News > 2009

21 August 2009

ST KILDA DAY TO BE CELEBRATED ON BBC ALBA

The first ever St Kilda Day; Latha Hiort, will take place on 29 August as part of Homecoming Scotland 2009 and BBC ALBA is pleased to announce that it will be participating with a St Kilda themed weekend of programmes in celebration of the island, its history and its people.

St Kilda Day will mark the evacuation of St Kilda's final inhabitants in August 1930. It will celebrate their lives and legacy in music, word and image and build on the international success of the 2007 St Kilda Opera to trace the St Kildans' story and bring it all back home.

The first of the four BBC ALBA programmes, titled ‘An t-Hiortach’ meaning The St Kildan will be broadcast on the anniversary of the evacuation, Saturday 29 August at 10pm. This programme will follow Norman Gillies, the last surviving male St Kildan, as he returns, almost 80 years on and still fit, with his son for an emotional visit to his Island birthplace.

Norman Gillies
Norman Gillies on his return visit to St Kilda, the last surviving male St Kilda

By the time Norman was five, the decision had been made to evacuate St Kilda. One of Norman’s last memories of the island is waving to the boat that his mother, Mary was on board prior to the evacuation which Norman was part of. This was the last time he was to see his mother as she died on 26 May in Glasgow alongside his 13 day-old sister Annie, whom he never met.

Norman never knew where his mother and sister were buried until quite recently and ‘An t-Hiortach’ will follow Norman’s poignant first visit to the burial site as well as visiting the house where Norman was born.

Norman Gillies
Norman Gillies with a photograph of his mother and him as a child

‘Mac talla nan Eun’, meaning The Echo of The Birds, will be shown on Sunday 30 August at 3.30pm. This is a love story told using a variety of techniques and linking media. It moves between the past and present using poignant stage performances, location drama and stunning aerial ballet performed on dramatic island sea cliffs. The performances were part of the groundbreaking St Kilda Opera project which was performed across Europe and featured most recently at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival.

‘Am Posadh Hiortadh’ meaning The St Kildan Wedding, broadcast on Sunday 30 August at 10pm, is a lyrical drama-documentary examining life on St Kilda prior to the 1930 evacuation of the island.

The final programme, ‘Trusadh – Na Hiortaich Ùr’ meaning The New St Kildans, on Monday 31 August at 9pm, looks beyond the historic story of St Kilda and follows the activity of a modern-day summer season on the world heritage site. The documentary provides an insight into island life today, including the migration of a new population of day trippers, bird watchers, military personnel, archaeologists, artists and genealogists that visit the island every year.

St Kilda Day has been organised by Pròiseact nan Ealan, the Gaelic Arts Agency who aim to involve artists, communities and individuals across Scotland and the rest of the world in a series of events to commemorate the St Kildans and their lost way of life. It is hoped that the St Kilda Day will become an annual event.

Celebrate St Kilda Day from Saturday 29th August on BBC ALBA which is available on Sky channel 168 and on Freesat 110:

• An t-Hiortach – Saturday 29 August, 10pm
• Mac talla nan Eun – Sunday 30 August, 3.30pm
• Am Posadh Hiortadh – Sunday 30 August, 10pm
• ‘Trusadh - Na Hiortach Ùr – Monday 31 August, 9pm, repeated Tuesday 1 September, 10pm