83 years after leaving St Kilda, Norman Gillies has died in Cambridge, aged 88. He was the oldest native male resident of that island group. The details of his life and times have been in the national newspapers this week and last and this BBC item records some of his memories. He lived in a house, appropriately named St Kilda, with his wife, Ivy, near Ipswich.
Scottish Islands Explorer - often features his island home
Are there still female former residents alive please?
ReplyDeleteI landed there in 2006 on Poplar Diver, coutesy of Northern Light. An Australian lady was aboard and we allowed her to land first and alone. She was able to stand in the very house that her great(x?) grandfather had left c 1853. He went to Melbourne, Australia and the lady still lives in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda.
A lifetime memory. Those who do reach St Kilda (the real one!) will never forget it.
Noman's 91-year-old female cousin is now the sole former-resident. If you survived birth on that island, longevity is more likely than not.
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