Tuesday 25 May 2010

Hebridean Air Services launch Oban to Islay flights - via Colonsay

As a result of customer feedback, we are making some important alterations and additions to our Timetable. We are offering a new service, special fares and a new website online booking service. These changes will take effect from the 1st June.

1. We are introducing a Tuesday and Thursday day return service from Oban and Colonsay to Islay. The aircraft will depart Oban at 0805, routing through Colonsay to Islay. This will give Colonsay residents the opportunity of flying to Islay to connect with the FlyBe service to Glasgow.

Islay residents will also have the availability of a day return service to Oban, departing Islay at 0930 and departing Oban for Islay at 1510.

Passengers intending to use the Air Service to and from Islay, should use the long term car park at Islay, available free of charge, where there is a portakabin for the use of Hebridean Air Services passengers.
This is to ensure that passengers on the Glasgow services are segregated from those travelling to or from Oban and Colonsay. Passengers will still be able to use the terminal for connections and facilities, such as refreshments and car hire. We hope that this long awaited innovation gets the support of both business and leisure users and becomes a well used part of the local transport infrastructure.

2. We are pleased to announce the trial of a weekend special between Oban and Colonsay, and Oban and Coll. These flights will depart on a Friday and Sunday afternoon, and all seats will have a weekend special fare of £40 single.

3. In addition to the aforementioned flights, we are offering reduced fares on all routes.
Passengers will have the option of booking an Early Bird fare online, where we are offering a limited number of seats on every flight at a lower fare.

4. All of the new services and fares are available on our web booking service which will come into effect at the end of May at www.hebrideanair.com.

We hope these changes reflect the needs of our customers, and that they will continue to give us their valuable support and feedback.

BBC ALBA HIGHLIGHTS THE WAR AGAINST FOOD WASTE

Trusadh - ‘Sgrios: Waste not, want not’
Monday 31st May 9pm

Campaigns to tackle Scotland’s food waste, which costs the average household £430 per annum, are highlighted in a revealing new BBC ALBA documentary.

‘Sgrios: Waste not, want not’ chronicles the efforts of individuals and groups across the country to stop food reaching landfill sites rather than the nation’s dinner plates.

With Scots wasting a startling 570,000 tonnes of food annually, more than two thirds of which could have been eaten, efforts to stop food waste have both an economic and environmental impact.

The documentary hears from a wide range of people, from students who get much of their food from skips, to an organisation which donates leftover shop food to the homeless and from a family keen to learn how to shop wisely and avoid waste.

Student Gordon Maloney, 19, practises freeganism or skip diving - salvaging food which supermarkets have thrown away, sometimes because it is slightly out of date or the packaging is damaged.

The Edinburgh teenager, who is studying at Aberdeen University, is passionate about not wasting food. Gordon said: "For me, freeganism is living outside a world that depends on profit. Shops throw a lot of food away and people are dying of starvation while we have enough food to last us weeks."

Gordon searches through supermarket skips regularly with his friends, who have been surprised at the good quality of much of what they find. Whatever food Gordon finds but does not need himself he gives away to an organic University cafe run by volunteers. He explains: "We are only doing small things but they are important things. We show that you can survive without shopping every day and giving the shops your money. It also shows you can make do at a local level in your community."

The Ferrigan family, from Currie in Edinburgh, have been following an ethical lifestyle for years, composting, growing their own vegetables and eating small portions so as not to waste. Dad Mike, admits he gets fed up that so many people are still casually wasting food and energy: "I get very frustrated. I have been involved in the green movement for about 25 years and the message is only now slowly getting through. We need to realise that it's not going backwards to think about growing your own food and using less energy. It's about having a responsible attitude to the world and the future of the planet."

Daughter Mairi, adds: "It's not hard to just take the amount of food you're going to eat and not throw the rest away. I care for the environment and I worry about how the world is going to be when I grow up."

Edinburgh Cyrenians Good Food Programme, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, saves food from landfill on a much larger scale - around nine tonnes a week. The charity gives out leftover food donated by shops to more than 40 homeless projects in Edinburgh.

Programme manager Carol-Anne Alcorn says: "We need to improve the nutrition and choice for people who are marginalised in their diet by homelessness and social exclusion. We saw the evidence that there was food going to landfill that was fit for purpose so joining the two together made absolute sense. It was a win-win situation. People's lives and diets were improved and landfill was reduced."

