PROTECT OUR SEAS

Gulls and the creatures of the sea - what would they tell us if they could talk?

I took this photo as the position of the two birds caught my eye - plenty room I thought for an amusing caption to be added. They looked like two friends discussing life. And then I imagined the one on the right saying "I'm telling you - I think we're being watched" because just behind the birds a seal had raised its head. I was delighted to get this photo as I have seen the seals before (so close to Edinburgh) but often folks find it hard to believe that such nature could be a stone's throw from Scotland's capital city. But indeed, our seas are full of things we can't readily see and (just because we can not see these things) we should not forget how incredibily, how vitally important it is for us to protect our marine environment.

A Seal at Port Seton Harbour
Shona McMillan ©

Looking at the seal's face [click photo to enlarge] - there was such a gentle questioning look on its face, almost as if a sad question was playing on its mind. I could have imagined it asking someone on the shore "please, tell me, what are you doing to my home?" Yet, beneath the waters... without seeing the seal - how easy to forget it could even be there. And too often, we humans can evaluate the world in terms of what it can do for us - not the other way around...

The last fishing boat from Fisherrow, arriving in to Port Seton
Shona McMillan ©

Tonight, I was at the harbour to watch the boats come in. Indeed, around sixty years ago my parents went on their first date here, taking a car trip to Port Seton harbour - to watch the boats come in at sunset. From a long line of Fisherrow fisher folk, my mum loved to watch the boats, when they would put out to sea but especially, she loved to watch them when they came safely back home. My granda' and great-grandfather (fishermen and then, each in their tim becoming Harbour Masters of Fisherrow) - how many times they fished in the Firth of Forth. But, as a child, I recall my granda's changing position and his great concern as he would say "If people are not careful, one day they will fish the seas dry". My granda' was a great believer in sustainable fishing (tho' in these days there wasn't that term - he just saw it as important to limit a catch so that the fish stocks could replenish themselves". Now today, (unlike the small boats seen in East Lothian harbous) huge boats have seriously impacted on the world's fishing stocks. YET, it is very important to point out that the need for marine conservation is NOT all about the issue of fishing. Plastic bags that end up in the sea, pollution from our towns and cities - people need to realise that marine conservation is an issue for everyone to consider and address.

A large flock of birds diving down to settle on the sea
Shona McMillan ©

Myself, I am in a variety of different environmental organisations and often use my blog and Facebook page to post comments eg: protecting butterfly habitat, feeding birds when their natural food supply is scarce, talking about our problems with litter etc. Yet, whatever each of us chooses to do (or not to) - I am sure that we all agree that each of us could always do more. And, getting involved with  environmental charities as a volunteer can also be a great way of meeting new people who share similar interests to ourselves... It seems to me that getting involved as a volunteer is something that benefirts us all. Watching the birds diving to the sea tonight and overhead - seeing HUGE numbers of geese passing over enroute to Aberlady Nature Reserve, I thought how the sound of their calls was just their way of communicating, coming together in a large group for safety, to find food and shelter. And when humans work together, what great things we too can achieve...

Click to enlarge photo and see the geese in flight
Shona McMillan ©

Geese fly around the world to Winter in Scotland and many fish migrate great distances too. From where these journies begin to where they end - people are all over the world and my blog (I know) has been building up an international following. So I ask you, wherever you are when you read my words and enjoy my photos - give some thought to the natural environment around you in your part of the world. If you want to do more to get involved, I can guarantee you that there will be many environmental charities that will gladly receive your time and any financial donations you wish to make. Id be delighted to try and motivated everyone to get outdoors more, get involved and see what you can do to help out more. And again, what I would highlight as a closing thought to take away from my blog is - just because we can not so easily see what is happening in our seas in respect of the marine environment - it doesn't mean that our seas do not need urgently our help. Please, let's all try to do more in whatever way that we can to - "Protect Our Seas"

Wading birds feeding on the East Lothian shoreline
Shona McMillan ©

WATERBOYS/SHANNON: "SAINTS & ANGELS"

A blog about one of my all time most favourite songs which so beautifully expresses my thoughts on friendship. Hence, why I have combined with the Waterboys music, a selection of my photos from special places in Scotland which I greatly enjoy, places of happy memories for me, family and friends. Places in the future that'll know many happy times to come.

