Fading films of life in the Outer Hebrides in the 1970s revived

The films were shot by islanders in a breakthrough project which put camcorders into communities so they could tell their own stories.

A collection of videotapes produced by islanders in the Outer Hebrides in a breakthrough community project in the 1970s has now been preserved.

More than 100 short pieces of film produced by the Cinema Sgìre project has been digitised by the National Library of Scotland.

A still from the Cinema Sgìre project which recorded life in the Outer Hebrides in the 1970s. A collection of more than 100 videotapes filmed by residents has now been digitised and preserved by National Library of Scotland. | NLS

The project, led by former SNP MSP and Cabinet minister Mike Russell, was based mainly in Uist and Barra, and ran from October 1977 until March 1981.

It brought a mobile cinema service to the islands and offered residents a chance to try their hand at video production - with the technology then in its infancy - so they could record their everyday lives.

The tapes produced were long in the care of Museum & Tasglann nan Eilean in Stornoway. But their obsolete, rare format and the cost and complications of digitising them meant the content was impossible to access.

READ MORE: I visited 40 Scottish islands over 18 months - this is what I found

Now, following their donation to the National Library of Scotland’s Moving Image Archive in 2020, the tapes have been digitised and are available online.

A spokesman for Museum & Tasglann nan Eilean said: “We knew the potential cultural significance of the tapes and we had previously investigated digitisation, but were unsure how to proceed without technical advice.

“Since the completion of the project, it has been greatly beneficial to be able to direct researchers to the catalogue and footage, and know that after 35 years these community films are now accessible.”

The road to digitisation was aided by UistFilm, which worked with island communities to identify people, places and the significance of events captured in the films.

Covering the whole of the Western Isles from Ness to Vatersay, the collection gives an intimate insight into life in the islands in the late 1970s. Highlights include the blacksmith ‘Jellicoe’ at work in his smiddy in Ness. Footage of tweed making - from shearing sheep to waulking - has also been captured.