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WW100 Islay- Remembering the Tragedies of WW1

On may the 4th Islay came together to remember all the people that died in WW1 in the sinking of the Tuscania and the Otranto and to save us and make life better for the future people. Everyone went to the pier by the Islay hotel in Port Ellen and there was lots of solders with guns, there were bands too. Later on Princess Anne came in a black car with a lot of security. I didn’t really see Princess Anne I just saw her get out the car then walk towards the memorial. All the schools on Islay got together to hold the flags of the states of America, which had been made by the Islay Quilters and lots of people in the community as well as the schools; Port Ellen P67 made Michegan. We stood on a sidewalk and held out our flags. We were greeted by MP’s and navy officers and we also got to meet the American ambassador and his wife. I think that it was a fun day and it was an honer to be there because we were representing all the different states America by holding the flags which we had made.

By Ciaran and Charlie

 

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Port Ellen Primary School Band

On Thursday 3rd of May Fiona Hyslop came in. The PortEllen band and two people from Bowmore played their instruments in front of Fiona Hyslop, they played Mary had a Little Lamb and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Fiona Hyslop is an MSP and the minister of culture. ‘I enjoyed it because it was a one time thing only and it was really fun,’ says Donald  from primary six and he is in the band. The band consisted of Holly, Donald, Charlie, Dearbhla, Charlet, Millie, Liam and Emily. The band was in practising at breaks for Fiona Hyslop and were exited to play in front of her.

By Holly and Donald

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Port Ellen Egg Science!

This week the whole of Port Ellen Primary school have been testing Newtons 3 laws of motion with eggs!

The rules work as you have to protect your egg from breaking using resources provided, you have to make 2 things to hold your egg but 1 has to have a parachute and 1 doesn’t and there is prizes for the lightest, the egg that is least damaged and the one that looked the nicest.

We dropped the eggs from a height (The top of our stairs.) Then it will go at a high speed then splat on the floor. This is Newtons first law, The law of Inertia a object (The egg) will stay in motion still unless it is acted upon, the act is the floor the thing thats going to stop the egg so the egg falls down then hits the ground.

Newtons second law F=MA which stands for force= mass acceleration, This one was the most important this was to slow down your craft before hitting the ground using… Parachutes! For the parachutes there is only a few things 1. the bigger the better, 2. don’t make it to big it gets stuck on the stairs and 3. make it out of something light not like card so we used bin bags!

Newtons 3rd law for every action there is a opposite reaction. The egg is falling then it hits the ground the action the reaction the egg goes splat.

The eggs experiment was a great way to test Newtons laws of motion. It wasn’t just a way of testing Newtons laws but every body loved creating there own special device to keep the egg safe it was like a baby and you can’t drop the baby unless you are 5 metres high and it has a parachute.

 

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Easter Egg Competition

Yesterday we had a Easter egg competition there were lots of excellent ideas. It takes a lot of time and effort to make a good egg for the competition. The Easter egg competition is when you make an egg into something and then you bring it to school and the judge will judge it and then after a while you will find out who won from the Nursery up to primary 7. The winners were:

Nursery: Erin

P1: Jacob

P2: chloe

P3: katie

P4: Christopher

P5: Evie

P6: Donald

P7: Taylor

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P6 Engineering At The High School

On the 14th March the Primary 6’s from all over the island came to the high school for an engineering day. The P7s also came. Everyone got put into groups of three by Mrs Harrison. The first one was about a roller coaster, you had to make a marble get into a cup with some type of dip or loop. Most people were successful but some weren’t. The second challenge was to put your table at an angle using bricks. You had to try and make youre marble take ten seconds to go down a table. Some people added zig zags and peices of paper to try and slow down the marble. Overall the day was good and I would go back.

