An Arran Life - Life on Arran
Posted: Wednesday, 03 January 2007 |
Comments
My fave place on Arran? Catacol, just west of Lochranza, where the house with the 12 windows stands. I like the name "Hill of the Wild Cats"
Arnish Lighthouse from Stornoway
Did your father ever attend the Whiting Bay Music Festival . As a pupil of Brodick School I remember attending these events. Brodick-Whiting Bay was an adventure in 1956-59.
Alasdair from Cardross
Any hill with such an illustrious name gets my vote. Last time the bipeds visited Arran, via Islay, it rained so much the crazy golf was flooded, much to the disgust of the babybipeds.
Flying Cat from Orkney Mainland
No didn't go to the Music Festival with the school as between those dates he was at school on Bute at Rothesay Academy although he knows of it. Afraid Dads not personally very musical!! Arnish Lighthouse are you referring to the twelve apostles in Catacol?
TwinkleToes from Glasgow
twelve windows? twelve apostles? or, heavens have mercy, twelve cats? Clarification, please. In any case, Catacol is a nice name - for doubtless a very attractive place. I must admit that Lochranza sounds even more romantic. What is the origin of the name?
mjc from NM,USA
How about some pictures of Cir Mhor? and Catacol? incl. the house with the 12 windows!
mjc from NM,USA
Are you sure its windows? It might be the House of 12 Widows, in which case they need to be redded up and sent off for Fank 2007.
Flying Cat from Hoochmagandie Hoose
If a picture of the house of 12 windows cannot be had, I am sure we would all be satisfied with pictures of the 12 widows. # Fave, Arnish? What next? Bling? Some folks move with the times: I must confess I move at a rather more leisurely pace - I am still back there with Sidney Bechet.
mjc from NM,USA
Folks it is not 12 windows it is 12 houses all in a row. I will try and get a picture. I tried to upload the pictures but the files were to large if anyone has any tips or tell me what I am doing wrong i would be grateful.
TwinkleToes from Glasgow
Does your father or anyone have any memories of the clarion camps? My dad and his brother and parents spent holidays on Arran. My grampa Alan Archbold ( a joiner to trade) helped with the construction of the wooden hut which is still there. My dad visited it last year. The camps were for good old socialists as my grannie vi (age 89) this year still refers to herself as. Up the workers..
margaret (archbold) from east kilbride
Lochranza and Catacol are my favourite places in the world... I stayed a while with friends who lived in one of the 12 apostles, my memories from that summer are some of my best! :o) The '12 apostles' are a row of 12 white and black cottages, each with a different shaped window in the front upstairs, facing the kilbrannan sound. It is said that the wives of fishermen put lights in the window to signal to their husbands, who would know which house it was from by the shape of the window. Picture at http://www.arranart.com/yp/exhibition/catacol/pages/6_CAT_12_APOSTLES_jpg.htm or a more modern one: http://www.visit-isle-of-arran.eu/north_end.htm
Coire from Teesside
He has not heard of the Clarion Camps. Whereabouts is the hut? There is a kind of hut just as you go into Kildonnan but I don't think that is it? I can't think where else a hut would be?
Twinkletoes from Glasgow
Coire: thanks. Checked both links. Both L and C worth visiting doubtless ... particularly if I could hitch a ride on Sunny's Viking Ship and do the kilbrannan sound!
mjc from NM,USA
In the early seventies, if two girls entered the lounge bar in the Lochranza Hotel sans hommes they got stared at, not spoken to. Not the friendliest of places back then. One of the old ferrymen on the Kilbrannan Sound was a bit tasty...........
Flying Cat from a local rag
Continue the interview Twinkletoes. I look forward to the next instalment. Put some pics. up also if you can. Regards.
mjc from NM,USA
Twinkletoes has had a dose of the flu so keep waiting for the next exciting installment! hee hee
Twinkletoes from Glasgow
The Lochranza Hotel has certainly changed then! It's now a really friendly place - where I met the friends who took me into their home for a fortnight, when I'd originally planned to camp for a night! George, the landlord is canny as - when he heard I played fiddle he lent me the one from behind the bar so I could play when i was up there :-)
Coire from Teesside
Nice review of the Lochranza Hotel, Coire, and I am sure it deserves the praise. I have to file this for future use. So, a Paganini Caprice in Lochranza, or did you just decide to fill up the place with a celtic tune?
mjc from NM,USA
Errm... it would have been random ceilidh tunes and a bit of jamming with whoever was playing the guitar at the time!
