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WANTED
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I placed this advert in one of the national newspaper immediately after I returned from the island in early October. I was gaining confidence as a result of my visit and I felt that the idea was feasible and there was no reason why it could not be brought to fruition. This next stage, to select the people who would accompany me, was crucial to the whole scheme, but I was uncertain of the sort of people that may respond to such an advertisement. I was concerned about the possibility of cranks applying, but perhaps most of all I feared that just no one would show interest at all and my idea would founder at the first fence.
It was my intention to make selections with a view to occupation in the early Spring of the following year to ensure that the worst weather of the winter had passed and that time was available so that work could commence on those houses that needed repairs to make them secure for the following winter.
I just did not know what the response was likely to be. Would I have so few replies that the whole idea would just not be practically viable, or would I be overwhelmed and have to sift through the applications and disappoint people even though they possessed much needed skills and enthusiasm?
Two whole days went by and the early twinges of doubt were getting to me. I feared that it would be the first situation that was going to be my problem and my downfall and that my idea would become “pie in the sky.” Then, just as I was preparing for bed one evening the phone rang and a hesitant voice said: “About the advert.”
“Yes” — I said.
“I could be interested in this Scottish island opportunity, but I need a lot more information”
“Yes of course you do”— I replied. “In fact I also need know quite a bit about you also. I can answer some questions now but a face to face meeting will probably be the best way to proceed.”
“I’m a builder by trade but I feel that I need to take a bit of a risk and do something a bit different.”
“That’s fine, the renovation of old buildings is just what we will be engaged upon right from the start. Why don’t you come round for a chat sometime?”
“I’m off work all this weekend.”
“How about tomorrow morning about eleven o’clock? Oh, and what’s your name?”
“That’s OK, my name’s Bob. My wife and three children would like to come along as well. Where do you live?”
And so the process started. Bob arrived with his wife and three children, and I gave them a rather long description of the sort of thing I had in mind. I explained that the objective was to build a community that would develop into a thriving and satisfying way of life for those who had the right attitudes to the task. I mentioned that he was in fact the first to reply to my advert and so it was very early days in terms of being able to say when and how the idea would get off the ground. I was interested not only in what he could offer in practical terms but how they and their children might react to the totally different way of life. Apparently they all enjoyed the outdoor life and when I showed them some of the photographs I had taken on my recent visit they were suitably impressed.
Bob was a short muscular individual with fair hair just recovering from a complete shaving. A small circular tattoo decorated his left arm. He spoke with a deep singsong voice that held ones attention as he expressed his surprise that he was the first to apply and seemed initially worried that he would not yet be potentially part of a larger team. He explained that his wife Susan had pledged that whatever he decided she would go along with him. Their oldest girl, Jane, was not enthusiastic having just met a new boy friend but Sarah, the younger daughter, was keen for a change to something unknown. Their son Paul was unconcerned, but he thought a change would be good for them all. I explained that I hoped that children would form an important part of island life and that we would have a teacher or teachers apply so that their education would not suffer.
By the end of several cups of coffee we agreed that it was too early to make a definite decision, I would keep him informed as we hoped that other applicants would soon be forthcoming. I felt that he and his family would make valuable members of a community. As they prepared to leave, the phone rang. It was another enquiry about the island. I motioned them to sit down again for a while and they waited, pleased to discover as I put the phone down that I had been able to make another appointment for a young lad named James to visit me that very next afternoon.
James aged 20 was single and unemployed. He did not look particularly fit or well fed. He was clean-shaven but small nicks to his chin suggested that it was a hurried event before setting out to meet me. He sat awkwardly and fidgeted, alternately rubbing his hands together and then tapping his fingers on the side of the chair. In a somewhat reticent manner he told me that he had average GCSE results and had taken on a number of part time jobs. He felt that his less than exciting CV, which he passed across to me, was as a result of the break up of his parents’ marriage and the suicide of an older brother. Quite understandably, he thought my advertisement was like a light at the end of a long dark tunnel, which he had been struggling through for the last five years. He had done some decorating work and helped an uncle with some DIY jobs. He felt he could turn his hand to any practical tasks that were asked of him. He seemed a kind hearted lad, not a leader but genuine in his attitude to the unknown. He told me he had just filled in an application to join the police force and he asked what he should do in the event that he was offered an interview. I said he should take the interview if it was offered but the option to come to the island would still be open to him. It was for him to decide. But it might be possible for me to offer him some preliminary work prior to our departure if he was interested. His eyes seemed to light up at the thought of some immediate employment. I said that he should let me know within the week whether he was likely to be interested.
