# General > Photography >  Some Pics from Stroma

## dubzter

Thought I would post up some pics I took on Stroma on Saturday 23rd July 2011. I've got loads more that I haven't sorted through but here are a couple, let me know your thoughts.

The full set (so far) can be seen here 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dubzter...7627147193731/


Stroma by dubzter, on Flickr


Stroma by dubzter, on Flickr


Stroma by dubzter, on Flickr

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## Commore

Every picture tells it's story and these are crying out to tell theirs! Very good.

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## trinkie

Absolutely beautiful.
The three above are so atmospheric and indeed,  I'd love to hear their story.
Thank you for sharing .
Trinkie

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## dubzter

> Every picture tells it's story and these are crying out to tell theirs! Very good.





> Absolutely beautiful.
> The three above are so atmospheric and indeed,  I'd love to hear their story.
> Thank you for sharing .
> Trinkie


Thanks both

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## candy

lovely pictures, thanks for posting them x

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## Torvaig

A great collections; love the old box bed! My sister and I used to share one when we were bairns! Nice and cosy.....
Like the old dressers too..... 

Dubzter, many thanks for sharing them with us.

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## cherokee

Fantastic photos dubzter !!  :Smile: 

They are so haunting and almost sad looking (but in a lovely way  :Wink: !) and tells a story of a time gone by.........just beautiful !

As already said, thank you so much for sharing them with us !

_Where is the old horse now, who used to pull the cart.....
How many dark nights, were lit by the old tilly-lamp......
Did many an old and younger hand, turn the handle on the old croft door......_

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## dubzter

> lovely pictures, thanks for posting them x


thanks for looking and the kind comments





> A great collections; love the old box bed! My sister and I used to share one when we were bairns! Nice and cosy.....
> Like the old dressers too..... 
> 
> Dubzter, many thanks for sharing them with us.


I'm only too happy to share, thanks for looking.




> Fantastic photos dubzter !! 
> 
> They are so haunting and almost sad looking (but in a lovely way !) and tells a story of a time gone by.........just beautiful !
> 
> As already said, thank you so much for sharing them with us !
> 
> _Where is the old horse now, who used to pull the cart.....
> How many dark nights, were lit by the old tilly-lamp......
> Did many an old and younger hand, turn the handle on the old croft door......_


I love the fact that you can imagine and attach a story to them. I'm a relative newcomer to photography so it really does bring a smile to my face to hear your comments. Thanks

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## Kenn

They present great images of a life style that has gone, thanks for sharing.

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## trinkie

I was hoping you'd have a photo of the house with ''a star on the ceiling !!''

A few years ago someone sent me the story of Donald Banks, poet and coffin maker on Stroma.   He lived with his three sisters and one Christmas he decided to make the place look festive by putting a Star on the ceiling and made a very pretty one from  old wallpaper.
Although the ceiling was not that high, Donald had to climb up on the table to fix the Star in the right place.   Alas, poor Donald fell off the table, broke his leg and died.   He was eighty four years old !
I'm told the Star is still there !

Trinkie

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## dubzter

> I was hoping you'd have a photo of the house with ''a star on the ceiling !!''
> 
> A few years ago someone sent me the story of Donald Banks, poet and coffin maker on Stroma.   He lived with his three sisters and one Christmas he decided to make the place look festive by putting a Star on the ceiling and made a very pretty one from  old wallpaper.
> Although the ceiling was not that high, Donald had to climb up on the table to fix the Star in the right place.   Alas, poor Donald fell off the table, broke his leg and died.   He was eighty four years old !
> I'm told the Star is still there !
> 
> Trinkie


Trinkie

Funny you should mention that as I  was in one of the houses and looked at the roof and there was a patch of wallpaper in the middle of the ceiling and I thought it was odd that it was just a small bit and the rest was un-papered. I don't recall it being star shaped though but that could just be due to deterioration. 

Interesting story.

I'm hoping to go back sometime soon as the few hours I had there just wasn't enough, so I'll look out for that.

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## trinkie

Well well, fancy that !    It must have been Donald's Star  !

Now I cant find a Box Bed poem,   but the bed you snapped would certainly have had an Owl Caff-seck...here are a few verses of this Castlegreen poem...



'E Owld Caff-seck
by Castlegreen.


A dinna lek 'e pleited beds 'at modran fowk lie on.
Wi' aal at weirs 'at leive yur back chist lek a brandered scone;
Non' 'o 'at streamlined beds for me! 'E kin' o' rest A lek
Is wi' ma hanch-bon' beeried in 'e ould caff-seck.


A lek a bed 'at mak's a move till welcome achan' backs,
No lek 'iss new contraptions 'at defy ye till relax.
Yur tortured body wallops till yur bon's are lek till brek;
Gie me 'e yieldan welcome o' 'e ould caff-seck!


No winder 'at fowk nowadays complain o' sleeplessness
On 'at glorified weir-netteen' they call a spring mattress.
Let ithers in thur eegnorance use 'at things if they lek,
A'll snore ma wey till glory on my owl caff-seck !

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## stroma88

i really like these photos! the angles and the composition work really well with all the different textures. i havent been there since i was a kid, been meaning to go back when im home from uni but havent managed it yet. these photos make me want to go even more! xx

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## trinkie

''I've got Stroma on my mind''   could be the title of a song!
But since your pictures I keep thinking about the place.  Last night I remembered a newspaper cutting
someone sent me some time ago.    It is likely from the mid 1950s...


Sale of an Island  
Stroma to be Given
as a TV Show Prize
by Dennis Neeld


London ( AP ) -   A storm was  
blowing up today over the future
of a teacup-size island off the  
rugged coast of northern Scotland.
The island of Stroma – a tiny
strip of Britain in the Pentland
Firth by 18 people – has been  
bought by a Columbia
Broadcasting System program.
It is to be given away as a  
prize on the television show  
Bid 'n' Buy.
But on Saturday, members of  
Caithness County Council ordered
County Clerk J.L.Russell to
probe the sale.
Stroma lies two miles off the  
Caithness coast opposite Queen
Mother Elizabeth's castle of Mey.
Councilman J. Abrach MacKay,
83, who has taken a special interest
in the island, said he wanted
to know what right the owner had
to sell without the Council's consent.
MacKay maintained the island  
should not be sold to anyone -
far less an alien -  
He suggested they should contact  
The Secretary of State of Scotland
to block the deal.


_Taken from a newspaper   c. 1950s   E &OE_

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