February 2025

Dear Waternish Residents,

Most of us have been affected by cancer in some shape or form and Cancer Research UK undertake pioneering work into how to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.

As in previous years, in the month of March, volunteers from Waternish will be doing door to door collections for the local branch of Cancer Research UK. We will have collecting tins and will be out and about during daylight hours when weather and time permits.

The collectors who will be knocking on your doors are Janice Martin, Pat Matheson, Lesley MacLean and Hilary Goodall. We would be delighted if anyone else would care to join us – it’s a great way to wander around Waternish and meet your neighbours!

In these days of electronic payment methods, many of us don’t have cash lying around, so we are giving you a wee bit of notice in case you want to obtain cash for the collecting tins. Alternatively you can make a payment direct to the Skye branch account held in the RBS in Portree. Sort code 83-26-19, account number 00281554.

You can also donate online at https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/get-involved/donate and this method enables you to add Gift Aid if you are a UK taxpayer.

If you are not in when we call but would like to donate, you can drop your donation off at Lesley’s porch (Trumpan Cottage - last house on the right, top road at Trumpan). A box will be left there for donations.

Lesley MacLean

The Highland Council are currently consulting on the proposed introduction of a visitor levy scheme.

The visitor levy scheme will affect individuals and businesses in the Highland Council area.

The consultation process will close on 31 March 2025, and Waternish Community Council encourage everyone to make their views known.

You can find out more by attending an in-person event being held by Highland Council at Isle of Skye Visitor Centre, Portree on 14th March from 2pm until 3.30pm, as per above.

The Community Council will be discussing the levy at our next meeting on Tuesday 11th March at Waternish Community Hall. If you would like to attend, please feel free to come along at 7pm.

The visitor levy consultation document and frequently asked questions can be found at the following link and you can complete and submit the form online (click on the Visitor Levy Consultation button then click on Go to Event):-

https://www.highland.gov.uk/info/1457/tourism_and_visitor_attractions/1142/visitor_levy

A still from the short film Neyinka and the Silver Gong, one of the short films being screened at the event.

Aqsa Arif and Hector MacInnes present a special in-person screening event at Breakish Hall, Isle of Skye, on Friday 7th March, from 6.30pm, in collaboration with LUX Scotland. Titled This Fantasy Must End!, this screening will include food and refreshments and we warmly encourage you to join us for a bite to eat and a chat about the films. Aqsa and Hector will host a workshop at Ardvasar Hall the following day from 10am.

This Fantasy Must End! highlights the friction between interior and exterior perspectives on identities of place, culture and language. The programmers have chosen work which offers the screen and the speaker as portals between the experience of looking (and listening) out, and looking (and listening) in: the visitor and the visited, here and there, island and mainland, us and them. The pieces focus on subverting fetishistic portrayals of identity, challenging contestations around authenticity and artifice, and leaving open questions about how we belong in, and inhabit, the roles and performances we create for ourselves and other people, both in and out of the shot.

For more information about the works at the event, click here.

Atlas Arts are hoping to provide a bus to this event from the north of Skye, and are currently looking for a driver, who we can pay. If you are interested, or know someone who may be, please contact me using the details below.

Ainslie Roddick
Artistic Director
Atlas Arts
07731 453666
ainslie@atlasarts.org.uk
Office days: Tues-Fri 9-5

Apologies to those subscribers who received their copy of last week's newsletter later than usual. We blame some goings on at Mailchimp for this, as it only affected those of our subscribers on that platform. We're pretty sure that things are now back to normal, but if not, then thank you for your patience, and things will be fixed very soon.

Newsletter Editor

Harvey's House Calls for Cats is a family run business in the Waternish area, offering a pet service for cats and cat owners. The business is named in commemoration of our own late cat Harvey.

We are fully insured and DBS checked, and offer a number of services, including:

• cat sitting in your own home;
• overnight stays;
• cat walking for indoor cats;
• cat chauffeuring

To join us on Facebook, click on the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/harveyshousecallsforcats

To get in touch for all your furry feline needs, contact us via facebook, or one of the methods below:

tel: 01470 517214
email: harveyshousecallsforcats@gmail.com

It has been quite a while since we last held an 'indoor' car boot sale, but last week's event showed that such events remain ever popular.

A huge thank you to everyone who participated in making it such a success: firstly to Janice, Donnie and Raymond for their unflappable efficiency in the kitchen, and to all those who kindly donated a range of delicious cakes. Also to local chickens and their owners for the donation of fresh eggs for the rolls; to the range of stallholders demonstrating the creativity and imagination that Skye has to offer; to all who helped with the set up of tables and clearing up at the end; to all those who donated so generously to the Foodbank table and, most importantly, to everyone who came to support us - I hope that you enjoyed an informal social event.

We have learnt several useful lessons this time around - mainly to do with budgeting for the purchase of food and publicity - and will take these forward to the next event - so watch this space!!

Judi Hodgkin
.

I’m looking at turning my passion into work and hoping to help out with whatever job you might need doing around the garden.

Services offered:

• pruning and trimming of trees, hedges etc.
• weeding
• keeping existing gardens in shape
• redesigning existing beds
• planting schemes

Please feel free to get in touch with any job big or small you might have!

Tel: 07535 400 861

Email: mary.baer96@gmail.com