Summer Symposium 2025

We had a wonderful weekend at the well attended Summer Symposium on the Island of North Uist. We started with a visit to Padruig Morrison’s croft to learn about the crofting system and keeping Hebridean sheep on the island. For those who missed it, the second half of this FASTV programme has Padruig explaining all about his croft (from 19min 21 sec). Following lunch, we visited Uist Wool Mill to see how our sheep fleeces are transformed into wool by a small scale wool mill.

Saturday saw us at the Inter-Island Hebridean Sheep Show. We mainlanders were very impressed by the number and quality of sheep present, giving judge Larry Cowper a difficult job in each of the classes. Congratulations to Donald Alick MacLeod for winning the championship, and thanks to the Knox flock for providing the prize money. We were also given tips on choosing a good ram, and had another look at Padruig’s Hebridean mules- and had a go at stock judging the ram lambs- and enjoyed an excellent lunch provided by a local caterer. The evening saw over 30 of us enjoying a hearty 3 course dinner featuring some excellent Hebridean meat -of course! Sunday morning took us to a RSPB reserve and a very interesting walk through the machair to look at some of the island birdlife, and an insight into how the land surrounding each croft - the common land - is managed by the local crofters.

The weekend was extremely well organised by islanders Padruig Morrison, Ealasaid Dick and Calum Ferguson and I’m sure everyone that attended the weekend would agree that a return visit to the island is a must!

Thanks also to Eric Medway for his contribution in bringing us mainlanders across to the island.

Elizabeth Jack

Link to Pictures