Posts by Peter Ranscombe
Is this the ultimate ‘off-grid’ job?
THE island of Rona aims to double its population by offering what’s billed as the ultimate “off-grid” job. The island, which is accessed only by a private boat, wants to recruit a live-in estate worker, along with a partner who will work part-time. Duties include “estate and property maintenance and management, housekeeping, logistics, and assisting…
Read MoreCelebrating 100 years of broadcasting in Scotland
THE National Library of Scotland is marking 100 years of broadcasting in Scotland. Scotland’s first radio transmission was made from the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow on 24 January 1923 – two months before the BBC’s initial wireless broadcast. The national library will hold its “Festival of Broadcasting” between 28 March and 1 April at the…
Read MoreHighlands Rewilding buys Argyll’s Tayvallich Estate
THE Highlands Rewilding project today revealed it has raised the £10.5 million it needed to buy the 3,500-acre Tayvallich Estate in Argyll. The initiative, which already owns Beldorney in Aberdeenshire and Bunloit near Loch Ness, raised the funds ahead of last night’s deadline. Highlands Rewilding announced in December that it was in exclusive talks to…
Read MorePupils’ art projected at The Causey
PUPILS will see their works of art animated and projected across historic buildings at The Causey in South Edinburgh tomorrow. The Causey Development Trust (CDT) created the project with children from Preston Street primary school. CDT steering group members Kate Leiper – an artist and illustrator – and Robert Motyka – a projection artist –…
Read MoreScots projects get cash from The Prince’s Countryside Fund
FIVE projects in Scotland have received support from The Prince’s Countryside Fund (PCF). Berwickshire Swap, Helmsdale & District Development Trust, Kilmory Community Fund, Third Sector Hebrides, and Transition North Ronaldsay will share grants worth more than £100,000. Throughout the UK as a whole, 14 projects will receive a total of £250,000 to support more than…
Read MoreRecord audience for Granite Noir festival
A RECORD 15,000 people visited Aberdeen over the weekend for the Granite Noir crime writing festival. The festival’s seventh outing attracted almost 11,500 people to its shows, with a further 3,000 or so visiting the “Curriculum of Crime” exhibition at the city’s Music Hall. Highlights of this year’s festival included author Val McDermid in conversation…
Read MoreMountaineering Scotland Awards winners unveiled
THE winners of this year’s Mountaineering Scotland Awards have been named. The Mountaineering Scotland Volunteer of the Year Award was presented to Ian Rendall, of the Orkney Climbing Club, at the YCS Grand Final at RockStar Climbing in Swindon. The ClimbScotland Young Climber of the Year Award went to Jamie Lowther from the Cairngorms Geckos…
Read MoreClan Grant portraits go on display
TWO portraits of members of Clan Grant have gone on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. The oil paintings by Richard Waitt were commissioned in 1713 by Alexander, the Laird of Grant, as part of a larger series depicting members of his clan. They were created for Castle Grant, the chief’s seat…
Read MoreRecreating Scotland’s stained-glass windows
RESEARCHER want to commission an artist to reproduce Scotland’s stained-glass windows. Most of Scotland’s stained-glass windows in churches were destroyed during the Reformation in 1560. Craig Kennedy, from Heriot-Watt University’s Institute for Sustainable Building Design, and Michael Penman, a historian from the University of Stirling, have analysed glass fragments and historical records from Elgin Cathedral…
Read MoreMove from research to conservation to save migrating birds
SCIENTISTS want efforts to shift from research to conservation in order to save migrating birds. Species under threat include cuckoos, swifts, and turtle doves, as well as swallows and whinchats. The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) warned that gaps in research into the problem shouldn’t…
Read More