Book 54 - Steep Holm Diary

Steep Holm Diary by Howard and Rosie Smith, first published in 2006

Steep Holm is a small island in the Bristol Channel, about 5 miles west of the seaside town of Weston-super-Mare.  It was bought by the Kenneth Allsop Memorial Trust in 1976 and has been run by them ever since.

Howard and Rosie Smith, who live in Weston-super-Mare, obviously have a deep affection for Steep Holm.  This book is the story of the work carried out on the island by the 2 wardens and a dedicated band of enthusiastic volunteers between 2001 and 2006.  They renovated the old Victorian barracks, cleared paths, monitored and cared for the island's wildlife and welcomed visitors.

The book is a slim volume and is easily lost on the shelves of a library, which is probably why it hasn't been borrowed much.  However it is a real gem.  It was originally published in the Weston and Somerset Mercury as a series of diary articles. The text of the book was written by Howard Smith.  The book is lavishly illustrated with colour drawings done by Rosie Smith of the island from every angle, its flora & fauna, buildings, the remains of the military batteries and archaeological remains.  The book also contains a hand drawn map of the island and a potted history.  An excellent little book - small but perfectly formed. 10/10

Islands covered - Steep Holm 

 One of the old batteries

 The Bristol Queen - this was the island's passenger ferry during the period covered by the book

 Gull chick on Steep Holm, July 2006

 Rudder Rock, Steep Holm

 The landing beach and old pub, east coast of Steep Holm

 East coast of Steep Holm

Book 53 - The Chalet School and the Island

The Chalet School and the Island by Elinor M Brent-Dyer – first published in 1950

This is the 21^st book in the Chalet School series, which has 58 volumes in total.  I own the whole set and have read them all, although not in the correct order.  This isn’t the best of the series but it is set on the fictional island of St Briavel’s off the south west coast of Wales. 

The original Chalet School was set up in the Austrian Tirol in the early 1930s (hence the name) as a multi-lingual girls’ boarding school.  The school was forced to move in the late 1930s when it became obvious that war was approaching.  It moved first to Guernsey and shortly after to Armishire (Herefordshire).  

The Chalet School is forced to relocate to a temporary location because major work needs to be done to the drains at their school in Armishire.  Most of the girls are delighted to be on an island, which has opportunities for swimming, rowing and boat trips to the nearby island of Brandon Mawr to see the seabirds nesting on the cliffs.

Annis Lovell, who is a pupil at the Chalet School has to live with her aunt during the holidays because her father has died.  Her aunt is cold and resents having to look after her niece and makes this obvious to her.  Annis is determined to prove that she can support herself financially and not be reliant on her aunt’s grudging charity.  However her attempt to row to the mainland to start her new independent life, nearly ends in tragedy when she loses her oars and is shipwrecked on the nearby rocky island of Vendell.    5/10

Book 52 - Try a little Lowliness

Try a little Lowliness: Memoirs of a Cistercian Novice by Paddy Lyons - first published in 2009

Paddy Lyons spent several years in the early 1960s living as a novice with the community of Benedictine monks on the island of Caldey, which is located a mile or so to the south of the town of Tenby in Pembrokeshire.  Known as Brother Daniel he had to learn to live a very simple and austere life of study, worship, prayer and hard physical labour on the monastery farm largely in silence - the monk communicated using sign language.  The monks ate a vegetarian diet, were allowed one bath a week and attended numerous church services throughout the day and night. Daniel struggled to live according to the very strict Rule of St Benedict.

The monks weren't always assigned the jobs they were best at and consequently Daniel, who was not the most gifted musician had to play the organ at some of the daily services.  The monk who was given the job as cook wasn't great at it and so most of the food they ate was unappetising.

Despite being vegetarians the monks kept battery hens and broiler chickens in far from ideal conditions, which seemed to be at odds with their gentle spirituality.

There are however some humorous moments in the book e.g. the strange behaviour of an elderly monk with dementia and the swimming lessons in the sea that the monks had to take after the visiting Abbot General of the Cistercian Order discovered that most of them couldn't swim. 

What is most striking is the austerity and complete obedience in the life of the monks.  Peace abounds but what seems lacking is joy.  During Daniel's time on Caldey many other potential recruits came and left.  For various reasons most of them were unable to accept the lifestyle of an endless cycle of work, study and prayer with no leisure time.

After a few years Daniel left Caldey and married and had children and a career but his reasons for leaving are not part of this book.

This book gives a rare insight into a very private world.  9/10

Islands covered - Caldey 

 Calvary - looking north towards the mainland

 Priory Beach

 Cliffs on the east coast looking towards Paul Jones Bay

 Caldey Lighthouse

 The Abbey

 Priory Beach

 St David's Church

Book 51 - Dream Island

Dream Island: Record of the Simple Life by R.M. Lockley - first published in 1930

I loved this book.  It is written in the style of an old fashioned Boys Own adventure.  Having fallen in love with the Welsh island of Skokholm during a short visit with a friend, Ronald Lockley leased the small island from 1927.  This book is the account of his first couple of years on the island.  During this time he made the derelict farmhouse inhabitable, caught and sold rabbits, established a small holding with a goat, a pony, some sheep and some chickens and did a bit of lobster and crayfish fishing.

