FISHERROW/EYEMOUTH - THE END OF AN ERA

A last photo this evening from Eyemouth in the Scottish Borders, not a memorable photo for scenic quality but with 'the fleet in' - two boats are gone from the picture. After 300 years in the fishing, the last Fisherrow fishing family 'the Fairnies' have sold up and the Margarets and Nova Spero left Eyemouth harbour today.

With the recent awards won for my People and Songs of the Sea project - I had hoped that 'at last' more media coverage might come to the actual stories WITHIN my project. Frankly, there are times that I have been left quite sickened by some of the upbeat uninformed headlines written about me winning the award as THIS STORY IS NOT ABOUT ME but the PEOPLE OF THE SEA. In my frustration, I even put at the top of my last Press Release (this is a SERIOUS story PLEASE highlight the crisis in the fishing). Yet much media coverage has completely chosen to ignore the issues... Accordingly, I write this blog to mark today's events so one day, perhaps when folks reflect "where did the fishing boats go?"  For those who want to know more and maybe look for news online there will be nothing except this from me today. The BBC TV News, STV News, Scotland's national newspapers - NO ONE will bother to remark that the last family owned fishing boats from Fisherrow were sold from Eyemouth today because of the ever rising cost of fuel combined with the strangling legislation on the industry making it uneconomic to continue to try and fish, that the fishing industry is quietly slipping away one, two, three boats at a time from harbours all around Scotland's coast! It seems only specialist papers such as the Fishing News have any interest to cover this but - we, WE are losing Scotland's fishing industry and the culture of the fishing community and this seems news worthy to me! - What is being done?

Sometimes the enormity of an event is unseen in a number. Today events may only be seen as a loss to one family but what exactly does that mean. The Fairnie's have sold two boats - two crews have lost their jobs. With the sale of the boats - now gone from the industry will be the skills and expertise that has been passed on from generation to generation - and now we see the numbers increase. The Fairnies have made their living from the sea over hundreds of years as did many Fisherrow fishing families. Considering all these families - now the numbers really mount up. The fishing community of Fisherrow was not clearly visible by some geographical line because fisher people tended to marry fisher folk from other coastal communities so the numbers increase again and we see - the culture of these fisher folk was part of Scotland's culture so today, when the bigger picture is considered - today really was the end of an era. The sale of the last Fisherrow boats, a loss to East Lothian, to Eyemouth's fleet, to Scotland's fishing industry and its heritage - a loss to us all.

I was telephoned by Eyemouth Harbour Master Ivan Stevenson and told the news "get yourself to Eyemouth - the Fisherrow boats have been sold and are leaving today." It was a 120mile round trip for me (and, after a musical weekend with the Dubliners I had just driven 300miles and arrived back very tired) but yes, today was important and I am very glad I got the call. As a matter of 'respect' it felt like it was the correct thing to do so I did make my sad journey. And took my most recent award for a last photo attempt to see IF the Press THIS TIME will highlight the serious issues. Yes the Berwickshire News, East Lothian Courier and East Lothian News HAVE given coverage to the current crisis in fishing but other papers have not even touched on it - not an interesting story for their readers... But this subject is certainly of interest to me and others I know so, I asked to go to the Harbour Office to see today's entries. Having been researching my project, some months back as part of my ongoing research - I was given the details of the Fairnie family tree and some of their fishing photos. Reading the office entry today, I commented to the Harbour Master - "SOLD and AWAY" - For such a short line, for those who know the bigger picture it is a short entry but one which says it all. Yet, for those who don't know, how can they understand. Wanting to explain more - I placed the Fairnie family tree and photo of the Nova Spero by the entry to try and convey a fuller story...