My video - my way of saying a thank you to all my friends.

In 1989, I got to know the music of the Waterboys through their album Fisherman's Blues. From a fishing family it was my mum who first told me "you have to hear this group and their song." She'd heard them on the radio "a band from Scotland and Ireland playing their own amazing combination of rock and traditional music" - her description reflected them well. A band whose music I loved the first time I heard them play and, over the years, their music and that of Sharon Shannon's has become somewhat of a musical soundtrack to my life. In 2010, twenty one years on from Fisherman's Blues, my year started with "Saints and Angels" - a most magical song played by them and Sharon Shannon. That song, so often in my mind since. Now in 2011, I have worked to produce a video which reflects for me the words of their song in a combination of special photos.

Growing up in Edinburgh, on its border with East Lothian, visiting family there and similarly in Sutherland - I really identify these 3 areas as my 'home' in Scotland. And special memories of a place are formed over time through the special people who we benefit from having in our lives - people who are always in our hearts so that, when we are apart from them, that bond of love still continues and never dies. This song expresses for me that bond, a sentiment we may not always even express out loud, the feelings we know for those we care for, that they be safe and well until we meet again: "May the Saints and Angels watch over you." There are songs which seem able to make the world a better place. Here, the music and the way it is played is beautiful but oh, what truly magical, powerful  lyrics.

My story behind Saints and Angels begins on 31st December 2009. At home in Scotland, I was telephoned by a DJ from Liveireland Radio and told that my People and Songs of the Sea project CD had won 2010 Compendium Album of the Year. Featured in Liveireland's radio programme, broadcast from Chicago and Dublin, I listened over the internet to the album's recording (the track of 100 fisher folk recorded in the Auld Kirk in Cockenzie and Port Seton with local people from Newhaven, East Lothian and Eyemouth).

Having been prompted to “celebrate the fishing community” by my mum in 2006, three years on, it was very emotional to hear that the album had won this award and to hear her name "Jean Thorburn" as they talked about the project’s music and 2009 exhibitions being visited by 12,000 people. In producing this album, a compilation of Celtic artists, local fisher folk and two songs from myself - my goal (with Greentrax Recordings) was to produce an archive collection of music reflecting the story of Scotland’s fishing. An industry which in the past, was also contributed to by Irish workers, both at sea and on the land. Irish fishermen sailed after the Herring (the silver darlings) and along the coast, teams of hardy fisher girls followed to gut the fish (a woman able to gut up to 1,000 fish in a day). Coming from Ireland, joining the Scots Herring girls here, these women worked from Scotland down to England as the huge catches of fish were landed. A multi-cultural workforce, Scots and Irish earning their living together, sharing culture, music and song.

Descended from a Scottish fishing family (which I think Irish fisher women married in to), I was motivated throughout the years of my project to see my work produce a legacy for the fishing community and industry, now so sadly in decline and surely undergoing the greatest period of change in its history. In addition as a singer and musician, who has learnt to play through musical sessions with many others, having enjoyed so much happiness through my music there's a desire in me to similarly 'give something back' through music. And on my personal musical journey, although many musicians have inspired, influenced and encouraged me - surely none more so than the music of the Waterboys and Sharon Shannon (who in 1989, all played together). Through the Waterboys I travelled to Ireland and through Sharon, a short visit to Galway became extended with me finally living there for many months. Such strong musical influences and memories of happy times weave a rich tapestry which intertwines with time so that finally, all these experiences become your life - a personal musical soundtrack to revisit and relive memories of many, many great and special times.

