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Adam (5 Jul 00)  Thanks for that. I love the boulder rolling. Do you by any chance have a copy of the report you did? can that go on the background page for us enthusiasts?

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Tim (5 Jul 00)  Yes, I do have a copy of the WSIE58 report, and I will add it to the web site when I get the chance. It might take a week or two, as I'm quite busy trying to scratch a living at the moment!

This web site is growing like Topsy, as they all do, but I'm pleased everyone finds it interesting or useful.

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John (6 Jul 00)

I loved the new photos - all those terribly young boys!

I know this is ridiculously early days but seeing them made me think of tents and cooking facilities and toilets and food supplies and boats to get us there and back in, presumably, something like eleven months time.  So then I thought of our potential autumn 2000 gathering when we could discuss these things and Make Plans. Knowing that it took me about three months to settle a date with all you busy people last year I though I'd begin by asking what your October dates look like. We're away in early October for a week.

And another thought - I belong to a nicely informal not too costly dining club just by the English National Opera - off St Martin's Lane - 2 Brydges Place it's called. They could let us have one of their pleasant rooms which would just fit seven or eight. Nice service, friendly place.

I await reactions.

Hope everyone is well. We've been having a very busy summer what with the Dome and all.

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Tim (6 Jul 00)Yes, the new photos are good, aren't they? Adam Nicolson has asked me if I could put a copy of the 1958 WSIE Report on the Web, and I'll do that when I've got time. I also think it would be nice to have 'then' and 'now' photos of us all, with brief biographical details of what we have been up to in the last 42 years. What does everyone think about that? I'm also toying with the idea of registering shiantisles.com and giving the site a higher profile. Maybe I could transfer the name to Adam Nicolson as a way for saying thank you for our visit!

I'm all for the idea of having our dinner at 2 Brydges Place - it sounds a bit more informal than my suggestion! I've no major plans for the Autumn as yet, so you can pick any date as far as I'm concerned. I'm also in favour of inviting Adam Nicolson, but I'll bow to a democratic decision the other way if necessary.

As for our visit to the islands next year, my feeling is that we should make it a 'lightweight' expedition. One thing that has been worrying me is loo facilities - are we up to digging a latrine this time? <g>

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Adrian (6 Jul 00) For me not please the first half of October, but the second is OK in general (i.e. check re individual dates). It is a good idea to meet and plan, and decide some key questions - are spouses included? how many nights (1, 2?)? like Tim, I had not thought of digging latrines!

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John (11 Jul 00) 

Further random thoughts on SHIANTS II.

I suspect we WILL have to dig a latrine! I'm not sure I personally want to wander about the Kyle or Stornaway with an Elsan under me arm.   I think I, for one, was a bit sadly fundamentalist last Autumn about spouses and children. I suspect life has moved on and we shouldn't be in the situation of trying to recreate 1958. It might be quite fun to have some of our nearest and dearests along. I have to say my own dear wife and four and a half year old don't, themselves, look very keen. In fact 'chary' is the word I'd use.But then they both know the weather on the islands only too well.

How long do we want to try and stay on the islands? As it's going to cost something like £400 each it seems a pity for it to be just one night however light we organise things. Three nights seems maybe too long - after all what are going to do except walk, re-explore, eat and chat. Oh and read, I suppose. But three nights would give us a better chance of perhaps at least one fair day.

Oh, I can borrow a calor gas double burner! That's a start. And my niece in law in Stornaway is going out with a tug captain (called Norry). He maybe could push us in the direction of a useful ferry there and back.

What about Tuesday 24 October for a meal at 2, Brydges Place?

Very good wishes to you all. What a horrible July we're having. Niceplace England - just needs a roof.

I recently found a personal diary that I wrote on the Shiants in 1958.  Some of it is really very naff but there might be a little section worth putting onto the website. I seem to remember a paragraph or two about Martin and Alan ringing birds at night. I send some of it to Tim to see what he thinks.

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Tim (11 Jul 00)  October 24th is fine for me.

I too had envisaged spending more than one night on the islands - it seems hardly worth going all that way for such a short time. I had in mind a long weekend, though it doesn't have to be at a weekend.

I've also got a fairly complete set of camping equipment which dates from the impecunious time when our family holidays meant camping in a wet field in Devon or the Lake District. It ranges from a six-man tent to a Camping Gaz heater, but none of it would fit the description 'lightweight'!

Do by all means send me some extracts from your 1958 diary to put on the web site.

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Martin (11 Jul 00)   It's good to see the new photos but as John says we do look a lot younger then. I'd be pleased to meet at 2 Brydges Place in October. Apart from a few dates I'm away (18-20 and 26-30th) there are some reassuringly blank pages in my diary. And yes, it would be good to invite Adam Nicholson. I, too, think its a good idea to meet and plan but I too am for a lightweight exhibition. Tim suggests some then and now information. Those of us whoare academics probably have home pages which include at least an academic CV. Links to those would be one way of doing it.

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Martin (17 Jul 00) Dinner on 24th October sounds fine to me. I should have quite a lot of camping gear. I will sort out what might be useable. Three nights sound OK to me. There is a full moon on 20th July 2001. Not the best time for looking for storm petrels and shearwaters. But maybe that is not a major priority.

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Mischa (17 Jul 00) My diary seems clear for that day. Two Brydges would be just right I think - it's a very cosy sort of place and the food is good. I'm very happy that we should invite Adam Nicholson. What about Nigel N? Is he still with us?

And what's all this squeamishness about digging latrines? What's the alternative? Pooper-scoopers and we take it home with us? The Empire didn't get built that way!