The event recorded in the diaries of Eyemouth Harbour - "MARGARETS AND NOVA SPERO LEFT FOR PETERHEAD 16.00HRS. SOLD AND AWAY"

I wonder - what thoughts are going through the minds of those on the boats tonight as they sail their boats away? No photos in this blog from me as the boats sailed out today, just my last photo tonight from Eyemouth as I prepared to leave - aware I'd be back to the harbour but that this day was the end of an era. And, when I reached Fisherrow and called to the Farinie's home - there, Jennifer Fairnie (wife of one of the two Fairnie brothers selling up today) she used the same expression in conversation with me:

"TODAY IS THE END OF AN ERA"

The end of an era - words that convey a tight, sick feeling in the pit of the stomach, words that burn the eyes with tears that try to fall. 

A SONG FOR THE FISHING



Fisherrow to Edinburgh
Shona McMillan ©

I think for most people, there comes a time to look back to where they have grown up. To that special place, forever 'home' - held deep within the heart.

For my mum, who 'left Fisherrow' when she got married, the saying was true: "you could take the lass oot o' Fisherrow but ne'r Fisherrow oot o' the lass".

When I was young, I used to laugh at my mum but now, I smile because I understand.

Today, with the family I knew now gone, how close I still feel to the many generations of my relatives when I visit the harbour at Fisherrow. There, the fishing boats are all gone but, when I walk along the harbour wall, I know that like me, my great grandfather walked here, day after day as Fisherrow Harbour Master and so too, my granda', carrying on as Harbour Master when his father retired.

Fisherrow Harbour looking to Arthur Seat, Edinburgh
Shona McMillan © All Rights Reserved

At the end of the harbour wall I can stand and look up to Edinburgh, often having a wee smile to myself at the first boat that ties up there, the "Shona". I'm sure that the women in my family would have liked that. Strong, proud, hardworking women, my great-granny - one of the Fishwives gathered together to be photographed in this postcard showing Fisherrow fishwives at the old open air fish market, the photographer standing parallel to the harbour.

Could the postcard's photographer have realised, a hundred years on, that I would have shown this card to 12,000 people in my exhibitions and posted it to many thousands more on the internet. How many millions of miles has this card travelled over the seas of the World Wide Web and the passing of the years to reunite so many children descended from these women. This, the first Fisherrow postcard I bought to share with others - what value for money it has been for me and others, the family connections brought home are priceless.



L-R: Craig, Brown, Hamilton, Thorburn, Auld Hooker, Ritchie, Williamson
Walker, Thorburn, Boyle, Elgin, Gray, Halley, Watson, Christie, Walker
Cunningham, Langlands, Gibson, Brown, Ritchie Click Link for details
People and Songs of the Sea group



Yet, it is a sad truth that I and others are looking back on the fishing because it is an industry and a way of life undergoing the greatest of periods of change. The traditions, slipping away from us as water trickles through the fingers. As a child, I was down in Fisherrow all the time at my grandparents house by the sea. When people gathered together, I remember some would laugh in disbelief when my granda would say "they will rue the day, the big boats and those who sail into Scotland's fishing grounds - they are fishing the seas dry".



At Fisherrow, from the place
known locally as the back of Downies
Shona McMillan © All Rights Reserved

My granda' was the strongest advocate for sustainable fishing, back at a time when the phrase must seldom have been heard. In a complex issue, the boats began to dissappear from harbours around Scotland - the industry's problems NOT just self inflicted. Boats were decommissioned and still, fish stocks were sadly mismanaged.

So far removed from the fishing community, I feel that there have been times when those legislating the industry have made mistakes and some of these problems still continue today in the absurd situation where, by law, those who catch more than their quota are forced to dump it back over the side or face prosecution. A catch of dying fish, effectively polluting that area of the sea where it is dumped (other countries have spoken out in condemnation of this).



Death of a warrior, John Bellany © All Rights Reserved
John, once a fishermen from Port Seton, capturing this decommissioned boat
before it was broken up (as so many Scottish boats have been).



