Tag: Blog

Geoffrey Hill by Gail McNeillie Oil on Canvas, 2007, 50cm x 50cm Purchased by Emmanuel College, Cambridge   It was the poet and critic Peter McDonald who introduced us in the end and it began with a phone call. There was a question that Clutag Press might publish a pamphlet of Hill’s current work. Hill was interested I suppose for a number of reasons. He always liked to support a marginal venture. (I’ve been told he lived just long enough to cheer Iceland on in their European Cup victory over England – the English side an example of ‘plutocratic anarchy’ in action if ever there was one.) But why my venture? At hearing my name from Peter he asked, ‘Is that…

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A week ago at the time of writing this, I had an email from Philip Marsden, one of our prized Archipelago contributors. He told me: ‘I leave for Dingle at dawn on Friday’. It was the stirring opening to a poem, for sure, the ring of Auden’s ‘Leave for Cape Wrath tonight’ about it, though none of the period desperation. By now he’ll have that first leg of his single-handed voyage from Falmouth to the Hebrides behind him. We hope to rendezvous up there somewhere weather and time permitting. But whether we can or cannot, he will have had the better part of it by many a sea-mile. I can only imagine what poignant and vigorous wonders there’ll be in his log. Just as I heard from…

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In large capitals on the lighthouse But caught too late for us to change course.   We sail towards catastrophe. Our epitaph-in-waiting: lost at sea.   Sure of this in all the world: The sea alone will keep its word.   If ever there was a timely moment to reflect on there being NO PASSAGE TO LANDWARD this is it. The lighthouse concerned stands off Penmon Point on Anglesey, beyond it Puffin Island. We’re delighted to say that Archipelago 10 is on course and might even put into harbour ahead of time. Contributors: Norman Ackroyd, Julian Bell, Mark Cocker, Kevin Crossley-Holland, Tim Dee, John Fanshawe, John Greening, John Jones, Angela Leighton, Stephen Pax Leonard, James Macdonald Lockhart, Robert Macfarlane, Bernard…

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A hardy reader of the magazine scuba diving off Slyne Head in the cold March seas has just tweeted the two images reproduced here, top and bottom. We are pleased to re-tweet and hope you will all follow suit. A free copy of Archipelago 10 to Gráinne Ni Cormac of Westport when the time comes. And for once we know not only the time but mirabile dictu also the place. Please enter this in your old-fashioned diaries or, if you think they have a future, your digital devices. In association with Somerville College, Oxford, and the Atlantic Archipelagos Research Consortium, we are holding a day of talks and an evening of readings and musical performances to mark our seamark tenth issue on Saturday 14 November 2015. ALL WELCOME. Archipelago…

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  We’ve been holed up proofing Issue 9 at our favourite hideaway quay in the wild west. The place is otherwise more or less unused other than by seabirds, hoodie crows, and the occasional lobster looking for a telephone. Unused, that is, except for nefarious ‘black-catch’ deals at the backdoor of the local gastro-pub THE HOPE AND ANCHOR. The proprietor is himself struggling to survive. As are the fish he pays through the nose for. Just as we are in these hard and uncertain times.   I took this picture of the good ship with my old box-brownie app. and a reel of Kodak Colour. I thought I must ‘share’ it with you, comme on dit. What’s with the French?…

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This is to mark the death of Iain Munro, crofter, boatman, and inspiration to all who had the privilege of meeting him. He drowned on the night of Friday 15 May, off the north coast of Ulva, making headway to Gometra, in a small RIB powered by a single outboard. His sole passenger, Andrew McNeillie, by some miracle made it ashore, at Port Bata na Luinge, round the point of Rubha nan Gall, and survived, managing eventually to raise the alarm at Gometra House at about 7.30 a.m. The two had spent the afternoon and evening together on Mull, erecting fencing against deer, and running errands on a dreich day with a mounting southerly wind. There will be a funeral…

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