In January 2010, at the end of the Liveireland radio programme, still listening to the broadcast from America - as one programme went on in to the next, a wonderful song came on. I could not believe how beautifully the words and music reflected the emotions and sentiments that I so often feel for my many friends who are scattered around the world. In addition, 'may the Saints and Angels watch over you' - how well these words reflect the unspoken emotion I so often feel when I watch a boat put out to sea. And in stormy weather, that intense relief that fisher folk experience when they stand and watch a boat come safely back in to port...

I had never knowingly heard this song before, such well chosen lyrics and music. It wasn't the best connection to America and I strained to hear who the artist was - "the Waterboys and Sharon Shannon" And I smiled at the musical combination of talented friends playing a song I consider to be one of absolute 'perfection'.

Saints and Angels was written by Mike Scott and Steve Wickham and on this track they are joined again by Sharon Shannon. Such wonderful music it has greatly inspired and moved me with its sentiment. So, one year on, I have looked through the photos I have taken since 2006 and chosen from these the images those which best reflect what I see in my mind when I listen to this song. Photos from the Firth of Forth coast, from East Lothian, from Edinburgh to Eyemouth. And from my very special 'home' up north in Sutherland - photos from the North West Highland villages that I have frequented all my life with my family and my closest friends. Finally, I wish to say to all my friends, (past, present and future), the lyrics of this song say it all: "May the Saints and Angels watch over you."

For more great music from the Waterboys and Sharon Shannon, please visit their respective websites:

http://www.mikescottwaterboys.com/  http://www.sharonshannon.com/

To learn more about my People and Songs of the Sea project visit: http://www.shonamcmillan.co.uk/ other postings in this blog, also http://www.facebook.com/shonamcmillan.celticreflections and visit my Youtube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/ShonaMcMillan

SAINTS AND ANGELS (Scott/Wickham)

It is a wide world we travel

and our paths rarely cross

and we do a whole lot of living in between

So come we'll share more than time

We'll put our cares far behind

while we sail the ship that never goes to sea (friendship)

It could be months, and it could be years

until we find one another once more standing here

until then my beautiful friend I have a wish for you

Many hearts to keep you warm

Many guides to speed you through the storm

and may the saints and angels watch over you

INSPIRATION 365

Life is about choices. Surely, our most important decisions relate to our usage of time. Technology having the potential to be a curse as well as an asset, self-discipline required to use it to enhance our lives and not let it distract from that which we want to achieve. Harnessing technology, cultural connections can put us in contact with a wider circle of like-minded people who enjoy similar interests and creative pursuits. Through this blog I can share photos and stories in communication with a global circle of people. But all stories need a beginning so, I start my Blog with some background information on myself and my Scottish home, in a scenic location which provides me with inspiration 365 :-)

From Edinburgh, Scotland's capital city, I was fortunate to grow up in a house with nearly 360 degree views of Edinburgh and the coast. On one side was the sea, the city buildings from Leith to Portobello and over the sea across the Firth of Forth was Kircaldy in Fife.

The coastline of Portobello and Leith with Arthur Seat behind

Text and Images © Shona McMillan. All Rights Reserved

On the other side, our house looked on to Arthur Seat, an extinct volcano rising up from the centre of Edinburgh. From a certain angle, it's shape like a huge lion at rest and guarding the city below.

Arthur Seat from the Holyrood Park in the centre of Edinburgh

Text and Images © Shona McMillan. All Rights Reserved 

Built on seven hills, Edinburgh is a beautiful city and also, I loved the rest of Scotland which I saw. Every year I holidayed in the Highlands and enjoyed living and working in Scotland. Yet, I also had a healthy thirst for knowledge and the desire to explore and learn more about the rest of the world. Through music and work in project management, I was fortunate to do a lot of travelling. However, when I came to settle in Inverness (and the years began to pass by) it was then that I experienced the strongest longing for my Edinburgh / East Lothian 'home' which I had left behind.
 