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P7 Science Trip To I.H.S

On Wednesday 14th March P6/7 went to I.H.S. P6 did engineering and P7 did science. All of the primary schools from all around the island came. We did this because it would give us a chance to see what the classes are like in the high school, meet new friends from different schools and do science. The P7’s got split up into 3 groups and first of all my group was with Mrs McNaughton. When we were there we got a paper boat and filled it with boiling water and put it in a paper boat a checked the temperature. Then we got clay shapes and checked which shape would go to the bottom of the glue first and we found out that the sphere went down the fastest. The next class we went to was Mr Kitching’s class and there we were looking at crystals through a microscope. After that we went to Mrs Moran’s class and there we were doing experiments and saying whether the things we were doing were exothermic or endothermic. Overall I think that the day was fantastic and I would definitely go again.

By Rebecca Morris

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WW1 Letters

This term we have been learning about WW1. We have been looking at the sinking of the Tuscania and the Otranto, how the war has changed Islay and we have been looking at life in the trenches. We have also been researching our own person from the trenches in the war. I am reaserching someone called Walter Whyte. He was a Lance corporal and his regiment was the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Part of our learning we were hoping to write a letter back to the family of the person you were researching. I found out lots of very sad and interesting facts about Walter Whyte. I found out that when Walter was still in school his older brother went to war and then Walter’s brother Colin went to put on the light of the lighthouse with his dad on a windy night and Colin fell into the water and his dad went in to catch him and they both drowned that night. It was very sad and a few months erlier Walter’s older brother Doughald died in the war. His other older brother went to war and was allowed to go home as their mum was struggling. Then later on Walter died in the war. One of the weird facts is that when Walter was alive he was injured by a grenade when it hit his nose. The whole of our class wrote a letter to the families of their people and this is my letter to Walter’s family.

Dear Mother,
I am having a spiffing time here, making some new friends and I only got injured a few times. I miss all the family very much. Well, I hope that soon enough the war will be over and I will be able to come how to see you all and in one piece. So how is the weather has it changed much from when I left. What I miss most is waking up every morning to see your warm, loving and caring smile, the lovely landscapes of Islay and exploring the island. I hope everything is spiffily good over there and everything is going very well. Have you found anyone else to go over to the lighthouse? I am extremely sorry I did not make it to the funeral I tried to explain but the Sargent wouldn’t let me go. I hope that you are managing ok with all the others at home and I will be as careful as I can because I know you don’t want another one of us to die.
Over here although in the trenches it is mucky, cold and full of lice and rats. Waking up every morning with rats crawling all over me and over everyone else. Itching and wriggling as the lice pinch and suck my blood. It is always a nuisance lice sucking my blood and the only way we can get rid of them is if we get the end of our cigarettes and burn them. I can’t even get started with the trenches. Water up to our ankles and mud suffocating our legs as we squelch through the trenches. Slowly making our way through sludge. When it comes to night there is not even one bed to sleep in. Most of us has to sleep on the floor and over here we have to look after our self. The worst thing is that the kilts we wear attract lice. I wish so much that I was home with you and the rest of the family. The ground is mostly muck and dead bodies. The weather over here is sometimes ok but most of the time the breeze is blowing heavily against my face.
Right now I am in the battle of the Somme in France. Every two seconds BANG! Another shell comes down failing to hit us another time. The guns firing and hitting our trench. Every time another man falling, dying and in deep pain. I am scared Mother I really want to come home. Even my friends can’t help some of them have died during the battle and some in the hospital beds. Sometimes it gets silence and just when I think that it stops another fire comes our way but that time it was different. My first gas attack. I got really scared. The gas came, some of the soldiers falling some chocking and drowning. I made it out alive. Just. I just can’t any more I want to come home mother.
Soon enough I am hoping that I will be home and everything will be back to normal. I hope you are doing very well and I am hoping to see you very soon.
Cheerio
Walter xxx

Here is a piece of art I did based on my learning.

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WW1 Letter And Art

Primary 6/7  have just finished our world war one topic. During this course of time we have learned about the Tuscania, Otranto, ww1 itself and the heroes of our island. Myself personally has been reasearching an Argyll and Sutherland Highlander called Alastair Mackinnon. Alastair had no Brothers, but he had two sister: Margaret and Sheila, and lived in Kildalton house. To be able learn about people of Islay back in 1918 we had to have relevant primary and secondary sources of evidence to combine and make a morally excellent piece of writing. The writing had to be a letter from whoever we were reasearching about to their family and I chose to write to Alastair’s Mother. We also had to combine our knowledge about life in/during war to create a detailed art media to tell the story’s of war life on land, sea, and sky.