For the group Food Not Bombs, the aim is less focused on how many tonnes of food they can save from landfill but more about the effect they can have on changing attitudes towards food waste. They collect small quantities of leftover food from shops around once a month before preparing it and handing it out free on the streets to raise awareness of the issue. Jake Butcher, of Marchmont, Edinburgh, says: "What we are doing here is important but it's not hugely significant in terms of that there are tonnes and tonnes of food going to landfill every day and we don't really make a dent on that. But it's nice to think that people go away from a Food Not Bombs event thinking more about the food that they are wasting and more about the industry that creates most of that waste."

Jake's friend, student Angus Vajk, from Oban, says the public's reaction to being given free food is usually very positive, explaining: "People we give to on the street are usually really happy. A lot of the time they try to pay for it which is funny as we are not trying to raise money, just awareness."

For Zero Waste advisor Marina Fraser, the key to reducing waste is to reduce over-buying. Marina, based in Inverness, advises people in the Highlands and Islands how to reduce food waste with easy tips such as: make a list before shopping to avoid over-buying, use portion cups to reduce the amount of food on our plates and use compost bins to recycle. Marina also practises what she preaches and has a wormery and three compost bins at home. She explains: "People need to make time to see what's in the fridge and in the cupboards. We are all so busy that we rush to the shops, buy a lot and then fill up the cupboards with food that will go out of date. We have to check what's left and look for recipes."

‘Sgrios: Waste not, want not’ is produced by mactv for BBC ALBA and will be shown on Monday, May 31st at 9pm.

Bruichladdich offer whisky made from Islay-grown barley

Home Grown Festival Bottling


Sunday 23rd May during The Islay Whisky Festival 2010, saw the inaugural bottling of an Islay single malt made entirely from Islay grown barley - the first such bottling since the early part of the last century.

Chalice barley, harvested in September 2004, was grown less than 1 mile from the distillery on the ideally exposed, south-east facing slopes of Kentraw, overlooking Loch Indaal.

The pebble-rich soil, consisting of raised marine deposits, had not been cultivated for at least a decade so was naturally fertile.

The whisky was distilled three months later, matured for six years in refill sherry butts, before hand-bottling by visitors to the distillery last Sunday.

This cask-strength bottling (57% ABV), part of the Bruichladdich ‘Valinch’ series, can only be purchased at the distillery - in person.

Distillery manager, Duncan MacGillivray, said: “It is our aim and our passion to source as much of our raw ingredients from Islay itself. We are the only distillery to use 100% Scottish and Islay barley.”

“For the 2009 harvest around 50% of our needs were grown on Islay with another 40% organically grown on the mainland.”

“Richard Macaire, laird of Foreland and Kentraw, was the first to respond to our Islay grown challenge. Sadly he died last month so with this festival bottling we remember him as a shareholder, partner and friend.”

While still youthful and high strength, this spirit shows a remarkable maturity, definition of character and malty flavour. It demonstrates precisely why Islay became so famous for ‘single malt scotch whisky’.

BBC ALBA – WEEKLY PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS Saturday 5 June – Friday 11 June 2010

Title: Cuide Ri Cathy - Terry Nutkins

Cathy MacDonald spends the day with legendary wildlife presenter, Terry Nutkins.

Transmitted: Monday 7th June 2010
Time: 22:00


Title: Suil Air 1974

A look back at some of the events of 1974 through archive film, music and people's personal memories. Included in tonight's programme: the Watergate scandal, Donald Stewart elected as leader of the SNP at Westminter, Se Ur Beatha on TV and the UK
hit by strike action.

Transmitted: Tuesday 8th June 2010
Time: 21:00


Title: Air An Toir

Air an Toir follows the lives of individual Gaels whose global journeys found them in extraordinary situations. Angus Macaskill from the Isle of Skye was just 22 years of age when he answered an advertisement for an extraordinary motor expedition across the continent of Africa. Seumas MacDonald follows his remarkable journey.

Transmitted: Wednesday 9th June 2010
Time: 20:30


Title: Soillse – Born under the Northern Star

Far up North in a remote bay on the Eastern Coast of the Spitsberg lies an uncharted cove. France & Eric are research scientists and have decided to settle there, living onboard their small red sailing boat amongst the icepack. The arrival of Leonie, their baby girl, has turned their daily lives in the Artic upside down and given a new meaning to their choice of life.

Transmitted: Wednesday 9th June 2010
Time: 21:00


Title: Sim MacChoinnich

A celebration of the life and work of well loved actor Simon Mackenzie. From a childhood in Harris and the fledgling days of Gaelic rep with Fir Chlis, to an illustrious and prolific acting career.

Transmitted: Thursday 10th June 2010
Time: 21:00