Amidst ever oppressive legislation and hardships of a life at sea - over the years people have left, retired and the young failed to enter the fishing. This pattern of change has impacted on the fishing community. In my home area, from Newhaven in Edinburgh, through East Lothian and on to Eyemouth in the Scottish Borders, now almost all the small fishing boats are gone, 13 fishermen working from Port Seton and only 10 local boats left at Eyemouth.

18.03.09: A community tribute photo of those representing:
Newhaven, Fisherrow, Port Seton, Eyemouth and beyond
People of the Sea, Shona McMillan © All Rights Reserved

It seems to me that NOW is the last opportunity to capture this passing way of life so that children, in years to come, can learn how life in their area once was. The developments in multi-media equipment need to be harnessed so, like the valued old postcard is in 2010, reflections of today will continue on in to tomorrow for a future generation to appreciate. 

A Young Fisher Lass
Shona McMillan © All Rights Reserved

Just, as learning in my young life was greatly shaped and coloured by music and song - it seemed appropriate to me that my thoughts for the future just flowed out of me in this song. Maybe, a song I will get the opportunity to record as a sound track to a film. Just as John Bellany's paintings of the sea and fishing have reached a far wider audience than the fishing community, I believe too that there's a story here to be shared, a story told in local accents, photos old and new, in art, music and song.

I dedicate my song to my granda Billy Thorburn. Going to see the boats at the harbour with him, holding his hand as we walked along the prom at Fisherrow, my life was indeed 'carefree' in these days. It seemed that such a life could and would never change but his warnings for the future of the industry were correct and '"one day" the fishing boats from Fisherrow were all gone". He was right to see dark days ahead for the Fishing and, in my lifetime too, remarkable changes have been seen. Of course, we can not hold back time but nevertheless, we should recognise the importance of our culture and record a changing way of life before it is too late for us to do so...

Fisherrow Harbour in the gloaming
Shona McMillan © All Rights Reserved

A SONG FOR THE FISHING Shona McMillan ©

Friendship which travels, across the water

Ties that bind, through the family tree

A tide which pulls, the heart yet closer

Tho’ what is the future, for a child of the sea

Newhaven to Eyemouth, the people have gathered

In Cockenzie they joined, in their songs of the sea

People whose lives, were built through the fishing

The numbers they dwindle with each quota and fee

Death of a warrior, for a boat decommissioned

Like a death in the family, a farewell to the sea

Men in grey suits, do they know what we’re losing

The heritage of Scotland, of you, and of me.

So I’ll walk the shore, and I’ll sing of the fishing

Like Fisherrow fishwives, who passed music to me

But when I am gone, who will sing of the fishing

The Fisher Folk People, and Songs of the Sea

Against the shoreline, the waves will keep breaking

The moon and the seasons, will dictate the tide

But at sunset the boats, will they sail to the fishing

Or will this way of living, have long since died

Shona McMillan ©

The Girl Jean heads out from Port Seton at dusk
Shona McMillan © All Rights Reserved

My thanks to the Bellany family for letting me use John's inspirational painting "Death of a Warrior" to go with my song. In addition, my thanks to his son Paul Bellany who provides such timely answers for me in respect of all my many questions in trying to get a film made about the People of the Sea and their stories.

People and Songs of the Sea
Film project first reported by the Berwickshire News

SHONA'S STORY (1)

It's a cold, Autumnal day in Scotland and I've been preparing for winter. I had planned to be out painting my porch. Yet, other than it IS cold and I don't feel like climbing ladders today, for whatever reasons I've found myself reflecting and thinking -

"At what point do personal memories become of shared value? And I've found myself wondering - "At what point should you consider telling your own account eg: Shona's story?"

When my mum was in her seventies, I remember hearing about a local history project and suggesting she should take part “Och no” was her almost embarrassed, response, “what would I have to say that anyone would want to hear”. 

Yet ten years on, in the last chapter of her life, mum saw the full extent of the 'need' to create a community legacy to preserve people's stories for the future.

