Publishing The Ileach in a blizzard on Islay

Another insight into the challenges of island life. The first bulletin from Susan Campbell, issue editor of the forthcoming edition of The Ileach, Islay’s fortnightly newspaper, said: ‘Today I’m working from home, NE blizzard preventing travel.  Editing first pages of Ileach issue via wonders of broadband, thank goodness, as long as electricity stays on!’

Bear in mind that ‘the wonders of broadband on Islay deliver, via satellite, not much more than the old dial-up service and that it ‘only took Avanti (satellite service provider) 10 months to take all our complaints seriously’.

Next bulletin updated today’s situation: ‘We’ll get today’s pages edited and ready to go, but it seems as if Marjorie, our wonderful printer, is stormbound in the Rhinns as well. It’s snow over ice here, and the gritters haven’t come further than Islay’s main road for weeks, however icy…’

Both Susan and Marjorie stay in the Rhinns of Islay, the hammerhead shark that is its westernmost element, bridged to the rest of the island at the separation zone between south-facing Loch Indaal and Loch Gruinart, opening to the north.

Susan stays out in the Rhinns near Kilchoman, the far west side of Loch Gorm. It’s 13 miles from here to Bowmore, where The Ileach’s overall editorial, administration and printing work is done. And the first 6 of the 13 miles are hilly, twisting and single track until they reach the main road on the shore of Loch Indaal.

Starting to get the picture? The next bulletin fills in some more.

‘I haven’t heard whether Marjorie’s arrived at the office in Bowmore yet, but unusually she wasn’t there at 11:30am when I last spoke with Brian (Brian Palmer who, with Editor,Carl Reavey, runs The leach).  If she doesn’t make it in today to start the issue, it’ll make her working days tomorrow and Friday longer.  As far as I know, she’s the only person in the island who can operate the plate-maker and printing press.

‘Brian will email me proofs as PDFs and I’ll list any tweaks needed in reply. The bigger advertising copy comes mostly as PDFs these days, so is ‘oven ready’ and there’s nothing do do with them re corrections. Just the small ads need checking, and making a start on the articles pages.’

The Ileach’s PDF copies are emailed out to subscribers on Friday afternoons and the printed copies are in Islay shops and in the post to newspaper subscribers and on the ferry on Saturday mornings.

So when you open your emailed copy of The Ileach on Friday evening or pick up the print version in a shop or on the ferry this Saturday morning – you’ll have some idea what it’s taken to get it to you at the time you’d normally expect it.

But, as we all say, none of us would swop being a journalist in Argyll. In every sense, it is extra-ordinarily challenging.