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tireecottage — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:44:16 +0000

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Tiree Holiday Memories 1981

tireecottage — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 23:55:56 +0000

OK, so this is almost 30 years ago, but i’d like to share with you our very first family holiday to Tiree. The summer was 1981 and it was a hot one! In fact, we came back nice and tanned after a wonderful summer on the many beaches. We never looked back or indeed elsewhere on the planet for holidays. Tiree was our holiday destination always after that. This has some real personal memories, but i’d like to share them with you, if only to show holiday guests just what a wonderful time people of all ages can have on holiday in Tiree. This was a time BEFORE the golf ball on Ben Hynish, although you’ll see all the houses still incredibly look exactly like they did back then. Hope you enjoy this.

Ewe Tube: Tiree Rush Hour

tireecottage — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:31:24 +0000

Oh, forgot to say! Was driving along and 3 sheep came out the fence beside me and ran along ahead on Tiree’s single track roads. Whilst funny at the time, this could have gone on for a while, so i was glad when they stopped and went behind the car. No sheep were harmed or worried in the making of this video.

Soroby Resting Place

tireecottage — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 20:56:51 +0000

The lovely poem was amongst our mother’s belongings. In loving memory of Janet Veverka who passed away on 30th December 2009 and is now buried with dad in Soroby, Isle of Tiree (her most favourite place in the world!). She had kept it neatly folded and it obviously meant much to her and her faith.

Oh to the beautiful Isle of Tiree
Fields of green machar and chrystal blue sea
White sandy beaches , no footprints are marked
Only the terns and little skylarks
This is the place where no trees grow
and soft summer winds sometimes blow
Where waves rush into little hidden coves
and at low tide, where Carrigeen grows.
Corncrakes hide in and out of the corn
The buzz of the bee when it’s sunny and warm
Sheep and the hens pick in the seaweed
Looking for something to give them a feed
This is the place where i’d love to be
It’s surely God’s country and means much to me.

Back to Tiree sooner than expected

tireecottage — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:30:52 +0000

Happy new year to everybody! Hope you had good holidays.

Sadly, our family had a difficult time with my mother passing away at new Year. Her funeral was this morning and we’re travelling to Tiree tomorrow as she’s being laid to rest in Soroby cemetery, Balinoe, Tiree. All islanders are most welcome to attend. It is some comfort that mum will be back to her favourite place in the world, Tiree and laid to rest beside my dad. Still, 62 is very young and tremendously sad for us all.

I’m posting here simply to say thanks to the islanders who have telephoned this last week passing on their sympathies. I’ll be back to posting some happier news as soon as we get home on Thursday.

Co-op Cupcake Confirmation

tireecottage — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:11:46 +0000

Following a minor disagreement with my brother about whether the Tiree Scarinish Co-Op still sells a certain type of cup cake….(yes you read that right!), i can confirm Ivan, it very much DOES still sell them. As you can see from the picture….bought today and opened as soon as i got to Kilmoluaig. (I’ll bring you a pack back!). lol

Heb Calmac Madness

tireecottage — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:06:55 +0000

I can’t promise you’ll be as entertained on the Calmac ferry as the video below indicates, but this is just class…..those nutty staff on the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry….singing a classic madness song. Full marks for the team!

Here comes the Summer Sun

tireecottage — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:19:43 +0000

What is going on? Its mid September and the sun is out in Scotland! Our visitors to Struthan Cottage may not have had the driest August in Tiree, but September is certainly shaping up to be fairly warm and settled.

I spent my own honeymoon in Tiree in September in 2006 and this weather reminds me of that time. The next few days look settled too. Long may it continue.

Struthan Email Address

tireecottage — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:43:48 +0000

Please note, i’m getting a few reports that not all emails are getting to me using enquire@struthancottages.co.uk

Therefore, could guests and enquiries , please use:

paulveverka@tiscali.co.uk

until i can resolve the main email address. Thanks.

Joseph Thompson, Shotts

tireecottage — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:21:26 +0000

Joe’s many friends on the island were saddened to learn of his recent death. He was a well known face on the island having visited for many years. We extend our sympathy to his family and friends at this sad time. This is a poem written by Joe in 2005 and encapsulates his feelings for the island:

Under the Tiree Sky:

Twice a year i travel West. It’s a home from home for me.
The people are so friendly, a place they call Tiree.
Alas so many loved ones gone, no time to say goodbye.
They rest in peace on this small isle, Under the Tiree Sky.

