In 1954 I visited service friends in Old Kilpatrick. Our fiends told us that their next door neighbours had been amongst the last to leave St Kilda.

At last, I've just booked my frst trip to St Kilda for longest day, 21 June :) Counting the sleeps till then!

<Hi Elizabeth Alsop

I served with the RAF in 1958 on the Island I was a vehicle fitter.We crushed the stone extracted from the Island and built the roads up to the Radar Station. Had a great 6 months.
Mike Savage, France
02 December 2011>

The above message was a post from Mike Savage recently.

Mike to you and any other ex-Hardrockers we have a Facebook site for those of us who served on this operation in St Kilda in the 1957 -1958 time.
Email me trevor@merciaproductions.com and I will give you more info.

I think the web site should have far more information about the life of the St Kildeans before the evacuation. I read a book about their life and it really caught my imagination and made me want to visit. This was an island with a real community until the evacuation.

hi all

I am ex Ssgt Mitchell REME, i sent more than a year on St Kilda in charge of the soldiers and civilians who operated and maintained the radar sites there. It seems to be forgotten the the Army had a permanent presence on St Kilda. At least until I retired from the army in 1984. We had Royal Engineers running the power station Royal Signals running communications, Catering Corps cooking ,Royal Artillery operating the the radar sites, REME and civilan radar techs maintaining the radar, and RAMC medic, if i forgot any forgive me. After i retired I went to work in Hong Kong, and got a chance to visit relations in Adelaide SA, would you beleive there was a district called St Kilda so i sent a postcard from St Kilda to St Kilda, wonder if it is still there.

A Happy Christmas and New Year to all members of Work Party led by Dave Guy in June 2002. I am still in touch (ocasionally) with Sue Walker & Hugh Mackenzie. Many happy memories including a few good night in the Puff Inn. Particular greetings to my friend Hedley Horsler who persuaded me that the direct route to the top of Connachir would "clear the tubes"!

Just like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
10 years next May since I first visited the island with Work Party One. Wish I could visit again.

An excellent website. I have wanted to visit St. Kilda ever since I lived in Scotland as a student in the late 1970s. Perhaps on our next trip to Scotland, home of my ancestors. In the meantime, Merry Christmas to St. Kilda and to all.

Good morning. carried out 4 tours of 6 weeks each from 1961 to 1965 on Hirta with Royal Artillery, Sheep all over the place and Puffins and of course the Mice, used to have one sit on my chair all night when doing night shift. What a place , love to visit again

Hello Orca, good to see you in the bay the other night, bit of excitment for us seals. Sorry if we made a bit of a swell on the jetty, swimming round and round you, but certainly let you show off your boat handling skills! Thanks for those crunchy fish you threw us too, scrummy! Have a good Christmas and see you next year...Sammy

Zeer mooi landschap met prachtige video en foto's.
Which is Dutch for: Beautiful landscape with wonderful videos and photos.

Hi Sammy, Sorry we couldnt stay a while longer last night but the surf was just a tad too much for us deep water dwellers. We will be back when it gets better. Thanks for your help with the weather update.

Hi Elizabeth Alsop

I served with the RAF in 1958 on the Island I was a vehicle fitter.We crushed the stone extracted from the Island and built the roads up to the Radar Station. Had a great 6 months.

Yes, Karin Altenberg's book "Island of Wings", about the Rev Neil McKenzie and his wife Elizabeth and their spell on St Kilda, although a novel,heartbreakingly describes how the islanders' lives were changed by interfering outsiders. Their culture may not have survived long after more visitors started to arrive, but their plight was very typical of many "indigenous" people all over the world today. A lovely, moving book.

REMEMBRANCE

In memory of
24015121 Gunner Frederick John Peckham
Age 22
John lost his life on 10th November 1969 in a tragic accident when a freak wave swept him off the jetty and he was drowned.He along with others had gone to check the raft at the jetty was secure in preparation for the arrival of the supply ship RASC -V-Mull.

I've visited this site after reading a book about St. Kilda and Mr. Finlay MacQueen. The colours of the skies, the sea, and the grasses are the deepest blue and green: so beautiful that somehow the pictures made me feel homesick-like longing to the place even though I've never been there. Thanks for showing the beautiful pictures. It's great to know that places like that exist on the earth.

Many Ta's for info re AGM

My son and I visited St. Kilda with Angus Campbell of Kilda Cruises on 22 July, 2011. We came from Vancouver, Canada. We talked with Robert MacLean and his son who had connections to St. Kilda as noted in his message in late July 2011 below. We have hundreds of photos of that wonderful day including several of Robert and his son eating their lunch at his Granny's house as he told us then and in his entry in the guest book. Robert or others, contact me if you would like to see them. Going to a special talk on St. Kilda next week in Vancouver - a talk about The Truth About St. Kilda: An Islander's Memoir which was written by a St. Kilda native, Rev. Donald John Gillies, who settled in Vancouver. I was surprised to learn that he was the minister at my Grandmother's Memorial Service in 1981. bmacaulay @ telus . net

Would like to have a postcard sent to me of ST Kilda with a Kilda postmark Thank you

On what date in November is the 2011 AGM in Edinburgh being held?
EDITOR: 19th November 2011.