My Hebridean Holiday Souvenirs

No, I didn't buy a printed coffee mug, or woolly jumper; and I hate rock so I didn't buy a stick of that either. 
My memoirs consist of two pieces of Harris Tweed, a CD by Skippinish and a porridge dibber

The larger piece of tweed is Valtos Tweed, woven to commemorate the creation of An Suilean, a monument & tribute to the crofters of Valtos Peninsula and the clearances


POTTED HISTORY 
"The Isle of Lewis, retains a substantial rural population for one reason above all others. It is that its people were prepared to resist the power of landlordism and insist on the right to remain on the land which they occupied.
The alternative to resistance would have been greater emigration, larger tracts of land under the unproductive ownership of a few individuals and even greater weakening of the Gaelic language and culture. The heroes who resisted all of that deserve to be remembered and honoured
The township of Reef, situated on the Valtos peninsula in West Uig, was cleared of its inhabitants to make way for a sheep farm, under the ownership of Sir James Matheson. 
 Eviction notices were issued in 1848-9; the people resisted, but were finally cleared
In 1841 the population was 186; by 1851 census, there were only the shepherd John Mackay, his wife Peggy and their five children; and a widow, Mary Mackenzie, and her visitor.
Reef was scheduled for resettlement from 1896 and an attempt made in 1908. Reef was also raided by would-be settlers in 1913. The raiders were imprisoned but released early after a public outcry and returned home as heroes. Finally in 1921 the farm at Reef, supporting at the time only 170 sheep, was relotted into 15 crofts and resettled largely by ex-servicemen from Valtos
Crofts 1, 2 and 3 are on the machair. Crofts 4 to 13 face the south. 7 Reef was lotted in 1921, when the village was resettled. The first tenant was Angus Mackay from 7 Valtos; his sons Norman, Angus and Calum settled on crofts 7, 8 and 9 respectively."
We were staying in 7 Reef, owned by Norman Mackay, a descendant of the first  Norman Mackay 
I don't now anything about the pink piece of tweed, I just liked the colour
You can read more about the troubles here  https://www.hebrideanconnections.com/historical-events/21852