I will return god willing. To this island i adore.
Greet new friends and old alike, and walk along it’s shore.
For me not sad, but happy. For the good times that are by.
For the lovely people of this Isle, Under the Tiree Sky.

Looking back as years pass by, as i walk along the sand.
The memories come flooding back, of those who walked this land.
Their names and faces from the past, so very clear to me.
When my time comes calling, i’ll stroll with them, Under the Tiree Sky.

Letter to An Tirisdeach

tireecottage — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:52:50 +0000

A letter of mine was published in last month’s edition of An Tirisdeach, the local Tiree newsletter. Here it is in full:

My name is Paul Veverka, (38) from Blantyre, south of Glasgow. This is now my 31^st year coming to Tiree on holidays or business and I’m proud to have witnessed a strong community bond grow over these years. It’s been noticeably encouraging and I felt compelled today to let local residents have a “visitors perspective” for a change.

It occurred to me that if I added up all the time I’ve set foot on Tiree, I’ve now spent over 2 and a half years of my life there! I had to laugh during May when the girls in the Co-Op asked me “Have you moved here now?”

Many islanders will probably know my family. My mother, Janet and her big white dog, and my sisters Lorna and Joanne and my brother Ivan who still runs the heating business my father Joe started. Loads of people on the island used to have their heating commissioned when my dad came to Tiree each Summer.

Some of my fondest childhood and teenage memories were on Tiree. Taking part in the regatta days, walking to the post office and shop in Balemartine each morning, making friends on the beach with other children whom I’m still friends with today! I remember jumping for joy in Scarinish as I heard about passing my exam results at school, falling in love for the first time in Balinoe, picking whelks with friends and then drinking the profits out of sight of my parents. So many happy memories. Over the years I’ve introduced all my friends to Tiree and more recently my wife too.

My family and I have a strong bond with Tiree, dare I say perhaps more than most tourists. It grows each year, with my little house in Kilmoluaig, with my sister getting married in An Talla next July, with the good friends and colleagues I’ve met and worked with on the island in recent years and of course due to my father who sadly passed away suddenly in 2007 and is now buried in Soroby cemetery, an area of the island he was very fond of. It really is the most beautiful, peaceful resting place on the planet.

I am of course still an “outsider” and maybe I’ll retire to Tiree one day. I’m really writing on two counts. Firstly, I’d like to say a huge thank you (with as much warmth as I can muster) to all the islanders over 3 decades who have shown kindness, generosity and friendship to my family and I. Too many people to mention, but Cathie, Fiona, Donald Archie, Nancy, Mark B, Scott McC, Alisdair, Tish and Angus, Iain, Flora and Mary get a special mention. (Sorry if I missed anybody out).

My second point was simply to say progression in the community is important and it’s fabulous to see such commitment in taking the community forward with plans for wind farms, buildings, commerce and agricultural opportunities. However to the outsider like me, the lowly visiting tourist…..it’s not the wonderful beaches, plans or tranquillity that we see first. It’s the warmth of the Tiree people who make it such a fantastic place. Tiree has retained a friendliness, an inviting timeless charm that other islands seem to have lost. You don’t need a tourist to tell you that and whether I’m on or off the island, if I can help the community in any way, you’ll only have to call.

Summer Sunset at Cornaig

tireecottage — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:21:33 +0000

The beautiful sunset photo was contributed by Mo McLeod.

Taken in July, the photo shows the sun setting in the West over the Northerly beach at Cornaig. The beach isnt far from Struthan Cottage and it’s not uncommon to see amazing sunsets in the Summer months looking out in the evening.

In Summer it doesnt get dark until very late. It’s amazing how light it can be in the evening. Thankfully, we’ve installed blackout blinds in all Struthan Cottage bedrooms for your comfort. (after you’ve had a look at sunsets like this!)

We’d love to see more holiday snaps you’ve taken whilst visiting the cottage or Tiree! If you wish one of them to be featured here, drop me an email using the contact page. Thanks.