Sheila Isobel Carney, 1933-2017
SHEILA WAS born on January 20 1933 to Margaret Isabella Carney (Scottish), locally known as Maggie, and Frank Carney (Irish/Czech). Maggie met and married Frank in Edinburgh where she was working as a cook at one of the hospitals there. They went on to have three children: Sheila, Mary and the late James (Hamish) Carney.
Sheila was born in Edinburgh and lived her infant years in the Leith docks area. During the Second World War the Leith docks were under German attack and the area suffered bomb damage. Sadly their home was mostly destroyed. Thankfully, due to Maggie’s father sending a telegram alerting them of potential bomb attacks on British docklands, the family were up in Kirtomy at the time.
Maggie went back down afterwards but there was little left of their home. She managed to salvage some belongings and the family moved back to live at Kirtomy Mains with Sheila’s grandfather, Seumas (Ruadh) Mackay.
This story is from the No 313, November 2017 edition of Am Bratach.
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This story is from the No 313, November 2017 edition of Am Bratach.
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The Postie's Post
WHEN YOU consider that we really don’t have that many roads in the Highlands, the ones we do have seem to get a story from most people you talk to.
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Bookends
“She Said He Said I Said: New Writing Scotland 35”, edited by Diana Hendry and Susie Maguire, Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 2017. £9.95.
Graeme At Large
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Geopark Means Business This Year
Securing long-term government support is a priority, says new chairman
Fraser Darling's View Of Highland Medical Care
The “West Highland Survey: an essay in human ecology”, edited by Frank Fraser Darling, was published by the Oxford University Press in 1955. Fraser Darling (1903-79) was an English ecologist, ornithologist, farmer, conservationist and author who between 1939 and 1943 brought derelict land into agricultural production on Tanera Mòr in the Summer Isles. In January 1944 he met Tom Johnson MP, Secretary of State for Scotland, who was aware of Fraser Darling’s published works which included a popular weekly column on agricultural science syndicated in several Highland newspapers. They agreed his plan for a social and biological investigation into the problems of the West Highlands and for establishing an agricultural advisory and demonstration centre in the crofting areas. In Fraser Darling’s own words, the West Highland Survey was established “in order to examine in a spirit of scientific inquiry, to gather a solid body of facts for analysis and synthesis, which would serve as a foundation for a future policy for the region”. He continued: “The argument was maintained that if the problem were understood in its wholeness, solution would be possible”. In June 1944, a team which included Frank Fraser Darling as director and four young Gaelic-speaking field officers, began work. The resulting 438-page book includes the following account of the Highlands and Islands Medical Service, launched in 1913 and forerunner of the Scottish National Health Service. After thirty years, the surveyors regarded the service as an unqualified success, an enviable situation underlined by the number of able medics seeking work in the post-war Highlands.
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The Postie's Post
IF YOU are a regular reader of my postie’s posts you will probably sigh when you realise that I am talking about roads again this month. But I do have an excuse and that is because the Highland Council aren’t really that good at managing them at times.
Bookends
George Gunn, “The Great Edge”, Grace Note Publications, 2017. £12.99.