Realising the importance, the need to preserve a person's story of their life need not be about them but that their life is just another part in a bigger picture, the desire to create a record, a snap shot of life caught in time so future generations can look back to experiences of life from a time now forever gone.

Starting with my mum's fishing family stories, and continuing on to gather more stories and photos from the wider community (from Edinburgh, East Lothian to Eyemouth) – when all that mass of information was summarised and presented by me (with photos and subtitles in my free People and Songs of the Sea exhibitions), as many as 12,000 people came to see the 300+ photos and text. 

Measuring the reaction of those people who viewed my exhibitions, the numbers tell me unequivocally that personal stories (of ordinary people) no one person is 'ordinary' - everyone has a unique story to tell and shared stories are of a GREAT value to others.

Through today's media, you could think that unless a person is a CELEBRITY (for whatever reasons) then a person's story has no worth. BUT NO! I think that every single person's life is of value and, as my mum would say, "every family, every person has a story to tell". So, whether it is that we relate to the tales of other people because we see something in them that reflects in our own life, or that, their stories simply spark of personal memories, perhaps even hidden deeply within us and forgotten – stories have value.



We do not grow up in life or pass through this world alone. So too the memories stored in us can touch and influence others. BUT, at what point should we start to recollect? I find myself uncomfortable in asking that question to myself? Maybe with a blog there is no fixed ‘start point’ – maybe we just need to talk and the stories will arrive!

In the way I build my regular Celtic Reflections Photoblogs on Facebook, maybe I don’t need to plan everything out here with a beginning, middle and end – maybe I just need to start to talk and to share! To write down my recollections and illustrate my stories with the photos which come to mind. Sharing even small things that make me smile, like getting caught in the rain yesterday at sunset. And, even although I was drenched - telling others later of how wonderful it felt to be outdoors in the middle of such a scenic downpour!

Duddingston Loch, Edinburgh in a downpour at sunset
© Shona McMillan. All Rights Reserved

In my project work (People and Songs of the Sea) for over four years I have been completely focussed on gathering together the memories of other people. Indeed, I would feel quite horrified to think of myself as being old enough to share my life stories, my memories with others. I feel as young and full of life as I did when I was 18 but then, when my mum passed away at 80, that was one of the last things she said to me “strange to be nearing the end of my life when I still feel as young and full of life as I ever did”.

Stay young and full of life! :-D

I think it is great when people retain a positive outlook on life (being happy should be irrelevant to age). So, to use how we feel as an indication when to start, is to risk that appropriate day never arriving. So for me, it's today! 

In thinking to write out stories from my life, it is NOT about writing things down to say that 'my life is more remarkable than any other persons and so it should be shared' - I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT believe that. But, just as I have been interested in other peoples stories, maybe some day, people will be interested in mine. I grew up before mobile phones, computers, colour TV - WOW, even for me to think back on a world without all these norms seems unimaginable. Yet, I did experience life without these things. Therefore, my stories may one day touch those who never saw the world as it was then - just as happy a place and maybe sometimes even happier because it wasn't cluttered up with so many distractions from what is trully important in life which is simply to live, laugh and love.

Arthur Seat, Edinburgh
© Shona McMillan

For whatever reasons to write -

If I have prompted others to share their stories with me, maybe it is time I share some of my own.

My recollections would be formed around my life in Edinburgh, my connections to East Lothian and the coast, my love for the Highlands.

And of course, my equally strong feelings for Ireland and all the other lovely countries I've got to know on my travels: Canada, America, Italy - goodness, the list can go on and on...

In setting out to write any story, I want to look for a beginning, a middle and an end. Writing about myself there is an obvious problem – I am not looking back at a life which has been completed and therefore, one that has been all nicely organised into a natural story telling order. So, I need to come up with another way to organise these accounts. Accordingly, I think it easiest to pick topics and write about these. It would be good if they were ordered (my logical mind prefers that). However, people's recollections can and usually do just tend to spill out in a random fashion. In making this process as easy on myself as possible, it seems then my plan is to 'go with the flow’.