The next person to arrange to see me was an attractive young girl named Lynda who had long, blond hair that she kept brushing across her forehead to keep it away from her eyes. She immediately came over as a strong, extrovert character. In reply to my usual questions about her previous employment, I learned that she was a model. She admitted to posing topless once for page 3 of the Sun but said she would not do it again. She was single, 21 and looking for new challenges. I took her through the general requirements and skills that would encourage me to take people to the island and said that posing topless or modelling had just not been at the head of my list of necessary accomplishments. We laughed and I asked if she could offer any other skills.
She thought for a while and then smiling, replied: “Well, I did milk a cow once, and I kept rabbits and a goldfish as a young girl.”
“Great.” I said wondering if this interview was heading for the rocks. “We will certainly have at least one cow on the island. You could be a dairy maid or even help the fisherman!” Having noticed her well-manicured fingernails and the care she had obviously taken about her appearance, I said that I could not see her maintaining the same standards of perfection on a wind-swept Scottish island. We both saw the incredulity of our imagined picture of the two extremes. She had an infectious laugh and sought to reassure me that she did have another side to her character.
“At interviews, I always bluster into getting the topless thing out of the way first, if I don’t it’s sure to crop up later to my disadvantage in some way or another. As far as modelling is concerned, it is not something I’m wedded to for the future. I really do think I have the ability to change my lifestyle. Anyway I have three brothers and my father taught me all the practical things like woodwork and auto engineering too, and I even played football. I am quite fit and I’ve done the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award. I have also been a member of the crew for an Atlantic crossing and I am just about to gain my black belt in Karate. I suppose I’m a bit of a tomboy really.”
“Well that might just balance the scales” — I said, now being quite impressed. After further discussion about her family situation and her attitude to the more primitive existence on the island, I thought she would adapt well to the change.
She asked several questions about the location of the island, how many people were expected to live there and what tasks would have to be undertaken and by whom. I told her as much as I could, adding that I was still at an early stage of interviewing people. She thanked me and said she would feel privileged to come if she were invited.
Although I had several interviews that did not lead anywhere, things were now moving along at a faster pace and within days there were at least half a dozen enquiries pending, including some from people unable to get to my house in Kent for a while, but I was encouraged because each person that I had so far interviewed met with my approval. I was confident about my ability to judge character correctly but wondered if I should become more circumspect. Then, one evening, I received a visit that set me thinking in a direction that I had not up to that time considered.
Giles arrived in an expensive chauffeur driven car. He was a big, round faced, confident, well-groomed and well-dressed executive type of person with a slightly sallow complexion, which suggested he was not a man for the outdoor life. He had a quick-fire method of speaking that implied that he was used to giving orders rather than taking them. My first impression was that he must be living with constant nervous tension and responsibilities, which marked him as a prime candidate for stress, related problems.
“I’ll come straight to the point” — he said. “I understand that you have bought this island and you want to make it work as a fully fledged island economy. I would like to be part of that venture.”
“You mentioned a proposition on the phone.”
“Yes. Something... as I said, that I feel you can’t refuse.”
“I’m intrigued. What is it?”
“Money. Money to the tune of a million pounds.”
I was completely taken aback. Now I should keep calm or I would become stressed. There must be a catch, I thought.
“That’s a huge sum of money to offer. I don’t want to appear rude but what’s in it for you?”
“I consider myself to be an entrepreneur. I’ve done a bit of homework on this scheme and I think it could work and be a good investment. I believe that you have some good ideas but I also think you may not have thought the scheme through thoroughly or correctly. Without a heavy cash input as part of the investment at the outset of the project, it is doomed to wallow in the doldrums soon after it starts and suffer a prolonged decay over the early years. With my investment I would hope that the island economy would get off to a much more healthy start without financial worries. These otherwise inherent worries would be relieved and in the longer term it should prosper and we would both reap the rewards.”
