Skyecomuseum

TWO Remembrance Sunday services were held in Staffin at the weekend, despite the inclement weather.
At 2.30pm around a dozen folk attended a service at the Culnancoc War Memorial during a welcome gap in the heavy rain showers. Valtos woman Janet Lamont laid a wreath at the memorial on behalf of Staffin Community Council, as did Allan MacLeod, from Clachan, on behalf of the Staffin fire brigade.
Donald MacLeod of Culnanoc then read out the names of all the men who ...

STAFFIN residents are being asked to support an aspiration to manage a visitor site at the foot of the Old Man of Storr.
The Staffin Community Trust (SCT) has been in talks with Highland Council – which owns an 82-hectare site from the Storr’s roadside upwards – about improving the visitor experience at the location, which attracts people from all over the world. This could involve a new off-road main car park, toilets, interpretation and refreshment kiosk. SCT is now set to ask the ...

SERVICES at Staffin’s two war memorials will take place this weekend to remember those who lost their lives in the two world wars and the Boer War.
101 years after the start of the First World War, Staffin firefighters will join representatives from the Staffin Community Council and Staffin Community Trust to pay their respects on Remembrance Sunday. 
Two services will be held. The first one starts at the Culnacnoc War Memorial at 2pm where wreaths will be laid and a two-minute silence observed. The ...

STAFFIN is poised to host the annual Cancer Research UK sale of work after more than £14,000 was raised last year.
The sale always attracts a bumper crowd and has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for the charity’s vital work over the years.
It is probably the busiest day of the year in Staffin, certainly in terms of the number of vehicles parked around Staffin Hall.  The huge sum of £14,296 was made following 2014’s event.
The sale kicks off at 2pm on Saturday, ...

A DERELICT toilet block which lies in the shadow of the Quiraing has been demolished to make way for a new Staffin eatery.
The former Brogaig toilets, which were shut by Highland Council several years ago in a cost-cutting drive, were razed to the ground on Friday. Local firm Staffin Groundworks, father-and son Ian and Robert MacDonald, efficiently carried out the work and unlike Glasgow’s Red Road flats no part of the structure was left standing. 
Brogaig woman and experienced chef Marion ...

A RURAL community like Staffin can play a key role in curbing extremism, a police officer told a recent counter terrorism event in the Taobh Sear.
In a first for communities in Skye, Portree-based Police Scotland sergeant Bruce Crawford delivered a presentation on terrorism, which is commonly thought of only being a problem in densely populated urban areas, to a captive audience at Columba 1400 earlier this month.
Sergeant Crawford, who is Skye and Lochalsh’s Local Counter Terrorism Liaison Officer, outlined the potential threats posed within rural ...

HAZELNUTS eaten by former Staffin inhabitants thousands of years ago were discovered from the area’s recent archaeological dig, Highland archaeologists have confirmed.
The exciting discovery has been made following the five-day archaeological excavation  by Staffin Bay in September and promises to provide firm evidence about Staffin’s Mesolithic past. The joint University of the Highlands and Islands and Staffin Community Trust project was the first excavation in Staffin for more than 20 years and was visited by more than 200 people, including Staffin and Kilmuir primary school pupils.
The site may date back ...

STOP PRESS… NEWS FROM STAFFIN COMMUNITY HALL: 
– The Staffin Community Hall Association awarded funding from People’s Health Trust using money raised by HealthKind through The Health Lottery – 
CONSTRUCTION work has started of an exciting new leisure development in Staffin – a new gym for the community. Local builders A&A MacDonald are working in the attic of the Staffin Community Hall, which is just above the foyer, where the new gym will be located  
Staffin Community Hall Association began discussing the potential ...

ANYBODY interested in standing for election to Staffin Community council – including older teenagers in the area – has until Tuesday to register. And Highland Council’s leader has pledged that new members will have a greater role in decisions affecting Staffin than ever before.
Community council elections take place each every four years and Nomination Papers must be lodged by 4pm on Tuesday, October 6 at Tigh na Sgire in Portree.
Having given sterling service over the last four years and ...

An archaeological excavation in Staffin has yielded a fragment of worked bone, and several hundred flints, which could provide further clues about life in the area 8,000 years ago.
The discoveries were made during the dig in September as University of the Highlands and Islands archaeologists investigated a suspected Mesolithic building by Staffin Bay. While the structure is expected to be confirmed as post-medieval the discovery of other material, including the possible bead which was recovered from material below it, which ...

A POLICE sergeant is to carry out a counter terrorism presentation in Staffin next week and local residents are invited.
Portree-based Bruce Crawford of Police Scotland is hosting the event at Columba 1400 on Thursday, October 8 and believes it will be an eye-opener for attendees.
Sergeant Crawford said it was part of his job to raise awareness of counter terrorism in Skye. “In addition to my normal duties on the Island I am also the Local Counter Terrorism Liaison Officer and ...

STAFFIN’s scenery takes the centre stage of a newly-launched marketing campaign to promote the forthcoming Hollywood movie Macbeth. And more information about what part the Quiraing and Storr play in the plot is revealed for the first time.
The critically-acclaimed production, starring Michaal Fassbender, is released nationwide on October 2 and Scotland’s national tourism organisation, VisitScotland, has embarked on a major marketing campaign to encouarage people to travel to the locations featured in the film.
The Quiraing and Storr were locations for a sustained ...

YOUNG cattle from Staffin were among more than 1,200 calves sold at the first Skye sale of the season in Portree yesterday (Monday).
Dingwall and Highland Marts Ltd. sold 1,246 weaned calves and store cattle at their annual district ballot show and sale. Seventy three calves were sold from the Taobh Sear and a Limousin X bullock sold by John Gillies, Sartle, was among the leading prices for its weight category while stock other parts of the north end, including Linicro, Totescore and Glenconon, also did ...

Fo fòid na tìme’  – Staffin Community Trust and the UHI Archaeology Institute have run a five-day archaeological excavation by Staffin Bay. It is the first excavation in Staffin for more than 20 years and SCT  views the dig it as an important project, both culturally and economically, with the Staffin community at the heart of it. The excavation runs from Wednesday, September 9 to Monday, September 14. Local volunteers are participating, school pupils have been involved and there was a community open day on Saturday. ...

Fo fòid na tìme’  – Staffin Community Trust and the UHI Archaeology Institute are holding a five-day archaeological excavation by Staffin Bay. It is the first excavation in Staffin for more than 20 years and SCT  views the dig it as an important project, both culturally and economically, with the Staffin community at the heart of it. The excavation runs from Wednesday, September 9 to Monday, September 14. Local volunteers are participating, school pupils have been involved and there was a community open day on Saturday. ...