Join a World War One commemoration event at Culla Bay, Benbecula.
Sunday 11th November, 3.30 to 4.30
A large-scale portrait of a local WWI casualty etched into the sand on Culla Bay beach on 11th November 2018. Sand artists ‘Sand In Your Eye’ will design the portrait, which will be washed away as the tide comes in on Remembrance Sund
Members of the public are invited to attend the beach and dunes at Culla Bay from 3pm onwards on 11th November 2018 where they can assist with the smaller sand stencils, and see the big portrait completed, before gathering to read the Carol Ann Duffy poem The wound in time / An leòn an Tìm together on the dunes at 4.20pm.
Duncan MacKinnon, Berneray
Comann Eachdraidh Uibhist a Tuath is providing an image of a local man who lost his life during the Great War which will befeatured on the sands of Culla Bay. This will be Duncan MacKinnon from Berneray, who was died at age 22 in March 1916 while serving withe the Royal Naval Reserve. More on Duncan MacKinnon
Local contacts:
Natasha Natarajan: natasha@chikaboo-designs.com
Catherine Yeatman: catherine.yeatman@gmail.com
Event details:
Time: 3.30 – 4.30pm, Sunday November 11th
Access: Not wheelchair accessible
Parking: Nunton Steadings, Aird beach access road
Catering: Nunton Steadings
Toilet Facilities: Nunton Steadings
The Wound in Time
It is the wound in Time. The century’s tides,
chanting their bitter psalms, cannot heal it.
Not the war to end all wars; death’s birthing place;
the earth nursing its ticking metal eggs, hatching
new carnage. But how could you know, brave
as belief as you boarded the boats, singing?
The end of God in the poisonous, shrapneled air.
Poetry gargling its own blood. We sense it was love
you gave your world for; the town squares silent,
awaiting their cenotaphs. What happened next?
War. And after that? War. And now? War. War.
History might as well be water, chastising this shore;
for we learn nothing from your endless sacrifice.
Your faces drowning in the pages of the sea.
An leòn an Tìm
’S e ’n leòn an Tìm a th’ ann. Fad linne, cha shlànaich
an làn le shalmadaireachd sheirbh e. Chan e an cogadh
gus crìoch a chur air cogadh ach àite-breith a’ bhàis; uighean
meatailt a’ diogadh, gan altram aig an talamh, a’ chasgairt
ga gur às ùr. Ach ciamar a bhiodh fios agaibhse, gu calma
a’ seinn mar chreideamh, a’ dol air bòrd nam bàtaichean?
Crìoch air Dia san àile phuinnseanach làn sgolban.
Bàrdachd ga tachdadh na fuil fhèin. Fairichidh sinn gum b’ e
an gaol dhan tug sibh ur beatha; ceàrnagan nam bailtean nan tost,
a’ feitheamh rin carraighean-cuimhne. Dè thachair an uair sin?
Cogadh. Is an dèidh sin? Cogadh. Is dè a-nis? Cogadh. Cogadh.
Dh’fhaodadh eachdraidh a bhith na sàl a’ bualadh a’ chladaich
oir chan ionnsaich sinn càil às ur n-ìobairt gun sgur,
is ur n-aodannan a’ dol fodha eadar duilleagan na mara.
The event is part of the national Pages of the Sea, a project to mark 100 years since the Armistice at the end of World War I. Communities will gather on beaches across the UK to say thank you and goodbye to the millions of men and women who left their shores during the war, many never to return. The National Theatre of Scotland is leading events at the six beaches across Scotland with support from Taigh Chearsabhagh for the event on Benbecula. Catherine Yeatman and Natasha Natarajan have been appointed the local facilitators under the organising umbrella of the National Theatre of Scotland, and with other local input from Taigh Chearsabhagh.
More on Danny Boyle’s Pages of the Sea Project at https://www.pagesofthesea.org.uk
In this video, the National Theatre of Scotland’s Associate Director Simon Sharkey shares information on how you can participate:
An overview from Danny Boyle: