In what may be the Society’s first-ever offshore excursion, fourteen members visited the tiny island of Iona for three nights at the beginning of September. This long-awaited trip had been booked at the St Columba Hotel in 2019 for September 2020 but had to be postponed due to lockdown last year.
Lesley Whitwood organised the three days with an ideal mixture of group activities and independent exploring. Some attended the services held nightly or in the morning by the Iona Community in the 12th century Benedictine abbey, and as a group we visited the wonderfully restored abbey buildings, its recently updated museum and the Nunnery and went for varied walks over the beautiful island scenery.
We were blessed with warm weather, sometimes bright sunshine, sometimes cloudy, but thankfully not a drop of rain. Everyone agreed that, thanks to Lesley and to Sally Rose who undertook all the bookings, the trip was such a success that annual three-day excursions should take place – next year’s special multi-day trip to Angus is already in the planning.
For a more comprehensive, illustrated review of our visit, please find out more here: https://breadalbane-heritage.org.uk/iona-september-2021
Text by Fran Gillespie, photographs provided by Lesley Whitwood and Ian Stewart
Breadalbane Heritage Society 
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