My house in Inverness, the city viewed from across the Moray Firth

Text and Images © Shona McMillan. All Rights Reserved

My house in Inverness had stunning views of the Kessock Bridge and the Moray Firth.  Inverness, for me had been like the Gateway to the road north to Sutherland (my spiritual home in the Highlands). Yet, on a day to day basis, I missed being in Edinburgh, easily able to walk around Arthur Seat or to take a drive to East Lothian and walk along the beautiful beaches in the region's 43 mile coastline.

Edinburgh, Scotland's capital city as viewed from Arthur Seat

Text and Images © Shona McMillan. All Rights Reserved

 

In 2006 I moved home and in my career I developed a new strand as a freelance photo-journalist. The work gave me the flexibility I required to be there for my family, my mum becoming increasingly unwell.  Through my mum "Jean", Jane Ritchie of the Thorburn Fisherrow family, I was descended from the fishing community.

L-R: Wilma, Jean, Billy, Lily, Crissie, Christina and Archie Thorburn

Text and Images © Shona McMillan. All Rights Reserved

My great-grandfather Archie and my granda' Billy had been fishermen who had gone on to be Harbour Masters at Fisherrow. My great-granny Jane Ritchie Thorburn (Jeannie) had worked as a fishwife and my granny Crissie, a fine singer like my mum, had sung in Fisherrow Fishwives choir, their love of music being passed on to myself.

Celebrating her 80th birthday, my mum, Jean Ritchie Thorburn McMillan

Text and Images © Shona McMillan. All Rights Reserved

On my return back home, my mum had asked for a special request for her 80th birthday - she asked that I produce a project to celebrate the fishing community. A huge task, I gasped when she asked and gave all the reasons why it would be such enormous work but she smiled and said "but you could make a start and, if you did your best, that would be good enough..." So, I began with mum's stories, old photos and then, I met with other relatives and fisher folk. News of what I was doing led to an invitation to write People of the Sea, an article for East Lothian Life magazine to commemorate the 14th October, 125 year anniversary of the Eyemouth fishing disaster in 1881, when 189 fishermen died. My own life changed whilst researching the story, I found my great-grandfather had survived being swept off a boat but, in the here and now, my mum was diagnosed with cancer. I dedicated the article to my mum and just  days after it was published she lost her fight to cancer.    

After my mum's loss, I continued and my subject archive grew to over 500 old images and 3,000 photos.  Hearing about my collection, I was invited to stage an exhibition at Port Seton library.  The exhibition coincided with what would have been mum's birthday. It was an amazing opening night with an impromptu ceilidh. Over eight hundred people came to visit the exhibition and more libraries invited me to exhibit. I believed the demand for my project was because the community was looking to come together, my work was a catalyst for this and so, I formed an ambitious plan. For the Year of Homecoming 2009, I saw a partnership project with all the libraries along the coast, other organisations and community groups brought together through exhibitions and events - a People of the Sea May-Dec tour in 14 fishing communities from Edinburgh, to Eyemouth, to Anstruther. I also wanted Celtic music in the project and to involve as many as I could through a compilation album 'People and Songs of the Sea.' Aswell as professional artists from Scotland and Ireland, I wanted to involve 100 local fisher folk. I saw a unique recording of the fishing hymn 'Will Your Anchor Hold' recorded at the Auld Church of Scotland Kirk in Cockenzie.

2009 Article in East Lothian News

 

The album was produced in association with Greentrax on their label http://www.greentrax.com/ It was launched together with my Edinburgh to Eyemouth exhibitions and over 10,000 people visited. Then, on Hogmanay 2009, I was telephoned from Chicago to be told that People and Songs of the Sea had just won Radio Liveireland's Compendium Album of the Year 2010. The news was broadcast live on air from the station's studios in America and Ireland and over the internet the story went around the world. For me, listening at home in Edinburgh, how very special was the moment I heard our 2009 recording in East Lothian being played back to listeners from Liveireland in Chicago, Dublin and beyond.