If you are sitting comfortably?

Then I will begin...

Over the coming weeks, months - the time ahead, I will look back and share stories on topics including: Family, Friends, School, Childhood, Holidays, Sayings, Music, Travel and so on. Chapters filled with daily events which build to form stories from a life.

Welcome to "Shona's story".



Bathed in sunshine, Yellow Craigs beach, East Lothian
All Text and Images © Shona McMillan. All Rights Reserved



"HOMELAND" FISHING

On 28.06.10, I visited Eyemouth in the Scottish Borders.

Having spent four years photographing fisher folk, along the Edinburgh to Eyemouth coast for my People and Songs of the Sea project, I asked the Harbour Master at Eyemouth to write down the names of every local fishing boat. When visiting, I had been thinking that the majority of the fleet must be out at sea... to my shock and great upset, I learnt that there were now only a few local boats left. I was aware that, during my project, boats had been being sold off, boats decomissioned etc, etc. BUT, I did not realise just exactly to what extent and speed was the industry's decline.

The Harbour Master gave me a list of boat names and said, at least I was taking an interest - the industry was suffering and the heritage of the fishing community was slipping away but it did not seem to be a story that was receiving much attention in the newspapers, I thought that was wrong. People who fish have generally come from generations of fisher folk, such rapid change in the industry effects everyone, not just the economic standing of the area but it's cultural identity. Eyemouth is a town which has been built on the fishing. For fishermen, fishing is not a 9-5 job and what happens to one boat has far wider consequences with a knock on effect which touches the whole community, the whole area. I took the list of names I was given and set about my photography record. The first photograph I took, the dark blue boat on the left in the picture is the "Homeland" - a boat sailed by two young brothers from North Shields. Young men in an industry which so desperately needs the young to carry it forward to the future, lads with the sea and fishing in their blood.

Tonight, RIP the Homeland which has gone down at sea.

The small fishing boat has been hit by the huge Rosyth to Zeebrugge ferry. The ferry was in the local fishing grounds, the small fleet of boats fishing just a mile or so off shore. The incident, in sight of the land and those from the Berwickshire coast who could see something was happening as the tragedy unfolded. Since, the local boats have been out looking for the body of one of the brothers on the Homeland who did not make it. Tonight, the search has been called off. For now, a quiet stillness has settled over the town and nearby communities. For days to come, questions will be asked as to why a 10,000 ton ferry has its route through these fishing grounds? Yet sadly, all the questions in the world will not bring back this young man, a son, a brother, a friend. His memory now, and forever, in the thoughts of those who knew him - the community extending their condolences to his family and friends, those who will grieve the hardest for his loss.

Home land, ‘Homeland’ – what are you to me?

A place I was brought up in, or a boat that sailed the sea?

A fisherman's life is lost, when so much was yet to come

Hearts are heavy grieving, for the North Shields fishing son

NB: A call for questions to be asked is NOT an accusation of blame against ANY party. No one at sea would ever want to endanger the risk of another. However, in the bigger picture of events, questions need to be asked to do as much as possible to ensure that no such similar incident happens again in the future. On a small boat, when men are engaged in fishing - there is MUCH NOISE and activity going on. So engrossed in that process, it would be possible not to see or hear such a huge vessel approaching. So high up in the water, it would be difficult for the ferry to see a small boat below AND, even if it did - the speed of such a huge and heavy vessel moving through the water would prevent rapid action being taken to avoid collision. Questions can enable an ACCURATE picture of events to be built up so that, in as much as is possible, something like this does not happen again. Unfortuantely, fishing is one of the MOST dangerous occupations. Accordingly, all that can be reasonably, logically done to minimise the risks for those at sea needs to be done.

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