Tiree flag unfurled
The Isle of Tiree has unveiled its magnificent new flag.
A poll for Tiree Community Council in 2016 found a majority of islanders wanted a flag, so a committee ran a competition to find a design, helped by Philip Tibbetts, communities vexillologist for the Flag Institute in London.
The April contest attracted 261 entries from home and abroad, including South Uist, Switzerland and Canada, which were whittled down by a public vote and the Lord Lyon, Scotland’s senior law authority.
The four finalists were shown at the Tiree Agricultural Show in July when almost 800 people at the showground voted – and there were also postal and online ballots. In total, 1,598 votes were cast.
Dr John Holliday, the flag committee’s chairman, said: ‘The clear winner was a design by Donald Cameron, born and brought up on Tiree, who now works as a senior strategist for a London advertising agency.
‘Donald’s design cleverly uses stalks of barley, referring to the island’s reputation as Tìr an Eòrna, “the island of barley”, and the most fertile of the Hebrides, to create a yellow circle, symbolising the “sunshine isle”.
‘But, ironically, as the Saturday of the unveiling ceremony dawned, a thick pall of mist enveloped the island, closing the airport. Sitting on the runway in Glasgow was the flag’s designer Donald Cameron, Philip Tibbetts and the flag for the unveiling ceremony.’
This was delayed for two hours to allow the clouds to part and the plane to land. Postman Ian Cameron, Crossapol, stayed beyond his normal hours to collect the parcel containing the flag in time for the unveiling.
Dr Holliday told the 100 people who had come to see the new flag raised for the first time: ‘Tiree needs a rallying point more than most places. If there has been one thing that has been true about the island over the past 170 years, it is this: you often had to leave. Since the potato famine of 1846, thousands of islanders have emigrated.
‘Today there are around 650 people living on Tiree; there are more than a million people of Tiree descent spread out around the globe. On the hearts of many of them are engraved two Gaelic words: dualchas, a sense of heritage, and cianalas, a longing for home.’
At the ceremony, flags were presented to the school and to Rosemary Omand and Elaine Hayes, representing the Tiree Association.
Angus MacPhail, of the band Skipinnish, raised a Tiree flag at the Best of the West festival in Inveraray, and flags were also presented to the winners of the Tiree Ultramarathon the following day. The design belongs to the community, there is no copyright, and it can be used anywhere, by anyone.
Dr Holliday added: ‘Tiree is a great place for flying flags: there’s plenty of wind and an open landscape.’