Coire from Teesside
My grandfather was one of the founding members of the Clarion Camp. His name was Tommy Wood and he hailed from Westerton, taking his family to the Camp at Catacol every year from 1920. I've just been looking through photographs of their time there and there seemed to be lots of families there at the same time. Lots of swimming, hillwalking and playing with the kids. My mother has many happy memories of their holidays together on Arran. Tommy was an electrical engineer with John Brown Shipyards on the Clyde.
southender from Arran
Look forward to more . Used to live near to Viewbank - now a guest house. Would like to hear more about the Clarion Camp
Upnorthagain from Elgin
Hi Upnorthagain. Viewbank was my Gran's family home and then a guest house. I take it it's Viewbank in Whiting Bay you are talking about. My Gran's family name was Logan and McKenzie. She has many stories of life there and people that visited from Glasgow and all over really. Whereabouts near Viewbank did you live?
TwinkleToes from Glasgow
Next door. Not that long ago twelve years. Yes Whiting Bay
Upnorthagain from Elgin
ba ba black sheep
Lisa from Arran
To clarify, the Clarion is just a bit along the path from Fairhaven, that used to be a boarding house. My first job was serving dinners there! No-one really comes to the Clarion anymore, just the odd Scout group I think. Nice location, just above Catacol Pool, which is a nice place to swim in the summer. My Mum and Gran talk a lot about the Clarion, though they never stayed there, they took a house in Lochranza. About Lochranza Hotel - my second job was there - very good food indeed, and mostly home made, which is not that common these days
Shotlandka from Russia
Lochranza gets its name from the burn (that flows into the loch) The Ranza. The village is also in ths record books as it gets no sun in the winter time. Still a beautiful place.
arranach from arran
Love Arran, People, places, music, the air, the walk/hikes. Wish I could have staid.
vikkimay from watcher from the edge
just found this page again! My family were clarion campers in the 60's!!! Gran has told me about the pool at catacol - they used to bathe in it! I believe the 'hut' is just above the pool.
margaret archbold from east kilbride
I spent several holidays at the camp in the 70's. I always remember there was sunshine on the days you arrived and left and then it rained for the remaining 12. I guess I was too young for the politics, for me it was about playing football, swimming in the pool, climbing the hills and enjoying the annual sports day - and the cross country run. I remember one year there were Chilean refugees there, not sure when though.
Mark from London
Clarion Camp at Catacol still going,just. I knew your father Margaret, is Vi still going strong. Tell her Hugh Brown was asking for her.
Hugh from Glasgow
My family, the Lindsays and then the Urquharts spent every summer at the Clarion Camp prior to ww2 and then through the fifties. My mother Bunty Urquhart was camp secretary for many years after the war. Happy times with the Campbells and the Furzers. bruceysara@gmail.com
Bruce Urquhart from Malaga (Spain)
Hugh - I don't know when you left this comment! I will pass your name on to dad and gran. Gran lives on Mull and is now 90. Still going strong, yes! Still very independant. Would I be able to get in touch with you?
Margaret Archbold from east kilbride
Hello, I was at a Clarion camp around 1978 or 79 on Arran and was wondering if maybe this is the same place that I went to. It was a tent camp with a hut where the food was cooked. I am now so curious to find out if this is the place.
Nuala Lynch from Belfast, Northern Ireland
Do you have anything on the Clyde Valley Stompers?
Audrey Simpson from Canada..BC
nuala lynch - if u get this message it certainly was the place!! would love to have a chat about it....
lesley mcfall from edinburgh
Oh jesus Lesley I remember u, would be great to have a wee chat so how do I get in touch ?
Nuala Lynch from Belfast, Ireland
Hi Mark from London, the year I was there, there was a family from Chile
Nuala Lynch from Belfast, Ireland
Lesley I am on facebook, please look me up thnx xo
Nuala Lynch from Belfast
I spent years going to the clarion hi lesley mcfall remember me robertst wee sis x
Susan Kelly from Hamilton
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