BBC ALBA on Benbecula: rocket range and forced mass emigration

People have this romantic notion of the Uists, the southern part of the chain of islands forming the Outer Hebrides, swept by The Minch on its easter shores and by the open Atlantic on the west.

Yes, there’s the machair. Yes, there’s the wildlife. Yes, there’s St Kilda forty miles out in the Atlantic to the west. Yes, there is history in every landscape you see.

And yes, there’s the series of causeways easing the links between the islands – and sometimes fatally seductive. In a dreadful tragedy in January 2005, five members of one family died in hurricane conditions as their car was swept away, trying to cross the causeway north to safety in Benbecula when the storm threatened their cottage in South Uist.

This starts to paint another picture. Island life is as much a struggle as an idyll – and both are in the very nature of islandness.

Out on the very north-western flank of the UK mainland, the British Governemnt sited a rocket range on the Isle of Benbecula, in the middle of the Uists chain of islands. They could just hammer missiles out into the Atlantic and a radar tracking station on St Kilda reported on their accuracy. This was cold war ‘boys toys’ writ large.

The establishment of the rocket range brought the construction of the military village of Balevanich, a strange fortress-like place in the middle of nowhere.

The dram and the sherry bottle must be a constant temptation to young service wives finding themselves in this remote outpost where the unfamiliar poles of survival are, on the one hand, an absolute self-reliance and on the other, an equally absolute commitment to community life.

It is no coincidence that the only Police Station in the Uist chain is at Balevanich.

But the military compound brought an airport, a cinema, another shop and a range of welcome economic activity to these islands.

For some time now, there has been uncertainty as to whether or not the rocket range would be shut down. The tracking station at St Kilda is to close and the military detail there will leave. The uncertainty about the Balevanich missile range continues. It is only political – not practical – pressure that keeps the issue open.

BBC ALBA, the Gaelic television channel, is airing a programme at 9.00pm on 22nd February: Trusadh – Deserting Uist, focusing on the background to the rocket range and the issues around it that are very much alive.

The Uist rocket range has always provoked controversy. Its backdrop is one of the most unique landscapes and cultures in the British Isles.

In Deserting Uist, as the future of the rocket range comes under fresh scrutiny, Colin Maclean looks at the history behind the installation.

He also explores what was the hotly debated 1957 campaign to relocate the Uist population to Canada.

Did you know about that?

Satisfy your curiosity on both these unusual topics on BBC ALBA at 9.00pm on 22nd February – on Sky channel 168, Freesat channel 110 and live on BBC iplayer.