BBC Pics of Scotland……From Kilmartin Museum……From ‘Wild Justice’ - X 2......
by Bernie Bell - 07:42 on 12 July 2025
BBC Pics of Scotland……
4th- 11th of July 2025…..
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg9nxj48e0o
Scotland’s been having a lot of ‘weather’!
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From Kilmartin Museum…..
Friends of Kilmartin Museum News
July 2025
Welcome to our latest update for the Friends of Kilmartin Museum. It has been a busy start to the summer so far, full of good news, and it has been great to see so many of our loyal Friends and supporters renewing memberships which support the work of the Museum and help us to care for the artefacts from this very special place!
Royal Visit and Official Re-opening
We welcomed HRH Princess Royal to Kilmartin on Wednesday 2nd July to officially re-open the Museum after the Redevelopment Project. She enjoyed a tour of the galleries, met staff, funders and volunteers and saw a demonstration of clay ball carving from the Young Archaeology Club, before unveiling a plaque, made by local firm PPD Ltd, and being presented with gifts from Young Archaeologist Alannah Watson and Ancient Craft practitioners James Dilley and Emma Jones.
Awards News
We were delighted that Kilmartin Museum has won the Arts, Culture & Heritage category at the Charity Awards 2025, the longest-running and most prestigious awards scheme in the charity sector! Director Dr John Raven (left) and Trustee Dr Mike Heyworth MBE (right) attended the awards ceremony in London on 3rd July to collect the award.
The Museum was also announced in June as being shortlisted for two awards in the Association for Heritage Interpretation (AHI) 2025 Engaging People Awards. The first, 'Carbon Legacy and Forest', was entered with Lizzie Rose in the 'Calling out Climate Change' category; the second 'Kilmartin Museum Redevelopment Project Permanent Exhibition' was entered with Studioarc in the 'Indoors' category. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in October.
This is in addition to making the shortlist for the 2025 Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) Awards.
It’s fantastic to see all the hard work put in by Trustees, staff, contractors, advisors and volunteers over the last few years being recognised on the national stage!
Special Exhibition News
Our special exhibition “Sewing Hope: Quilts for Climate Change” was on display between 22nd April and 1st July. Lots of community and school groups created some wonderful felt squares at workshops organised by Education and Volunteer Officer Jacquelyn and her enthusiastic group of talented sewing volunteers. The groups taking part were: 19th Argyll Explorer Scouts, Craignish Primary School, Dochas Carers Centre, Gigha Primary School, Glassary & Tayvallich Primary Schools, Kilmartin Museum staff, volunteers and drop-in session participants, Kilmartin Primary School, Lismore Primary School, LiveArgyll Lochgilphead Adult Learning, Lochside & LRC Oban Registered Learning Disability Day Service, and the Scottish Women’s Institute Lochgilphead. It was wonderful to work with such diverse groups, and we have had some really positive comments and feedback on the exhibition. Hopefully you had an opportunity to visit, but if not, the quilts will be exhibited at National Museums Scotland in 2026 alongside all the other quilts created across Scotland.
Special Exhibition Sewing Hope ran from 22nd April to 1st July
Our next special exhibition, Forgotten Fleece Tales, a Scottish touring exhibition of textile arts, runs from 10th July to 25th August, featuring new pieces of art made from textile waste and plant-based glue.
Forgotten Fleece Tales is a celebration of the space where art, craft, story and ecology come together. the exhibition features a curated collection of works made using “waste” or “unwanted” organic Scottish fleece, and by-products of industrial fleece processing.
A combination of wearables, wall hangings, home textiles, sculptural pieces and interactive experiences; Forgotten Fleece Tales provides an immersive and in-depth exploration of the enduring value of Scottish fleece, both in terms of farming and textiles heritage, and hopes for a sustainable future.
The theme of “forgotten” fleece binds the pieces together in the form of a unique piece of short fiction written for each creation by renowned folklorist and writer Alicia Anne Adams. These tales draw on aspects Scottish folklore, history, and landscapes. They invite readers to connect more closely with the story of wool - both in the pieces on display, and in their everyday lives. Visitors can engage with these stories in their written format, or follow QR codes to discover video recordings
Exhibitors include local artists Gaelle Chassery, Pamela Watson and Valerie O’Regan alongside Lynne Sneddon, Reet Wyatt, Sam Vettese, Chloe Tao, Constantia Anastasiadou, Michelle Stirling, Inga Ballantyne, Janet Hughes, Yarrow Frost, Overside Wool, Lisa Moffitt, Helen Walsh, Lovat Mill, Rachel Challoner, Sandra Junele and Rachel Frost alongside items from the curators Ardbeag Crafts and Creation Mill CIC. A summary of the works on show can be viewed here.
