Another sunny day - we start at the school with music composition. Stu has broken down the first 8 bars of a Galliard by Ferrabosco (from the Armada period) into rhythmic sections and chords so the children can arrange in an order of their choice - they set two parts, a melody and a bass. They use manuscript paper to mark up their compositions, with our help. They complete this and Stu gets them to add a third part. Then he asks which instrument they would like to play the melody and we play the pieces. We will also play them in our concert on Saturday. Amazed to hear his piece, one of the boys says “ I didn’t know I could do it so well! “
I have spotted the knitting A-frame at the back of the hall storage cupboard - it will be perfect for our rigging idea. Checking that it’s OK to use it, we haul it out from the back, set it up in the hall and have a chat about how to arrange the set, musicians, participants and audience for Saturday.
At lunchtime I drop in to see Dave Wheeler, who had told me at the airstrip that he had forensic weather reports for 1588. Dave is the isle’s meteorologist and he has an enviable library, plus all his data collected since 1972, and a vast collection of his photographs documenting island life during that time. He shows me his photos from 1984 when the Orden del Mar Oceano visited dressed in costume and erected a memorial to the dead of the Gran Grifón. I take photos of the meteorological reports depicting the storms in 1588 that led to the wreck.
After lunch we meet schoolies and ranger Sally at Muckle Uri Geo to forage for objects to use in our Armada set and Elizabethan-style jewellery, all of which will be realised via the art of knotting aka macrame, which seems appropriate given our maritime theme. It’s great to have Sally with her seaweed knowledge, there’s so much to learn!
We all set off back to the hall to go through our bags of shoreline loot. The children play in the noosts…
I pay a visit to the graveyard to say hello to my friend Lise Sinclair - Fair Isle musician, poet, crofter, knitter, artist and mother of 4, with whom I started this Armada project more than a decade ago. She died in 2013, the idea was paused. I remember the fun conversations we had dreaming up possibilities… I tell her “we’re here, doing it, finally!” This project is dedicated to her memory and legacy.
I also find the memorial to the dead of Gran Grifón erected by the society that Dave photographed in 1984.
I am now well behind the group walking up to the hall - I chat to a couple of birders on the road (rare sightings, rather happy) and reach the shop just as supplies brought by the Good Shepherd are arriving with Jimmy. I join the chain of islanders offloading into the store, John gives me a lift to the hall. The foraged haul is laid out artistically on a table ordered from natural objects to man-made, and it looks splendid.
Jo gives me a macrame lesson - instant result, very gratifying - then we head down to Lower Stoneybrek as it’s Neil’s birthday. Cups of tea, a very tricky get-the-ball-in-the-hole game which Luca is beating everyone at, excitements over the new lava lamp and Eileen has made a massively chocolatey cake. I also get to catch up with Susannah, who I haven’t seen yet this week.
Stu takes Caroline, Jo and Lydia up to the North Haven and North Light. They wander the beaches and the cliffs, have a gander at the lighthouse and look at the progress of the Bird Observatory (razed to the ground by a fire in 2019) which is being assembled there in sections and is looking impressive. It should be built soon and then the fit of the interior will begin - it will be reopened in 2024.
Back home to Kenaby where our host and Good Shepherd skipper Ian is making another excellent supper of Cullen Skink (smoked haddock, potato, parsley).
Thank yous today to Sally for seaweed wisdom, Dave for Armada weather and photos, John and Neil for lifts and all the bakers, cooks and tea-makers!
Blogging by Claire Shovelton
Photo of children in noosts by Caroline Balding
Sally with seaweed knowledge for Gillian and Lydia
It’s Neil’s birthday!
Our haul from the shore