Listen to the This Is Islay podcast

Some new media from Islay to write about. Back in August the This is Islay podcast was launched. Its goal is to bring you voices from Islay, news and events with interviews from the community. It is intended for both locals and listeners further afield to give an insight into what is happening on Islay and how the community experienced events. The intention is to complement other news sources (e.g. The Ileach), not to compete with them.

As of writing this two episodes have been published, Welcome to This Is Islay Fàilte a chàirdean and Islay Resilience and A Trip To India. The below embedded player should list and allow you to play the most recent episodes (as of writing this the two mentioned ones):

My Early Days on Islay – Margaret Storrie – This Is Islay

This is the second of two episodes based on a conversation with Dr Margaret Storrie recorded in October 2025. In this episode, Margaret reveals how she first discovered Islay as a student, and recalls the path which led her via London back to Islay, and then to the publishing of her first book "Islay: Biography of an Island" in 1981 – currently available in its third edition. Margaret Storrie is a longtime resident of Port Ellen.FeaturingGuest: Margaret StorrieHost: Jolyon ThurgoodAcknowledgementsMany thanks to Margaret."Islay: Biography of an Island" is available from ⁠The Celtic House⁠ in Bowmore, and other good booksellers.Music :  Kaazoom Pixabay 447800Production Team: Gordon Bermingham and Jolyon Thurgood 

1. My Early Days on Islay – Margaret Storrie 18:23
2. "Lady Charlotte Bury" by Margaret Storrie 32:58
3. Pickups For Peace – Beth Newman 38:23
4. Port Ellen Primary School: Neurodiversity 19:32
5. Catriona Bell – Life on Islay 2 30:02

I hope you’ll enjoy the podcasts as much as I did and will subscribe to them (I’m using Google Podcasts, which works really well for me, but various other services including Spotify are available). With the latest developments around Covid-19 I found the information about the Islay Resilience Group very interesting and how it will help with possible future developments. But of course there are plenty of other interesting topics as well.

Author: Armin Grewe

I blog about Islay. View all posts by Armin Grewe