This is what my letter looks like;

Somme

France

Mametz

February 7th 1916

 

 

Dear Mother,

Tally Ho, Tally Ho. For a long time I have missed you all very dearly and I would feel very passionate if I could have to opportunity to come back home soon but unfortunately I cannot. At the moment I am currently in the Somme. The weather right now has dawned dry and bright down at us but soon it will be flushing down with rain, filling the trenches and making the mud more hazardous and unsafe. Even worse it could make it easier for people to drown in the mud. Anyways, how was the ploughing match and who won? I can hear the shells Screeching down on us crashing hardly on the ground frantically firing pieces of metal all about.

 

How are my lovely sisters Sheila and Margaret getting on? I know Sheila wants to be a teacher, how is that going? I know for a splint fact that Father is still doing a splendid job as the Minister of kildalton Parish. I know dad visits the school quite often, how are the port Ellen children and Mr Maglocklen doing as I know he was my head teacher? How are Duncan and Jane getting on? My mind always stays positive when I think of you all and our McAlpine neighbours. Its something I will think of till the end of time. I have positive news for you all; the officers have told I that I am a young general favourite in the district of the soldier! Ever since I have been told that I have had my back up right and marched on through the troubles and worries, Proud and Tall. I have also ranked up to a Lieutenant and that I am honoured and blessed gratefully about.

 

I am currently in the trenches whilst writing to you. Despite having lots of nice chaps that I have already known and unexpectedly never met, the trenches are small, cramped and very uncomfortable to sleep in. We are all like old beggars under sacks. Especially without a bed or plumped pillow to lay my head on. I can hear the shells Screeching down on us crashing hardly on the ground frantically firing pieces of metal all about. Every time I open my eyes in the morning I feel tearful, abandoned, astounded, welling, disappointed, devastated, and heart broken because I am not with my loving family that misses me greatly. Perished I am, men scurrying one after another some blind, some deaf all because of gas. Foggy and thick gas smothering all over their faces, makes me think death.

 

As I have said before I am hoping I can leave the revolting war shortly and be able to come back to Islay. The Smokey breeze of the explosions sends me back warm and loving memories. Especially I want to be able to be here in the spring helping with the cow milking that I have missed out on. I love you all very dearly and I hope you are having a spiffing time. I must get heading, bye for now. Sending you all my warmth love. Pip Pip cheerio

 

Alastair MacKinnon xxx

Lieutenant soldier

This is what my Art Media looks like:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Engineering Art

Today on Friday 9th March Port Ellen Primary School had Elaine Johnston come and help the whole school create art. Primary 6/7 did an engineering abstract picture where we drew things that related to engineering like screws, cables and cogs. We used the art Eduardo Paolozzi as an inspiration for our work.  We then had to paint them in only black, white and yellow we were allowed to mix the colours together. Once the paint had dried we outlined the picture in black and used metallic pens to add effect and texture to our pictures. It was a lot of fun and we would like to say thank you to her for helping us.  The pictures will be on display for our year of engineering.

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Clay Models

Yesterday on Tuesday 27th February, three Ladies from the Islay art group came in and talked to us about the Tuscania, the Otranto  and how it is 100 years since the war ended. They showed us how to use clay and mold it into shapes. We all had to make clay figures to remember all of the beloved soldiers that died fighting to protect our country. All of the schools on Islay and Jura have been asked to make these clay models, we are hoping to Make 1010 because that’s how many soldiers we lost from Islay and Jura and on the Tuscania and the Otranto. Some of the men drowned, some of them were really badly damadged and some of them survived the war but died from bad wounds when they came back. We are making the Clay models in this way because a guy called Antony Gormley made these amazing clay models. All the clay models will be presented in the Ramsey hall on May the 4th were another rememberance will be held.

by Sophie Macdonald

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