Hulabhaig

ANDY LAFFAN

'The Beasts of Holm' is a commemoration or remembrance that focuses on the impact that the HMY Iolaire tradegy of 1 January 1919 had on Lewis families. Families who where waiting in deep anticipation of the return of the sailors and soldiers after four long years of fighting. The wives, parents, sons, daughters brothers, sisters, girlfriends and a whole community joined together by collective relief that these men, who had survived against the odds, were coming home.

The sense of celebration was even more keenly felt, because they would be returning and would be reunited on the morning of the New Year - a New Year of peace that meant healing and new beginnings, meals were prepared and the traditional kitchen table was laid in anticipation.

Around 2.30am that night, with the lights of Stornoway Harbour in sight and just yards from home, the Iolaire struck the rocks known as the Beasts of Holm. The sea, as it so often does in poor conditions, acted swiftly and callously, changing the table of celebration to a table of silence.

Also on show at Baile na Cille are several recent sculptures carved from local Lewisian gneiss.

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