Looking back... a different perspective

At the time when this piece was written, Robert Sturgeon was a young boy living in the house of his parents, which was on the site of his present home: Tigh na Mara. I asked him if he felt that Halliday Sutherland had provided an accurate description of Coll at that time.

It is, he considers, an apt description. Some of the detail is sufficiently clear as to be able to identify individuals that he can remember. The 'first officer' encountered by Mr Sutherland aboard the Lochearn would most likely have been a man called Calum Robertson, whose wife came from Sorasdal.

The description of Loch Eatharna could almost apply today, although there is some doubt as to whether Arivirigh, the 'suitable home for an anchorite' was derelict in 1933. Robert knew the family who lived there and also what a good spot it used to be for collecting gulls eggs. The smart white cottage that you see today is a result of the renovation work carried out by Mrs Hinkson and which she has written about in an earlier edition of the Coll magazine.

The house that our visitor stayed in is readily identified as 'Limetree Cottage', still called Limetree and still owned by a member of the Kennedy family, although no longer a permanent residence. At the time the piece was written, Mrs Katie Sproat would have been a young girl at Loch View, the house next door, where she has lived all her life.

Miss Sarah Kennedy (Morag) and her brother Malcolm hardly spoke any English. Robert recalls that Calum was the butt of many practical jokes by the boys in the village. He was easily roused and a perfect target for their mischief - although Robert himself denies being amongst these cheeky pranksters. It is possible that before they came to live in the village, Morag and her brother Calum lived at Tigh na Lochan in the East End: the farm where the spring water ran clear in contrast to the peaty village water.

The entomologist referred to is fondly remembered as the 'Beetle Man' - a Dr Harrison - and Robert remembers how proud Morag was to have the Professor as her guest. He was a tall, thin 'lanky' man and remains in Robert's memory as the man who helped them build the enormous Jubilee Bonfire of 1936 when it was built on Cnoc na Buie. The Beetleman was a regular visitor for years and years.

Malcolm and Sarah Kennedy were, like most people on Coll at the time, very religious people and attended the Free Church. They were also great Royalists - all of which is reflected in the furnishings of the room described by Halliday Sutherland.

The Doctor's House referred to is the present Doctor's House, newly built just then. It is left to us to wonder what happened to the garden that they took such care to plant. Robert remembers that Doctor Somerville gave all the children a present at Christmas. He lived with his mother. Whilst living on Coll he met the Nurse, who he was later to marry when they both left the island.

There is some doubt as to whether there were really only two houses occupied at Sorasdal at that time - surely there were more? The old woman and her husband referred to are identified as Flora and Archie Campbell. They lived in the house that now, as a ruin, has the fuchsia growing in it.

Robert can add an interesting light to the discourse on the fishing, his father having once organised the processing and sending to market of all the fish on the island. Robert's father had, in an entrepreneurial way, provided a way of getting fish to market from about 1900 until at least 1918 and had involved all the crofters in the East End in this enterprise. But by 1930 this had stopped and there was no longer any means of selling fish on the island.

In conclusion, adds Robert, it is worthy of note that Halliday Sutherland was drawn to Coll in the depths of winter, having visited the island six months previously. It often happens that writers visiting Coll fail to get the feel of the island and this is shown in their writing. Not so Halliday Sutherland, whose description of the island and its people at that time is amazingly accurate.