Lochaber Times, From our Files: July 23 2026
TEN YEARS AGO
Thursday July 28 2016
Gemma dedicates years to help Kenya’s abandoned children
South Uist woman Gemma Steele has worked tirelessly since 2009 to provide a much-needed place of safety and education for orphaned and abandoned children in Kenya.
She is the founder and director of registered charity St Jerome’s Centre in Nakuru.
After finishing school, Gemma decided to take a year out and travel. "I wanted to see different parts of the world, see how different cultures deal with life," she said.
She volunteered at a children’s home in Nakuru, Kenya, and worked in a school there.
When the rent for the children’s home was raised, the owner asked Gemma to pay the increased rate for them. As a 17-year-old, just finished high school, she wasn’t financially able to do this and the children she had worked with for six months had to be abandoned by the homeowner.
"I couldn’t have that on my conscience," said Gemma, who returned to Scotland and started fundraising to buy a plot of land on which she hoped a new home could be built.
Word spread around her community and further afield and Gemma was offered a plot at the back of a school to build a new centre on if she agreed to build a nursery there as well. This meant the money she had raised could go straight to building the centre.
St Jerome’s was opened in January 2012, providing a home to eight children at first. There was an attack on St Jerome’s in 2014 when Gemma was threatened by a gang with machetes who were trying to take over the centre.
"I naively didn’t realise the difficulties with building on land that I didn’t own. There was bribery over electricity and water which led to blackmail and the gang trying to get us out.
"They wanted to take over the building for their own use. It backfired on them though because it only made me more determined to fulfil my promise I’d made to the kids to help them."
Fortunately, news of the attack only served to increase the support the centre received. "It was one of the best things that could possibly happen," said Gemma. "We managed to buy a one-acre plot and started from scratch again. "It was difficult but necessary to get the kids into a less violent community."
There are 33 children currently being looked after at the centre and a team of nine staff members. There are outreach programmes as well as nursery education, adult and special needs education and rehab programmes run from the centre.
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO
Thursday July 26 2001
Dancers raise spirits at Broadford
Lee Morgan and her South Skye country line dancers did a marvellous job of raising spirits during a downpour on Saturday at Broadford Gala.
Kay Simpson, Becky Smith, Liz Bushnell, Evelyn Taylor, Deborah Daly, Irene Keegan and Lynne Adamson danced alongside her for some good old western tunes which had everyone tapping their feet in the gala marquee.
Outdoor events were at the mercy of the weather but the rain held off for long spells to allow most of them to go ahead.
The gala weekend got off to a cracking start with a children’s disco and adults’ dance on Friday night.
A raft race provided lots of enjoyment for competitors and spectators on Saturday morning. Gala Queen Sarah MacInnes, aged 14, led a parade of floats to the village sports’ field for a host of activities in the afternoon.
Five-a-side football, cycling stunts, stalls, heavy horse tours and other attractions all helped Broadford 2000’s project to raise money for a new community hall.
A ceilidh in the marquee rounded off a successful but wet weekend.
FIFTY YEARS AGO
Thursday July 22 1976
Smiling Prince launches Kishorn rig
Prince Charles received an oil-fired welcome when he flew into the Loch Kishorn platform site on Wednesday.
On the dry dock and from the platform itself workers whistled and cheered their approval.
The Prince reciprocated by spending much more time than scheduled touring the site and speaking to spectators, including several school parties.
On his arrival by helicopter he was met by Captain A.F. Matheson, Lord Lieutenant of Ross and Cromarty, who presented the regional council chairman, chief executive, and the chief constable of the Northern Constabulary.
Sir John Howard, chairman of the Howard-Doris Consortium, and construction manager David Findlay respectively presented senior oil officials and site personnel including shop stewards.
Welcoming the Royal visitor, Sir John said the structure, weighing 150,000 tons, would, when completed, be the largest floating object ever built by man. He extended to the Prince a welcome not only on behalf of the complete workforce but on behalf of guests watching the ceremony by close circuit TV in the Hilton Hotel, London.
The Prince congratulated Howard-Doris on the remarkable and commendable effort in completing the giant gravity structure on schedule.
The platform, which would become Ninian Central in the North Sea, was an example of outstanding engineering.
He made a plea for conservation when he said that in the past, exploitation of any resource had seemed to sacrifice so much in the interests of speed and economy that there was a danger of occasionally forgetting the wider implications of energetic expansion and a tendency to repeat the mistakes of earlier generations.
Continued the Prince: "I am thinking of Wales and the exploitation of coal. One day, if all this is no longer required, I pray that the country here will be treated with the reverence it deserves - in a way that was tragically lacking in Wales."
The Oban Times takes to the air: The Oban Times used an aircraft for the first time in its history to bring home the news.
Mr T. A. McGowran, joint group managing director, flew in a Cessna 172 with friend Ian Hamilton of Connel Aeroplane Services to collect staff pictures of Prince Charles’s visit to the Kishorn oil platform yard.
Our photographers’ films were taken by helicopter to Broadford airstrip on Skye, where the private plane was waiting to rush them back to Connel.
The plane accomplished in 35 minutes what a car could not have done in under four hours.
Within 15 minutes of arriving at Connel the films were being processed in "The Oban Times" darkroom into the pictures which appear in our special souvenir page.
Last night the Cessna was again flying north, this time to Plockton, to make the paper available early in Wester Ross.
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO
Saturday July 24 1926
Tropical heat in St. Kilda
Mr I. M. Moffatt-Pender, the Gaelic author, has just returned to Tarbert, Harris, in his yacht Am Maol Rundh, from a visit to St. Kilda.
The journey from Castlebay was undertaken on a recent Wednesday. It was a day of brilliant sunshine and intense heat, and so windless that the sails of the yacht hung limp the whole way.
The people of St. Kilda informed the visitors that they have never experienced such brilliant weather.
The islanders say that to sit out in the evening is dangerous, as the dew gives them throat trouble. The inhabitants are recovering from the influenza epidemic of the early summer, which took away four of their number.
On Thursday, the visitors were escorted by the entire male population of the Island to the cliffs above Tobar Beul nan Geodha.
Here Tormod Mac Fhionghain and Fionnlagh Gille Iosa organised parties to descend the cliffs to show how the fulmar and the puffin are caught.
As this is not the season for catching the birds, they were released from the rod noose as soon as they were brought up to the top of the cliff. It was a wonderful sight to see the released birds re gaining their flight.
Ballachulish news
Through the kindness of Miss Grant, the Girl Guides and Brownies were entertained last week to a picnic at Glencoe.
The large party were conveyed in charabancs kindly provided by Dr. Grant. The picnic was followed by games, etc., which were greatly enjoyed. The young people and their officers and friends are greatly indebted to the donors for their kindness.
Mr. Alex. MacGregor and party gave a concert here on Tuesday evening last in the Town Hall, which was largely attended.
Ballachulish and district presents an animated appearance owing to the presence of large numbers of visitors from Glasgow and other centres. Full advantage is being taken for outdoor recreation in the ideal weather prevailing.
Trains as a rule have been late in arriving owing to the holidays and other causes.
A dance will be held in the Town Hall this week under the auspices of the Ballachulish Gaelic Choir.
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