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When we started the Lighthouse Bulletin, the most problematic issue in keeping these building in good condition and serving a purpose that made their occupants/owners sufficient funds to keep the fabric of the structure is good order was… the lack of fax machine connectivity! That was back in 1984!
Now, 40 years later in 2024, modern technology such as broadband enables many people (including 86% of our 111 souls at this end of the keyboard) to work “remotely” from their home-office. This is the view from one of our offices where this Lighthouse bulletin is produced…
Why? & How?
Lighthouse Preservation:
Restoration of Iconic Buildings To Decent Homes
First we mention a couple of examples of the “Why?” It should be self-evident when you look at the privately owned lighthouse ruins that sit behind the well maintained, Northern Lighthouse Board owned lighthouse tower building on Ailsa Craig Island “why” it is desirable to form a registered charity that can rescue the abandoned part of the Ailsa Craig Lighthouse Station…
Photograph With Thanks To Our Good Friend Jim Phanco.
Russ McLean will be forever indebted to Jim Phanco, as it was Jim who filmed the TS Queen Mary being brought safely home by the Friends of TS Queen Mary charity: Click Here
When we started the Lighthouse Bulletin, the most problematic issue to keep these building in good condition and serving a purpose that made their occupants/owners sufficient funds to keep the fabric of the structure is good order was… the lack of fax machine connectivity! That was back in 1984!
Right now in 2024 thanks to the wonders of broadband and the internet make it possible to work at the day-job and also volunteer in helping other lighthouse folk (better others learn by my falling flat on my face than having to suffer the pain themselves). That .
So, after many years of volunteering and also a personal preference for living life at a lighthouse station, here is the likely final destination and from where there words are being typed. Sublime and bliss.
Why Live Here?
Better to ask: Why would you not want to live and work from here?
^^ Tod Head Lighthouse Station ^^
Photo Shared From Russ McLean's Collection.
Before this location at Tod head lighthouse Station, the Noss Head Lighthouse Station was the centre of our wee world and again, here is the very keyboard and computer, the words from whence, you are reading now…
^^ Noss Head Lighthouse Station ^^
Photo Shared From Russ McLean's Collection.
Working Remotely Via Broadband Has Become
So Popular, There Is A Term For It…
“Digital Nomads”
The crew that volunteer to assist with the Lighthouse Bulletin and the well established Unique Property Bulletin (click here) and here) have a plan in lace as a hybrid for the “nomadic” part. One where there are “two summers and no winters”…
^^ This Project Is Featured On Our ^^
Unique Property Website
Well worth noting, our purpose tapping away on the keyboards at this end is wherever possible, to provide (free) help to our fellow lighthouse-building-dwellers. By that last (awkward) turn of phrase we mean the majority of lighthouse dwellings are former lighthouse keepers’ homes. There are lighthouse towers for sale once they get decommissioned The Tod Head Lighthouse Tower pictured above is one such (rare) example).
We conclude this brief “Why?” segment relating to lighthouse living, with a “before” and “after” photograph illustrating a small portion of the 18-month £183,000 renovation works up at Noss Head Lighthouse Station (overlooking the Orcadian islands)…
for the e actually have a plan inin 2024, modern technology such as broadband enables many people (including 86% of our 111 souls at this end of the keyboard) to work “remotely” from their home-office. This is the view from one of our offices where this Lighthouse bulletin is produced…
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The
. The horrendous Coronavirus pandemic
Full Discosure: We used to own the Ailsa craig Lighthouse Station (click here) irst we mention a couple of examples of the “Why?”
This Excerpt: Ordnance Survey Licence: 100052015
& HMSO (c) Crown Copyright 2024: C2010002126. All Rights Reserved.
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The
Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015
The following excerpts of materially important Land Reform law are provided to assist our Lighthouse Bulletin readers and help in restoring dilapidated lighthouse buildings.
Or where access to lighthouse land is subject to “Right-To-Roam” legislation, BUT the landowner controversially “chills” the law and/or “obstruct” the spirit of that legislation.
For example, where an island owner BANS the local community from using the island pier. Our efforts will be to try and reach a position of mutual respect and understanding with the owner of Sanda island in solving what has become a local community controversy. But..
Safety First
The waters around Sanda Island are notoriously dangerous. The current owner, Mr Michi Meier telephoned us many years ago for advice and we made best efforts to assist him. The point being we found him to be very polite and thoughtful. So it is with incredulity that we read a report from our friend Moira Kerr and as such a journalist whom we hold in high regard, that Mr Meier had CLOSED the SAFE HARBOUR facility of the PIER at Sanda Island (this paragraph has been checked by one of our volunteers as he is a former harbourmaster, so there are supporting credentials if required).
