Key day for St Kilda missile base

Published on Friday 28 August 2009 22:49

THE first St Kilda Day will be held today as the fight continues to save a missile testing base, part of which is on the archipelago.

The event has been arranged to mark the 79th anniversary of the evacuation of the islands on 29 August, 1930.

Gaelic arts agency Priseact nan Ealan will celebrate the place and the people, their lives and legacy in music, song, words, images, storytelling and film.

It comes as a task force fights plans to restructure the Hebrides Range and St Kilda base by contractors QinetiQ and the Ministry of Defence in a move said to save 50 million but will cost 125 jobs.

It has been claimed the plans would lead to one of the largest single losses of employment seen in the Outer Hebrides.

The range tracking station is located on Hirta in St Kilda, and under the planned cuts it would be operated remotely. Rocket trials at the command centre on South Uist earmarked for closure would be run remotely from Aberporth in Wales.

Scottish culture minister Michael Russell said the event was a timely reminder of current threats to St Kilda, Scotland's only dual World Heritage Site.

He said: "If such a withdrawal did happen, it would affect the economics of looking after St Kilda and, for a site of such natural and cultural significance, this would present difficult challenges for its owners, the National Trust for Scotland.

"I and my colleagues have been working with local partners to press the case for an alternative course of action that would mean the islands were reprieved and which might also mean greater opportunities for the people directly affected on Benbecula."