Visitors to the island this summer, including those coming to this weekend’s story-telling festival Tip of the Tongue, and the Isle of Jura Music Festival in September, can arrive at the heart of the island in less than an hour, under half the time other routes take.
As well as making Jura easily accessible from the mainland in under an hour the service allows islanders to make day visits to Lochgilphead, Oban and Glasgow, for business, social and hospital visits.

A day visit from the mainland gives around 7 hours on Jura. With heritage sites from the Mesolithic onward, the Isle of Jura Distillery, a choice of places to eat and our pub all just a short hop from the arrival point in Craighouse the time is likely to fly by. For the energetic it is more than enough time to bag a Pap or two or three.

Transport Minister, Keith Brown announcing the funding said “Jura is one of the gems of our many wonderful islands, and we are delighted to help with the necessary support which will ensure local communities continue to feel all of the benefits that increased tourism and footfall on the island will bring.”

The Ferry service is run by Jura Development Trust and operated by Nicol MacKinnon, to book just call 07768 450000. You can find the timetable at www.jurapassengerferry.com

The artists celebrating oral culture in all its forms include:

• Anne Michaels, prize winning Canadian author of Fugitive Pieces
• Aonghas Phàdraig Caimbeul, Angus Peter Campbell to some, South Uist raised poet and actor
• Ian Stephen, storyteller, poet and mariner
• Alasdair Roberts, renowned songwriter and folklorist
• Katrice Horsley, UK Storytelling Laureate
• James Attlee, travel writer
• Clare Jordan, Gaelic singer to be accompanied by a bevy of Islay musicians
• Louis, rapper and wordsmith from Glasgow hip-hop outfit Hector Bizerk
• Ambrosia Rasputin aka Ivor Kallin, improvising poet and musician

The programme includes daytime and evening events, island tours and cinema. Jura’s oral tradition will be at the fore with ceildihs, workshops, song cycles, oral histories and a wonderful children’s programme. A book and DVD will be launched with an event from Gary Cordingley, Pete Shaw & Karen Scott. It documents ten years of their storytelling work at the famous Jura Music Festival.

All of this wrapped in the joys of the Jura ceilidh tradition. All comers are welcome to join in, bring a story or a song or just come and enjoy yourself. A weekend pass is £30, and family passes (2 adults, up to 4 children) £80 are available online. Tickets for individual events may be available on the door.

The full programme and ticketing is available at www.tipofthetonguefestival.com

Well, one of the problems on Jura is the garden. As you probably know Jura House Garden was an important asset for Jura and it was highly appreciated by its many annual visitors. You noticed the word was… well that’s the problem, it was an important asset and the way things look now the temporary closure seems to become a permanent one, all orchestrated, I assume, by the new owner Mr. Greg Coffey who by the way has only visited his property twice since he bought it in November 2010.

The first signal I received about a permanent closure was an alarming picture of the welcome sign of the garden which stood proudly besides the only road on the island near the entrance. That very welcome sign ended up last November in the annual Jura Bonfire at the hotel on Nov 5th (first picture). Now that was not a good sign (excuse the pun) but there is more bad news.

Recently I received information from someone, who likes to stay anonymous, that the word on the island is that the gardens will now remain permanently closed. No announcement has been made, but the sources are reliable. Also, the signs on the road outside the gardens have all been removed, and the gate to the path through the woods leading to the garden has been removed and a new stone wall has been built (see picture).

Needless to say that this is a terrible blow for the island. On the one hand many people are doing so much to try and attract people to Jura and on the other hand a major tourist attraction has been shut down which will have a bad effect on the already fragile island economy. Please leave your (constructive) comments, possible suggestions for the future and good memories of the beautiful gardens below.

Commenting on the draft proposals Jura Development Trust secretary Peter Wotherspoon said, “We support in principle the idea that a trip to the mainland will cost the same for a Diùrach as an Ìleach. The proposal to include the trip across the Sound of Islay in the fare to the mainland and not as an additional cost of over £15 for a car and passenger is particularly welcome.”

We are pleased that the Government supports the need for more ferries to use Port Askaig terminal. Their support is recognition that the 60 mile round trip across Islay for the people of Jura and our visitors to catch ferries at Port Ellen is an undue burden on us. We welcome also the planned introduction of the Road Equivalent Tariff because it offers a potential boost for tourism.

The lifeline Islay to Jura ferry link remains crucial to the community on the island, but the fact that the journey is currently one of the most expensive in Scotland is extremely detrimental. The Trust looks forward to contributing to the consultation on its future. We welcome the offer to finance the passenger ferry in the short term during 2012 whilst proposals for improved mainland travel from Jura are implemented.

