Day: January 14, 2013

On Islay there are 8 working distilleries and 1 non working distillery in total.  The distilleries are called Lagavulin, Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Coal Ila, Bunnabhain, Kilchoman.  Islay is the best island known for producing its whiskey. Islay distilleries produce lots of bottles a year and thousands of liters.  Mundells deliver the barley to all the Distilleries except for Laphroaig who make their own like only 6 other distilleries in Scotland.  Every year the distilleries hold an open day to represent their new bottle of whiskey and Ardbeg have there own theme.  They all have it towards the end of Spring.

MRS CLARK ADDS: I think Bruichladdich may grow their own barley as well.

On Islay there is lots of different festivals like Halloween and new year. There is a famous poet called Robert Burns and we celebrate his life every year by saying poems that he wrote.  We also eat haggis to celebrate as well. Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish that is made up of sheep brains and sheep intestines- it tastes better than it sounds. There is also some more festivals like the Islay show. The Islay show is a festival where lots of farm animals are put into a competition and can win prizes such as money. There is also a big fair, it is for the kids, there is many thing you can do that are fun like going on the bouncy castle and there is a very high rock climbing thing you can go on. Thank you for reading hope you know a bit more about Islay.

by Ewan and Robbie

Islay is a beautiful place to live. I’ll start by talking about the beaches, the beaches on Islay tend to be rocky and seaweed covered, but you can find nice sandy ones. We also have lots of peaty fields and lots of moor land that is very wet. In the center of the Island there are lots of hills. But the Oa has lots of steep clifts and is very boggy and rugged. On Islay we have eight villages, Port Ellen, Bowmore, Port Charlotte, Bruichladdich, Portnahaven, Keills, Ardbeg, Balygrant and Bridgend but only four villages have Schools. We also have 8 distillerees. Islay is known for having some of the best whiskey in Scotland. Islay has lots of cool places to visit as well.

Fishing on Islay is a way for many people to make a living normally they catch crab,lobsters and scallops. Its been around for thousand of years. Everyday people are heading down to the pier to go fishing for a living.  Around about 20 big fishing boats are at our piers on Islay.

Farms on Islay contain animals such as pigs,sheep,cows,highland cows and horses. There are many farms on Islay. Cows eat grass,silage and draff; sheep eat mainly grass. All farmers have sheepdogs to round up their sheep if they’re running wild.

by Liam and Connor

At school we learn a language called Gaelic,we know the colours and phrases like “dearg” is the colour red and “madainn mhath” means good morning we are learning the days of the week and the weather and months and the numbers. “Diluain” is Monday, “Dimaiet” is Tuesday, “Diciadain” is Wednesday, “Diardaoin” is Thusday, “Dihaoine” is Friday, “Disathirne” is Saturday and “Diclo’mhnach” is Sunday. We all enjoy learning Gaelic in school,sometimes it can be tricky pronouncing the words and phrases.

On Islay we like to play football which there is 5 teams they are called Port Ellen, Bowmore, Kilchoman, Islay wanderers, Port Charlotte there used to be two more teams called Laphroaig and Ardbeg. Although football is very popular the Scottish national sport is shinty. We too have a tournament and a after school club. Port Ellen have won the tournament several years in a row. In shinty you are trying to hit the ball into the goals with the shinty stick. Shinty is very similar to ice hockey except it is a small round ball not a puck. Shinty can be a dangerous sport so we wear helmets. We also play rounders which is a sport that is like baseball we like playing sports in our school and we have a sports day we also have a sports club that takes place at 12:00 noon in school.

On Islay people do many types of dancing such as- Highland dancing, Step dancing, Country dancing, Ballet, Hip hop and many more. Highland dancing is when diffrent people dance to the accordion or the bag pipes. Highland dancing is known for junior dancers and also grown-ups. There outfit is a short mini kilt and a silk waist coat worn  under a white blouse with black pumps. Highland dancing is one of Islays most popular and known dancing, country dancing is also very common and known in Islay. They also dance to accordion or bag pipes, they uselly dance with a female and a male together. The diffrent names of the dances are called -The Cananadian Barn dance, Flying scotts man, Gay Gordans and lots of diffrent ones. Islay is quite famous for dancing and everyone really enjoys it.

Sometimes a cinema comes to the island. It is called the Screen Machine.The Screen Machine is a portable cinema that goes round the whole of Scotland. It comes to Islay because we don’t have a proper cinema on the island. It’s a van that has a big screen and loads of seats in it so when you go in it feels like a miniature cinema! When it comes it parks outside the Ramsey Hall in Port Ellen but sometimes it parks in the school playground! That means we get to go in and watch a movie with the rest of the school. On Friday we are going to see Arthur Christmas so we’re all really happy and excited. Right now it’s showing  The Hobbit, Skyfall, Paranorman and Arthur Christmas. I really like  the Screen Machine because it feels really weird sitting in a huge van watching a movie.

By Elinor