My house in Inverness, the city viewed from across the Moray Firth

Text and Images © Shona McMillan. All Rights Reserved

 

Moving back to Edinburgh, reconnecting with my home, a legacy project emerged from my family's cultural connections to the fishing community. On the album's front cover, as a wee girl dressed in the traditional costume of a Fisherrow fisher lass was my mum - photographed with family and friends, collecting at Fisherrow Harbour for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution which relatives have served in and friends from the past and today still do.

People and Songs of the Sea album (CD from http://www.greentrax.com) 
Cover: Jean Thorburn, 2nd right, Wilma, 1st right, Christina holding flag

Text and Images © Shona McMillan. All Rights Reserved

The last years have been a pivotal time for me and seen the rekindling of old friendships and the building of new ones. My photography, music, writing and art - all benefitting from the exhibition feedback and constructive criticism from my sites eg:

Facebook http://facebook.com/shonamcmillan.celticreflections

Myspace http://www.myspace.com/shona_m_mcmillan

Youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/ShonaMcMillan

My website: http://www.shonamcmillan.co.uk/

As a musician who learnt to play by ear, just as the music of many others helped me in learning to play the fiddle, so too I feel fortunate to have benefitted from a growing circle of artistic friends, their art contributing to an outward rippling pool of creativity. I am influenced by the creative outputs of people like John Bellany, Mark I'Anson, Doug Roberston, Michael McVeigh, Heidi Wickham, Alastair Cook, Richard Demarco and Julie Thompson. And then, there are photographers such as Laurie Campbell and film-maker Paul Bellany whose input I have found to be invaluable.

So many great artists exist, setting my own creative offerings adrift on to the internet can be daunting. Yet, I am heartened when I recall wise words said to me by friend. In Scotland, on tour in January 2009, Cape Breton fiddle player Jerry Holland spoke about his life, on those who play professionally and on those who may be early in their playing of music but find much happiness in playing and sharing music with others. Jerry said "It's not about being THE BEST, it's about being the best you can be so YOU enjoy music and your journey through life. If others enjoy your music, then all the better for that but its not a competition". Like my mum would say: "do your best and in doing your best, you can know you've done well enough."

Enjoying a laugh: Jerry Holland in Edinburgh, January 2009 with myself

Text and Images © Shona McMillan. All Rights Reserved

In setting up my Blog, I have selected a special photo from Fisherrow, a picture I took at the start of January 2010. To be exact, the photo was taken on the day that the local press invited me there for a photograph in connection with my 2010 People and Songs of the Sea award. This most beautiful sunset was, for me, a very fitting end to a day which has seen the close of one chapter and the beginning of a new one in my life's ever changing journey.

Article in Berwickshire News, January 2010

What joy I feel when a sunset paints the sky like a huge illuminated canvas of colour. A unique materpiece by Mother Nature, only there for a few short inspirational moments before darkeness and a period of rest before a new day dawns again.  In the bigger picture of the universe, our lives are gone in the blink on an eye. It seems so important to embrace how precious time is and to make the most of our lives. From Edinburgh and a lover of East Lothian's coast like myself, famous author Robert Louis Stevenson wrote "there is no duty in life that we so underrate as the duty of being happy".

For me, there is never a sunset or sunrise I see which does not make me feel glad to be alive. Such times bring me happiness and, if I can photograph nature's special moments and share these times with others, to smile and pass on that feeling of happiness - that seems to me to be something well worth doing. If you have enjoyed visiting my blog, I hope you post a comment and come back again. I also hope that  you will join me in rippling out 'positivity' from your own life's journey - not letting your talents be stifled and kept in the dark but seek to bring them out in to the light, to share with others, family and friends. I hope in life you SMILE :-D and PASS IT ON!

The Janreen at Aberlady, enroute home to Port Seton at sunrise

Text and Images © Shona McMillan. All Rights Reserved