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Adrian (17 Jul 00)   Nigel N. is still with us, but even more ancient than us. Still, why not invite him?

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John (19 Jul 00)  So that's great - it looks like Tuesday 24 October at 2 Brydges Place. Who will invite the Nicolsons? Tim?

Any sign of life from Alan?

And then three nights on the Shiants somewhere around the 14th July 2001 - new moon notwithstanding. I imagine we can probably just about leave organising the specific detail of the actual latrine digging fatigue to October can't we? It will, no doubt, be item one on the agenda.

I am typing up some of this Shiant diary I've found. You'll have to forgive the 18 year old Hole he was a simple lad. Good wishes to all.

John

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Adrian (18 Jul 00)  OK to 24th at Brydges Place. Thanks for organising it.

Suggest we suspend judgement re all details of Shiant 2001 till we meet!

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Alan (19 Jul 00)  I want to be at Brydges . Question is, can I make it? Don't know the answer yet, which is why I have been tardy in communication. In the denouement of the Grateful Dead, personal lives are fraught with uncertainty. Best I can do now is to ask you to hold a seat and save me a glass of wine.
Best,
Alan
p.s. I volunteer for latrine digging.

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Roger (20 Jul 00)  I'm: free 24th; happy with Two Brydges; and asking Nigel; and digging latrines. Look forward to it all.

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Tim to Adam (24 Jul 00)  The surviving members of the 1958 Westminster Shiant Isles Expedition have arranged to meet up for an informal dinner at 2 Brydges Place (off St Martins Lane, WC2, next to the London Coliseum) on Tuesday October 24th. We would be very pleased if you and your father, if he is up to it, would join us as our guests.

I've nearly finished converting the 1958 Expedition Report for the web site. It's proved to have taken a bit longer than I had expected, as I've been fitting it in between fee-paying work. However, I should be able to upload it to the web site in the next few days.

I've taken the liberty of registering the domain name shiantisles.co.uk, so you can now reach our web site at http://www.shiantisles.co.uk. I feel you should have control of that name, so if you would like to add anything to our web site, or even have your own independent section of it, please let me know. Rest assured that I've no intention of holding the name to ransom if you would like to use it for your own purposes!

I do hope you will be able to join us on 24th October.

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Adam to Tim (24 Jul 00)   I would love to come.I will ask my father if he can. He is certainly still capable.

That's very good news about the website and very good of you to be so generous about it.I feel a little ambivalent about the .co.uk being attached to the place - the terminal commercialisation of the islands which has been underway since the mid C18 ­ but I am sure I would make use of it in some way or other. You know I am writing a book about the islands and there is now a chance of a TV programme about some of the things we have found there this year. But I'll tell you all about that on October 24th!

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Tim to Adam (24 Jul 00) I'm delighted that you can join us on 24th October, and look forward to hearing from you about your father. My father is 86 and in a pretty parlous state in a nursing home, so I'm very pleased to hear that your father would even contemplate an evening out in London. Incidentally, my parents celebrated their Diamond Wedding anniversary last week; we had a small tea party in the nursing home and they both enjoyed it, although my father is very frail and a shadow of his former self.

I did think twice about registering the .co.uk version of the Shiant Isles name - it was a cheap deal, and they were not offering .net.uk or .org.uk versions. However, I've was able to get the cheap deal on shiantisles.net, so let's use that one and hold shiantisles.co.uk in reserve for any future commercial venture you may come up with! It will take about 24 hours for http://www.shiantisles.net to become active.

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Tim (24 Jul 00)   First of all, I'm delighted to say that Adam Nicolson has accepted our invitation to dinner on 24th October. He is going to ask his father and will let me know whether he can come.

Secondly, I have at last put the 1958 Report on the web site, along with John's diary of our stay on the islands. John's diary made me feel very nostalgic - I found that it evoked memories which mere photographs cannot.

In case anyone has lost the URL, it is http://www.lodgefamily.freeserve.co.uk/shiants.htm.
I will write again tomorrow with some news which will make it much easier to remember where our web site is!

If any of you have more material which would be suitable for the web site, it would be very welcome.

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Tim (25 Jul 00)   The deed is done! You can now access our web site with the URL http://www.shiantisles.net, which is a bit more memorable than the previous one - which will, incidentally, still work.

Just because the facility was available, I've set up a redirected email address for each of you of firstname@shiantisles.net. If anyone sends e-mail to this address, it will be redirected to the e-mail address you are already using. For example e-mail to adam@shiantisles.net is redirected to adamnico@appleonline.net. With a bit of smoke and mirrors, you can also set things up to make it look as though e-mails are coming from that address. To do that, you need to set up a new account in your e-mail client program (Outlook Express, Eudora, etc) with from and reply-to addresses of yourfirstname@shiantisles.com.

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John (29 Aug 00)  No news I'm afraid. In the search for those obscure 250 feet feet of 8 mm film, I wrote to Tristram Jones Parry, the Headmaster. He replied today: - 'I have checked with the archivist and also the man i/c experditions i.e. those who might know about the film, but no luck. I am very sorry. It seems dreadful that if you all left it here for safekeeping it has now disappeared. We will keep searching because we are doing things with the archives at the moment. Sorry. Good luck with next year's expedition. Yours, Tristram'

Wot a shame. Ah well. Best wishes to all.

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John (20 Oct 00)  Just got a note from Adam to say that his father isn't really feeling up to it so that he won't be able to come on Tuesday. What a shame. But Adam will be there. It sounds as if there will be seven of us. Look forward to seeing you there at 6.30ish.