His remarks hit me like a kick in the stomach. There was no doubt that I had concerns about the lack of cash in the early stages but in my enthusiasm I had not confronted those thoughts head-on. But that was not the only problem. In my now apparent naivety, I had thought we could get by without a huge additional investment to start. In fact I had even considered that maybe we would not need to exchange money on the island. I collected my thoughts and tried to express a suitable reply.
“You are right, but only up to a point. I have given myself some guiding principals that I believe are essential to the successful outcome of this venture. It is not only dependent upon money even though you may think it is. One important aspect to me is that everyone contributes to the economy of the island to the best of his or her ability. That contribution is given free and is not reclaimable. I believe that it is best that all members of the island community are full time residents on the island and that their offer of work is carried out during their stay as a part of the whole package. If I read you correctly, you will have several if not many interests elsewhere other than this particular island and that you would hope to, as it were, benefit from afar. It is a fact that other small islands have been blighted in the recent past by absentee landlords who have directly contributed to their own islands demise. To be totally frank with you, in the last few minutes you have opened my eyes wider than they have ever been since I embarked upon this island project and for that, I thank you wholeheartedly. However, I could not accept your generous offer unless it was a totally unconditional gift to the island economy and that you became a member of the island community. It may interest you to know that I intend the island to be run democratically with a freely elected council of six members all taken from the island community. If I accepted your offer and you agreed to live on the island it is possible that you could be elected to that council and have a direct input to the way in which money is used, but of course I cannot guarantee that. You see, I want a total commitment to the island from each person, certainly during the first year, whether his actual effort is by way of labour or finance. I intend to devise an arrangement whereby a certain proportion of the profits from a person’s work will be given to the island economy and the rest will, shall we say, be that persons own to keep on a private enterprise basis. If you could agree to that, I should be delighted to accept your offer. Hoping that I am not going to offend you, I would suggest, guessing at your hectic life style, you could benefit greatly from a period on this unpolluted and beautiful Western Isle where you would not always be confined to aeroplanes and meetings in smoke-filled rooms, eating and drinking too much fine wine and good food. You would become a healthy man and, dare I say it, your life span would be extended by at least ten years”
He sat for a while, uncharacteristically, I thought, soberly twitching at his moustache; a smile fleetingly passed his lips.
“You create an almost impossible situation for me. I cannot conceive that I could give up my present life style and interests. I am tempted to say that you would be an idiot if you did not snap up my offer but I do have a sneaking regard for your ideals. I will think about it and be in touch shortly. But you, yourself, should also think long and hard again about the repercussions for your potential extended island family and the responsibilities that you would bear if all that you hold dear goes down the pan. You are about to become famous as the person that gave up the offer of a million pounds for that simple ideal of yours. Do you think you can live with that refusal into the future?”
With that he rose. The discussion over, we parted with a quick shake of hands, and I was indeed left with my thoughts.
Just two weeks after returning home from my first visit to the island and I received a letter from Scotland. It read:
To Mr. Henderson,
We have the information that our island may be returned to us by the Lord himself. If it is in your wisdom to allow us to return to our home we will help with the dailies as best we can. So help us God.
Yours truly
Jock and Morag McInch.
How could I resist such a request? I carried out a little research before I replied to their letter, learning that Jock and Morag were husband and wife, they were both 55 years old and as the letter suggested they had lived on Enniskerry for the whole of their lives. I did not enquire after their health, as it seemed to me that to have two of the original inhabitants back on the island was a prize that must be accepted without question. It did not need me to interview such a couple although I resolved to call and meet them when I next visited Scotland.
I did call and see Jock and his wife Morag. They lived in a simple council property, clean but with few obvious possessions of their own. They both greeted me almost as a long-lost saviour and a kindness that expressed itself as being rooted in a god-fearing belief in the almighty. Jock had a long grey beard and did not seem to get around very easily. I felt he looked almost twenty years older than his actual age. Morag, a kindly grey haired, petite and softly spoken woman offered me a cup of tea and together they told me about life on the island. As they spoke I felt humbled.
“It was hard for everybody you know — the cold weather, the lack of any variety in the food, the dampness and of course the reducing number of our friends. But you know in many ways it is worse now, as we have no resistance to all the ills of the mainland. People here have been good to us but we think we would be better back on the island. We have always had the faith that God will choose our path for us. Are you really going to invite us back?”
“Yes, you are invited back. We will all benefit by your presence and I hope to see you there early next spring if not before.”
