and Caroline. Hylton Grigor was a pupil at the school in the early 1950s, and he is pictured along with his brothers in photos that were on display in what is now Kyleakin Connections. Their father owned the butcher’s shop in the village and the family lived on Kyleside. Hylton’s daughter Ruth (now Mansell) came over with her husband Paul for...

BY KIRSTY WATT The sound of live music and community laughter filled the small, south Skye village of Glasnakille last Sunday at the first ever Glasnabury charity music festival. The sun was shining down on the cliff-top croft, ringed with flags and filled with hay bales and the chatter of the Elgol and Strathaird community, as musicians from near and far performed – for free – in aid of Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance. James Adams, Glasnakille, who organised the event, told the Free Press: “I’ve just hit 55 and it made me realise that if you are going to do anything in life, don’t just talk about it, just do it. Music has always been my passion. I’ve played in bands and I’ve made records, but I’ve never hosted an event. I thought I would have a go and I honestly didn’t really know why, or if it would work...

The finished project Mrs Jessie Donaldson and Louise Lankston reminisce about a Carbost Primary School project that began in 1998, when the former was head teacher and the latter one of her pupils. In 1998, the European Comenius Project brought together schools from different countries to work in partnership and share learning. Now, 28 years later, the project – a view pointer showing the Cuillin ridge – has been completed. Under the leadership of Mrs Donaldson, the school joined partner schools in Ribera, Sicily, and Kongsvika, a small island community on Hinnøya in Norway. As part of this collaboration, the senior class undertook an imaginative geography project that connected the identities of all three locations. Louise and Jessie The pupils created an entirely new fictional island by combining elements from Carbost, Ribera, and Kongsvika. They named this island Carikon, blending the three place names. To bring their creation to life,...

Trail West. Photograph: Willie Urquhart. BY DANIEL CULLEN The Free Press were among the festival-goers who descended on the Lump in Portree in their thousands last weekend as Skye Live returned for another hugely successful three-day celebration of traditional, electronic and alternative music. El Sartel. Photograph: Radio Skye. Running from Thursday 7th May until Saturday 9th May, this year’s festival once again transformed the Meall into one of Scotland’s most spectacular live music venues – with sunshine, packed crowds and an energetic line-up helping create a memorable atmosphere throughout the weekend. The top attraction of Thursday evening were Beluga Lagoon – returning to headline Thursday’s event after performing at last year’s festival – whose emotional indie-folk set had the crowd singing along from the outset. Legendary Scottish singer-songwriter Dougie MacLean also opened for Beluga Lagoon, delivering a stirring rendition of his hit song ‘Caledonia’ that proved to be one of...

BY JACKIE MACKENZIE Maree Todd The political landscape in the Highlands and Islands has seen a major shift after Thursday’s Holyrood elections with three long-standing SNP MSPs ousted by the Lib Dems and Labour. The SNP lost Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch –Kate Forbes’s former seat – to Andrew Baxter of the Lib Dems who beat Eilidh Munro by 950 votes. The Lib Dems also took Caithness, Sutherland and Ross from the SNP with Charles Kennedy’s former close advisor David Green gaining a majority of 5,092 over sitting MSP Maree Todd. Andrew Baxter And in a tight contest in the Western Isles, Labour’s Donald MacKinnon won the Na h-Eileanan an Iar seat from Alasdair Allan, the SNP incumbent of 19 years. Skye’s new MSP Andrew Baxter, a Lib Dem member for Fort William and Ardnamurchan on Highland Council, flipped retiring MSP Kate Forbes’s majority of 15,861, to win by 950 votes....

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...

Marsaili at John o’ Groats. BY JACKIE MACKENZIE A Skye woman is on top of the world after successfully completing an epic 1,000-mile Land’s End to John o’ Groats cycle challenge – and raising an amazing £16,000 for a cancer charity. Marsaili MacLeod, who lives in Kyleakin, spun off from the Cornish headland on 11th May and reached the tip of Caithness 15 days later, bang on her target time. Along the route Marsaili encountered stunning landscapes, frustrations with road closures, only one minor “road rage” incident and a warm accordion welcome at John o’ Groats. Marsaili undertook the length of Britain solo trip in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support which helped her through her own breast cancer diagnosis and treatment in 2021. “I set myself a target of 15 days and I did it, 14 days of cycling and a day of rest for planning ahead,” said Marsaili, the...