Scots Local History [25min]

Puzzled by the past and don't know who to ask? 1) Let Mark Stephen has been to the ‘Islands that roofed the world’. Off the coast just south of Oban, the Slate Islands produced millions of roofing slates which ended up on buildings in the UK and as far off as Australia and New Zealand. The slate industry has long gone but the islands provide a fascinating glimpse in to the lives of the men and women who lived and worked there. 2) Tony Hill from Seafari Adventures took Mark by boat to Belnahua -- an island which was abandoned after the men left to fight the First World War. Walking round the island, Mark discovered the homes of the workers and found that everything needed on the island had to be brought in by boat -- from water to topsoil for growing vegetables. Mark discovered at first hand just how brutal the weather conditions could be on Belnahua! 3) Mark took a trip back to Easdale Island where the slate workers’ homes are still inhabited by a thriving island community who are proud of their island’s heritage. Local author and historian Mary Withall told Mark how the island’s hand-made slates became uneconomical to produce but that the slate is known to last at least 600 years. 4) Iain Tate at the Shetland Museum brought us another tale of island resilience with the story of Johnny Notions, a Shetlander of many talents beyond crofting and fishing but who is famous in Shetland for pioneering a vaccine for Smallpox despite having no medical training.