The Potter's Tale by Dion Alexander

Author:Dion Alexander
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Birlinn

9

MAKING SERIOUS FUN

A stream of playfulness bubbled away blithely through Colonsay’s way of life, and though most of its self-expression was spontaneous, a serious amount of organisational effort went into in making sure that ‘Are you coming out to play?’ opportunities weren’t just confined to the island’s children. For a tiny community of a little over a hundred souls, there really were an awful lot of organised events, albeit with much fun to be had as well as money to be generated for good causes. But if all the voluntary man and woman hours involved in their planning, preparation and running – particularly over the summer months – were added up and divided by the number of able-bodied adults in the island, then the investment of community effort was impressive. The island, though, didn’t really give this aspect a second thought: it was part of the natural order of things and taken much for granted.

None of the resulting happenings was more welcoming and enjoyable than a ceilidh dance or a concert in the village hall, each the result of hours of unsung, behind-the-scenes graft by members of one or other of the community groups, like the Village Hall committee, the Gun Club or the WRI. Almost all were fundraisers too, and badged accordingly, like ‘The Shipwrecked Mariners Ceilidh’ which described the fundraising cause and not the late arrivals from the pub. This ceilidh, my diary remembers, was the third one, in addition to another concert, that was laid on in the Village Hall in the space of eight August days in 1978.

No local group was more active over the year than the Colonsay Young Farmers Club and, as its unexpectedly appointed Secretary, I soon learnt just how much attention to brain-curdling detail, let alone time and sometimes frenetic activity, club members had to commit in putting on events like the Colonsay Capers, a Saturday afternoon in August of pure fun dreamt up by Donald MacFadyen, the third of our neighbours’ teenage sons, whose mind was alive with humour. The programme featured welly-throwing, jelly-eating and slippery trailer ‘ocean-emptying’ competitions amongst many others, and culminated with a six-a-side tug of war between mixed teams of adults and children. It too was followed by a dance in the Village Hall. The autumn Root and Grain Show was a two-day affair, starting on the Thursday with a dinner dance in the Hotel, a day off to recover and then the Show itself on the Saturday afternoon, to be cleared away and followed by another ceilidh dance, which featured a fancy dress show for all ages. At least the locals didn’t have the added anxiety of having to judge any of the Show’s exhibits – an awesome responsibility which the mainland invitees were always left to shoulder, leaving local reputations intact.

Where, in ordinary daily life, a naked display of the competitive instinct would have elicited a communal ‘tut-tut’, in the context of an island-wide challenge to produce a champion onion set or a best Victoria spongecake, then it was quite okay to let it show.

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