EXCERPT
Source: Click Here
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Is It Safe?
To: “land on sandy beaches, that is no problem”?
When our harbourmaster read the report in the Scotsman newspaper, he was shocked. His rejoinder was…
“How can the owner of a building named after a ship from which 54 lives were saved , consider it “safe” to recommend people exercise their lawful right of access by landing dangerously small boats on his “sandy beaches” when a 10,500 Liberty Ship of the same name (here) was wrecked on Sanda Island?
He added…
“The RNLI are not in the habit of giving out medals without exceptional bravery and skill at sea, but Duncan Newlands and a very courageous Campbeltown Lifeboat crew worked well that night (RNLI Report: Here).
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)
The American Steamer Byron Darnton, of Baltimore | RNLI
and where 54 The waters around Sanda .
and suggesting that community members (including those with spinal disabilities) try and partake in hard earnt legislative access such as the land Reform (Scotland) act 2003, when the landowners suggest “landing on a beach”. Specifically wher e the “beach” is part of land where the local RNLI have been presented with rare bravey awards fromthe RNLI for saving the life of the previous owne r of SandaIsland (and he has a much more substantial boat and access to the proper PIER at Sand Island.
awarded rare bravery award ,
Source: Click Here
by sharing legal advice obtained by Unique Property Bulletin Ltd., subsidiary: “The Lighthouse Bulletin.”
Important: The original Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 (as amended) and in particular the Land Reform Bill 2024 (which has cross-part support to become law) are a particularly well written triumvirate of legislation.
The 2024 Land Reform Bill Has Cross-Party Support Meaning It Will Likely Become Law: Click Here.
Helpful Law: The Land Reform legislation is particularly helpful in respect of harmonising with the aim of our new charity. That being to help owners and tenants to renovate and maintain lighthouse buildings in as good a condition as is feasible and wherever possible in the high-specification order to which each lighthouse station was maintained when the original resident lighthouse keepers’ were onsite. In all cases, to ensure maintenance and condition were (and now “will be”) of the high standard expected of a well disciplined and dedicated life-saving lighthouse service.
Please Note: during 2024, “The Lighthouse Bulletin” is being donated to the new charity and Community Interest Company being formed and registered by Russ McLean and colleagues. The working title of the new charity is:-
“The National Lighthouse Preservation Trust.”
Herewith the relevant “Right To Buy” amendments within the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015. This 2015 legislation directly amends the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003…
Official Source: Click Here
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Important Post-Legislative Statute
The purpose of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) act 2015 is to further enhance the original:-
Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 ~ Click Here
Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 ~ Click Here
Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 ~ Click Here
Land Reform Consequential Amendments ~ Click Here
It should be noted that the current…
Land Reform Bill 2024 ~ Click Here and Here
…will very likely receive Royal Assent and become law as the new, further enhanced powers within the 2024 legislation have cross-party support as narrated by Mr Andy Wightman: Click Here.
Mr Wightman (biographical summary: here) is a recognised academic in Land Reform Matters.
Mr Wightman has brought about meaningful and constructive change in Land Reform before, during and after his term as an MSP. The cross~party support element is one that we have found refreshing about the Holyrood Parliament. This goes back to when we sought to petition the Scottish and Westminster Parliaments in relation to another matter that was aimed at benefitting the local community in Kintyre and Argyll. We add this link as it corroborates the bona fies of our volunteers at the Lighthouse Bulleti in both creating and managing registered charities (for example her), and on separate matters of crating local jobs and helping improve the local community economy…
Click Here
There is a little irony in that when the Scottish paliament did listen to the earlier petition, we ended up with a community enabled ferry passing by our former home on Davaar Island and Aisla Craig Island, along with the route betwwhich served Argyll and Antrim, with the ftourist ferry passing by Sana Island as well!
Consequently, it may take time, patiece and a lot of work, but from direct experience we have found that both parliaments do listen and when a constructive dialogue ensues, it is a pleasant surprise to discover that good outcomes can result.
In our instance, prior to becoming a charity, that has taken the form of restoring 28 lighthouse buildings across a 40 year timespan.
The aim after the charity gathers momentum, is to ensure that many more lighthouse buildings avoid this fate…
Or at least are brought back from the risk of demolition. The new Land Reform (Scotland) Bill 2024 WILL ensure that Community Interest Companies can seek to intervene in such cases and ensure that ruination is NOT an inevitable result.
Hence we here at the Lighthouse Bulletin (soon to become the national Lighthouse Preservation Trust) commend the legislation to which this page refers.
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