POLLOCKS LORRY, GOLDEN ROAD, ISLE OF HARRIS

Two years ago I wrote an article about this Pollocks lorry that I had photographed a while back. It was published in none other than Classic and Vintage Commercials! The Scottish Women’s Institute also ran the story in their monthly magazine.

We had come across this rotting, but in my mind, picturesque vehicle on the Golden Road on the Isle of Harris. I was so intrigued by how a vehicle from the Scottish mainland should end up on a remote Hebridean island that I decided to do some sleuthing on the matter.

I scanned the black and white negative and made a platinum print to give it a bit of extra oldness.

Here is my story:

Article published in

INDUSTRIAL SALMON FARMING IN PLOCRAPOL, ISLE OF HARRIS

http://38degrees.uservoice.com/forums/78585-campaign-suggestions/suggestions/2244122-call-for-moratorium-on-expansion-of-industrial-sal

Do you ever feel you have to take action about something you believe in?  In this case it’s action against the Scottish Salmon Company. Their proposed action has riled me. I clicked on the link to the campaigning group 38 Degrees, above and below, and gave my opinion:

“Farmed salmon is not something I would go out of my way to eat. Contrary to common perception it is a food loaded with artifical colours and hormones. Who knows its long term effects? This is one reason I would strenuously oppose the expansion of fish farming in Harris.On a social level the Isle of Harris has been our chosen holiday destination for nearly 20 years and it would be criminal, an act of vandalism, to allow this project to go ahead. Yes, from my point of view it’s NIMBYism – someone has to stand up for what they believe in!!”

http://38degrees.uservoice.com/forums/78585-campaign-suggestions/suggestions/2244122-call-for-moratorium-on-expansion-of-industrial-sal

The Scottish Salmon Company’s proposed action brings to mind the  1983 film Local Hero in which Mr Happer who heads an American oil company sends Mac to Scotland to buy up a remote village where they want to build a refinery. Things don’t go as planned. Mac teams up with Danny, begins negotiations and the locals are keen to get their hands on the loot. Their luck is in. But there’s a flea in the ointment in the style of  local hermit Ben Knox who lives in a hut on the crucial beach which he also owns. Happer is more interested in the Northern Lights and Danny in a surreal girl with webbed feet, Marina. Mac is used to a high-tech office in Houston but is forced to negotiate on Ben’s low-tech terms.

Think about it.

Monica Weller

Isle of Harris Golf Club…to win the Harris Tweed jacket..

I don’t do golf. The scene at Harris Golf Club from inside our car though, was good. The tournament this year, on a wild, windy, August day (sponsored by Harris Tweed Hebrides and Caledonian MacBrayne) with its white hospitality tent just visible from the road, against a backdrop of picturesque Scarista beach, did appeal. Out comes the photo gear….step outside the car confines….just…..and whoosh. A monster of a wind………………and the men are fighting to save the life of the tent. That’s more like it…..Gordon Cairns (Mail on Sunday) says of the island’s golf course: ”one of the world’s top hidden sporting gems”. Yes, he was waxing lyrical about the golf course, but I have to say, the golfers did give a sporting gem of a floor show with the tent! Unmissable…..