Day 232 - Skye Events for All

A walk to the post office today served for as good an excuse as any to go for a walk on yet another glorious Scottish day. And serendipity would once again play a role in our becoming involved, at least for a few minutes, with the local community...and being absolutely floored by how much can be accomplished by a group of dedicated people wanted to grow and sustain their local culture and community.

The Ardvasar Village Hall 

As we headed down the hill, we noticed a new, small poster on the bus depot (you do notice anything different in a small village). It advised that a "Pop-Up Cafe" was going to be held that day from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the village hall all in support of charity. It promised coffee, soup, salad, sandwiches, baked goods, and perhaps most important, a warm welcome. How could we turn that down?!

Rick Taylor (Source: SEALL website)

True to their poster, we were immediately warmly greeted by Rick Taylor, who we later learned was a jazz musician, singer, songwriter and music teacher (and we're sure a host of other fabulous things). There were only a couple of other people in the hall at this point (about 11:45) and on one side were a few tables were ladened with homemade food. Behind a pass-through to the hall's kitchen several ladies were busy preparing coffee, tea and about three soup options. Rick pointed us in the direction of Marie Lewis who, he advised, would explain how everything work.

Marie Lewis (Source: SEALL website)

Marie handles finances for the group that was putting on the event: SEALL, which stands for Skye Events for All, and which also means "look" or "see" in Gaelic. Started in 1991, SEALL is a community organization supported by volunteers whose goal is "to put Skye firmly on the map as an arts and cultural destination and to celebrate the wealth of home grown talent in the area." Since then, they've had 5,000 events, and for 18 years have been the team behind the two-week-long Skye Festival.

Marie was collecting the money from the lunch, and for about £12, we had soup, salad and sandwiches along with a bottomless cup of coffee. She explained all about the program and the additional work they do to encourage children's involvement with the arts.

SEALL's Creative Director, Duncan McInnes. (Source: SEALL website)

As we sat to eat, we were joined by the group's Creative Director, Duncan McInnes who explained more about the group. On discovering we were from Canada, we learned that he would soon be on his way to Cape Breton where he meets up with musical acts to encourage them to come to Skye. For all his work, this year Duncan was inducted into the Hands Up for Trad Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame. The prestigious award "recognises people who work tirelessly to help their community and enrich the lives of others through selfless service or charitable work." Congrats Duncan (I discovered that when doing a bit of research on the group).

After lunch and great conversation, we went to the local post office, then took a stroll along a small beach in Armadale, admiring the sea life visible due to the low tide and with Phil, the geologist, also admiring the exposed rock formations.

As we walked back to our cottage, we again stopped in at the Ardvasar Village Hall for cake (which we had said we would do). This time the place was packed. Everyone seemed to know each other and were greatly enjoying the chance to meet up and support their community.

The quality of what SEALL puts together for the community rivals that found in cities with much more funding and assistance. They are all to be commended!