Bàrr mo Theanga or Tip of the Tongue is a celebration of oral culture in many forms – storytelling, poetry, song and reading out loud, in English and Gaelic. With place at its heart, the new event will explore Jura, Scotland and her islands and that common ground that is human experience.

Artists and features confirmed for Bàrr mo Theanga include:

• Anne Michaels, Orange Prize for Fiction winning Canadian author of ‘The Winter Vault’, set partly on the island.
• Ian Stephen, Lewisman, storyteller, poet and man of the sea.
• Alasdair Roberts, renowned musician and folklorist.
• Jura’s ceilidh and oral tradition will be at the fore with workshops, ceildihs, song cycles, oral histories and a wonderful children’s programme.
• A new song cycle based on the works of the Islay Bards

All this at what those in the know say is the best time of year to see an island that boasts one the UK’s last wildernesses, with a community that won’t stop making you part of it while you’re there, and of course, there’s always the chance of a dram or two.

The event has been made possible by a Quality Production award from Creative Scotland and support from Jura Development Trust’s Argyll and the Islands Leader and HIE funded GatE Local Development Officer. You can find more information at www.tipofthetonguefestival.com and www.barrmotheanga.com

• Black sub-group of the Clan Donald DNA Project
  (The group can be found a little below halfway down the page)
• Barra R1b group (orange coloured) in the MacNeil Project
• Scottish DNA Project
  (Group R1b1a2a1a1b5b – this is a very large project with 3000+ results. You need to put 4000 in the “Page size” on the top row and refresh to see all results)
• L165/S68 subclade project

Both the Scottish DNA Project and the L165 (also known as S68) project are keen to recruit new participants especially those who know their ancestors came from the Inner Hebrides. Some of the Buies from Jura are now confirmed as carrying a marker indicative of Norse Viking ancestry. S68 is mentioned in Alastair Moffat and Dr James F Wilson’s new book, The Scots: A Genetic Journey. Anyone interested in finding out about how Y-DNA can help with their family history can contact Alasdair at scottishdna@strath.ac.uk

Last weekend the garden was open for the first time and it will be open again on Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th June from 1-4pm. The house has just over an acre of walled garden cultivated by three generations, an orchard and several atmospheric woodland walks looking out to sea. Cream teas will be served dependent on weather and donations will be asked for on the day.

The Scotsman wrote in the before mentioned article “He is understood not to have visited the island since buying the estate, on which most of Jura’s 210 islanders live and five are employed, since its purchase six months ago. Elaine Campbell, the development officer at the Jura Development Trust, said there was concern that the closure of the garden, which attracts around 2,500 visitors every year, could impact on the island’s tourist economy. “Everybody has that fear, because the garden had a great number of visitors every year. They’re unique. It would be hard to say that it’s not going to impact us in some way. We’re all very uncertain about it at the moment.”

“The MSP for the area, Mike Russell, said tourism was the island’s lifeblood. “Jura needs as much help as possible to get to critical mass, and everything it loses diminishes from that,” he said. A spokesperson for Coffey said the gardens at Ardfin House were being renovated. He added: “However, it is Greg’s full intention that once all the renovation works are completed, which is probably going to be at the end of the year, Greg will look to re-open the gardens next year at some point.”

The last paragraph by the spokesperson for Mr Coffey sounds positive although the words “will look to re-open” don’t sound like a firm promise to me. Perhaps you as readers and visitors of the island would like to express the importance that these gardens to remain open for both the locals and tourists. If you do please feel free to leave a comment below and let’s hope it will help!

I’ve created this video using my Android phone to show you how peaceful it can be. The last part of the video is shot from the track of “Evan’s Walk” that leads to the Paps. The views from there include Lowlandman’s Bay and the Small Isles Bay. Enjoy!

Argyll and Bute Council has agreed to give the Jura Development Trust £24,000 to keep the passenger ferry service between Jura and Tayvallich operational for summer 2011. The money is a one off until the findings of the Scottish Ferries Review are known.

It has been agreed at a meeting today (June 2nd) there will be support for the Jura Development Trust from the Business Gateway team with the development of a business model. The council is fully supportive of the case the trust is putting to the Scottish Government for sustainable government funding of the Jura to Tayvallich fast ferry service through the Scottish Ferries Review.

Spokesperson for Rural and Island Affairs, Housing and Gaelic, Councillor Robin Currie said “I am absolutely delighted that Argyll and Bute Council is financially supporting the Jura passenger Service this year as the continuation of this service is vitally important to the economy of the island. Myself and others have been determined that this service continues this year because if it were not to run, it would be extremely difficult to resurrect the service next year. The Council and Jura Development Trust both agree that the funding for ferry services should be the remit of Scottish Government, so jointly we will be campaigning for the Scottish Government to take over the funding of the service in future years.”

This press release was posted in the Facebook Group “Save the Jura Passenger Ferry“