Raising the flag

The  15th of March is not only the ides, but also Lath Ghiogha - the anniversary of the day that the Island of Gigha was bought by the community.

I was at the 20th celebration two years ago, and was back this year wearing my Scottish Land Commission hat.   Anne Fraser, widow of the late Simon Fraser who did so much to make this and other buyouts happen, raised the flag and then after a fine buffet lunch in the community owned  hotel, there was an interesting  session on Community Wealth Building, sponsored by Community Land Scotland which included strong contributions from Neil McIniroy who amongst other things chairs the Economic Development Association of Scotland  and  Miriam Brett of Future Economy Scotland, which produced an important paper on land reform a couple of months ago.

As an added bonus the sun shone and the drive to and from the island via Tarbert was wonderful and reminded me of the good fortune I had, and still have, to live in such an amazing place as Argyll.