In an age when health and safety regulations hadn't been invented, he and his friends sailed to and from the island in all weathers and had several hazardous crossings and narrow escapes.  He seems to have been a natural optimist and had no trouble befriending the locals on the mainland and persuading some of them to help him with the building work.  A timely shipwrecked schooner which came to rest on Skokholm's coast provided him with building materials with which to repair the farmhouse and enough coal to last him many years.  He also salvaged the figurehead, the sails, the ship's bell, the cook's galley and the wheelhouse and re-used them.

R.M. Lockley married his friend Doris during his first summer and they spent their honeymoon sailing round the other islands of Pembrokeshire and landed on Grassholm, Ramsey, North Bishop and South Bishop.  Later he rescued a survivor from another shipwreck - the SS Molesey.

The flora and fauna of the island are well observed.  The fauna were mainly seabirds including puffins, gulls, razorbills, storm petrels and manx shearwaters.  The book also has an index - an extra point for that. 9/10

This was the author's first book but he went on to write 50 other natural history books either on his own or with other people. He established a bird observatory on Skokholm in 1933. He died in 2000 aged 96

Islands covered - Skokholm, Skomer, Ramsey, Grassholm, the Bishops and Clerks.

Book 50 - The Lost Days of Summer

The Lost Days of Summer by Katie Flynn - first published in 2011

It is September 1939 and 15 year old Nell Whitaker is sent to a farm on Anglesey from her home in Liverpool to live with her aunt Kath, who she has never met before, because her mother wants to join the WAAF.

At first Kath is very critical of Nell but gradually, as they get to know each other and she realises that Nell is a hard worker, her attitude softens.  Nell makes friends with Bryn who helps out on the farm until he joins the Merchant Navy and then later with a land girl called Maggie, who also comes from Liverpool, and Bryn's friend Hywel, with whom she falls in love.

Eventually Kath tells Nell her life story.  She confides in her about her strained relationship with Nell's mother Trixie.  John the man she loved but who died in the First World War, her subsequent marriage to his friend the Anglesey farmer Owain and the hostility she faced from Owain's grandmother who resented her presence because she thought Owain should have married a local girl.

I'm not a great lover of family saga type books but this was an enjoyable read and there is an unexpected happy ending.

Islands covered - Anglesey, Holy Island

 Four Mile Bridge joining Holy Island and Anglesey

 Cemaes, Anglesey

 Trearddur Bay, Holy Island

Book 49 - Trumpet Morning

Trumpet Morning by Maureen Peters

Eleven year old Nell Petrie lives with her eccentric but loving grandparents Taid and Nain and various uncles and aunts on a farm on the island of Anglesey.  It is 1940 and the Second World War is beginning to have an effect on all their lives.  One by one her uncles join the armed forces and before the year is out, the family has experienced birth, marriage, death and foot and mouth disease.   In many ways the bonds between them become stronger as a result of the year's events.  I don't read many family sagas because I find them a bit boring .  However this story is told in a light hearted way and is an enjoyable read.  7/10

Islands covered - Anglesey and Holy Island

 Menai Bridge, Anglesey

 Britannia Bridge, Anglesey

Book 48 - Hungry for Home

Hungry for Home by Cole Moreton - first published in 2000

This book is the story of one branch of the O'Cearna/Kearney/Carney family who lived on the island of Great Blasket off the western end of the Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry, Ireland.

There had been a gradual net migration from the island since the early 20th century when the population had been around 176.  Most people who left emigrated to the USA but some moved to the Dingle area. Life for the remaining 50 or so islanders was hard by the mid1940s - they had no electricity, no church or doctor.  The land on the island wasn't very fertile and they could only grow potatoes, oats and turnips and graze animals.  Postwar rationing meant that food on mainland Ireland was also scarce.

In January1947 25 year old Seainin O'Cearna died from meningitis without receiving any medical help when bad weather prevented anyone from leaving or arriving on the island by boat.  Open canoes were used to ferry people and livestock back and forth but by 1947 there were barely enough able bodied men to crew a couple of them.  In April 1947 the islanders ran out of food and once again bad weather prevented them from rowing to the mainland to get fresh supplies.  The Irish leader Eamon de Valera visited Great Blasket in July 1947 after the islanders had petitioned him to evacuate them to the mainland and provide them with homes/land.  However there was no action until November 1953 when the Irish government finally evacuated the island.

The book also covers the history of the island from the arrival of Celtic monks over 1,000 years ago, through the period of the Normans,  Spanish Armada shipwrecks, the arrival of families on the island in the early 19th century after their eviction from their land on the mainland, the Potato Famine years in the 1840s-1850s and the crash landing on the island of a German plane in 1940.  It then follows some of the O'Cearna family to Springfield, Massachusetts where many of them made new lives.

The book is a bit rambling and hard to follow in places but is generally an interesting and informative read.  6/10

Islands covered - The Blaskets - Great Blasket