Angus had phoned saying that he was a fisherman who lived on the west coast of Scotland near to Enniskerry and was therefore familiar with the waters around the island. He too was interested in becoming a resident, so after I left Jock and Morag I made my way to the sea front where I was confronted with a tall weather-beaten fisherman of about 40 years of age. I felt reliability and confidence exude from him immediately we shook hands.
“Well Angus, I gave you an idea on the phone of what I was up to, why do you want to do this?” He replied in a deep voice showing straight away that his mind was made up. He had rightly assumed that his services would be needed and there was never a question or uncertainty about anything I could raise. He had decided what he wanted, and that was that.
“Fishing is not what it was — he continued — what with quotas, rules, regulations and most of our fish being caught by foreigners. I was looking for something different, but I love the sea and these western isles and the thought that my efforts could still benefit people nearer home appealed to me. By the way, I’m bringing that fishing boat over there with me, pointing to one in the harbour, I own it. Come aboard and have a wee dram.”
I went aboard and we drank and talked well into the night. He told me about his youth, his love of the sea, his feelings for the islands and their inhabitants. Slowly, I gained an insight into an islanders’ mind and it was most rewarding. He did not need to ask many questions, he knew the island better than I did and he had the broad plan of what I wanted to do. To be frank, that was about as much as I had.
Bespectacled, dark-haired Belinda, came to see me wearing a frown and looking rather nervous. In answer to my opening question she replied.
“To be honest, I’m not sure why I’m here. I’m at a stage of my life where I have to decide what to do next. I’ve completed my course of study at the Royal School of Music and although I am happy with my chosen profession to date, I feel I should branch out and see and do something completely different for a while. I’ve not experienced much of the outdoor life, but I hope I could fit in with whatever I have to do. I know I’m not selling myself at this interview but, I don’t want to mislead you or be mislead myself.”
I warmed to the way the girl was expressing herself.
“First, I am pleased that you do not, as you say, ‘sell yourself’. I’d like you to think that you are talking with me as a friend. This is not an interview. Look at it as a chat between us to enable us both to come to the best end result. She nodded in agreement.”
“Life on the island could be hard and I can’t tell you whether it’s the right choice for you or not. What I can tell you is that your musical skills will be invaluable to us. It’s my hope that the school will have a music teacher, and you could I am sure easily fill that position. It is probable that a regular ceilidh will be held for the community. But I haven’t asked you which instrument you play?”
“Oh, it’s the cello, but I am familiar with most string instruments.”
“Tell me — I asked — about your family and friends. Will you not miss them?”
“My father has always had to be away from home, at sea for long periods, but I will miss my mother a lot and she will miss me. We talked over your advertisement for hours and hours. She was all the time encouraging me to phone you. I think in her heart she would like me to stay nearer to her. As far as friends go, I suppose I’m a bit of a loner. I’ve had to spend most of my free time practising. But that is part of the reason I responded to your advert I don’t want to stay in this groove.”
I showed her some photographs of the island being careful to point out the misty as well as the sunlit ones. She looked at each one very carefully soaking up all that I had to say.
“It looks beautiful. I’ve never been to Scotland but it looks a bit like Canada where I once spent a week on a concert tour.”
“I’d like to try and convince you to come — I said — but I also need to express that I think it will be quite unlike anything you have experienced before. The good news is that we will all be learning together, it will be like a new family situation for us all.”
As she left she was smiling as if a load had been removed from her shoulders. I hope she does decide to come.
It occurred to me that I have interviewed mostly single people so far. Perhaps the married couples have more responsibilities and more things to talk over with each other before they can show interest.
It was against all my expectations when Charles phoned saying that he was a veterinary surgeon. Knowing that we would put great store into the care of our animals I had predicted that lack of veterinary care on the island would be a significant cost factor against us. Charles was aged 55, divorced and recently retired, and he had experience with farm as well as domestic animals. His reasons for wishing to live on the island were not easy to extract from him. He was experiencing the first weeks of retirement and looking for an activity. He had visited the Western Isles for a holiday many years ago but most of his life had been spent in London and the Home Counties.
As the responses appear to be tailing off, I realised I must re-advertise in other national newspapers including the middle-class broadsheets as well as the more popular daily papers. So far I felt pleased with the results, and have decided to arrange a general meeting with those who had so far shown interest in joining me on the island.
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