The exhibition is touring around Scotland and will be at Kilmartin Museum between 10th July and 25th August 2025Don't forget that you can use your Friends membership card to come along and see the special exhibitions for free!
Events
We have lots on over the summer for visitors, both young and young-at-heart to enjoy! Our Education team will be attending the following Highland Shows and Games over the summer.
- Inveraray Highland Games Tuesday July 22nd
- Lochgilphead Celtic & Pictish Festival Saturday August 2nd& Sunday August 3rd
- Mid Argyll Show Saturday August 9th
- Argyllshire Gathering, Oban Wednesday August 27th & Thursday August 28th
– please pop by and say hello if you are visiting!
In addition to these events, we will be taking part in the Festival of Archaeology 2025 between 19th July and 3rd August. As part of this we will be running two events; 'The World at Your Fingertips: A sensory exploration of monuments' and 'Art and Artefact: From technical drawing to creative response'. Keep an eye on our website and social media for details and bookings as exact timings are yet to be confirmed.
Hidden Treasures in the Collection Store!
We are delighted to announce some very special exclusive Show & Tell events which will take you behind the scenes at the Museum to get up close and personal with some of the hidden treasures and amazing artefacts in our Collection and hear the stories behind them, with Curator Dr Sharon Webb. You’ll get a chance to see a range of artefacts, from the oldest in our care, to the grossest!
You’ll be introduced to a Viking and have a chance to see exciting stone tools from all over the world. We have two dates to choose from, Wednesday 23rd July and Wednesday 13th August. There are three sessions lasting 1 hour on each of the dates, and spaces are free of charge but limited to 10 people per session, book yours here.
As a Friend of Kilmartin Museum you have exclusive early access to book your place on these special Show & Tell sessions. They will be advertised generally on Monday 14th July, so book your spot now to ensure you can attend!
Evening Talks
Our next online Zoom talk will be 7pm on Wednesday,16th July 2025 “Community - People and Wildlife on the West Coast of Scotland,” with Jane Smith.
This talk is available to book now Evening Talks — Kilmartin Museum.
Local wildlife artist Jane Smith talks about her new book in which she travels up the west coast of Scotland, meeting groups who are taking on the challenge of regenerating their own landscapes. From St Kilda to Dumfries, from the peatlands of Lewis to the urban sprawl of Glasgow, she’ll introduce you to fascinating places and a host of inspiring people whose lives are bound up with questions of sustainability, conservation and land ownership.
Jane Smith first moved to Scotland to make wildlife films for the BBC. Later, her work took her abroad, but when her children were born, she realised that toddlers and tigers were not a good mix. She settled in Argyll and switched to making wildlife artwork as a way of sharing her passion for the natural world.
Forthcoming talks will be with Ancient Craft Practitioner James Dilley (September) and NMS Research Associate Dr Alison Sheridan (October), details to be announced as soon as all the details are confirmed.
Guided Walks
Our very popular programme of free guided walks in Kilmartin Glen is well underway for the 2025 season. Walks are led by our amazing team of volunteer walking guides and take place every Wednesday at 1:20pm, until the end of October. If you are in the area and wish to attend you can book a free place.
The Museum Shop
Just a few of our interesting and quirky goodies in the Museum shop! Maps, guidebooks and walking guides; beautiful glass art from A Touch of Glass studio, activities and toys for our younger visitors and tasty treats for everyone. Pop in and browse! The shop is open 10-5 every day.
Support the Museum…..
As a charitable organisation, we remain reliant on donations and additional fundraising to care for our collections and to run the Education Service as well as funding other projects.
If you feel you can support us by donating towards collections care or education and learning work, please visit the support page on our website here or get in touch directly with a member of the team.
Thank you so much for choosing to support the Museum by becoming a Friend of Kilmartin Museum. Your support means so much to us, as we know that without it many of our activities and projects could not take place. Have a look at our Friends page on our website for details of benefits and how to join, and feel free to spread the word to anyone you know who might be interested in joining!
Keeping in touch with the Museum
You can stay connected with the Museum by following us on Facebook and Instagram and checking our website for updates.
Kilmartin Museum,
Kilmartin
Argyll
PA31 8RQ
01546 510278
If you can't get hold of us by phone, you can email us.
Thank you!
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From ‘Wild Justice’ - X 2……..
“Things have been very busy recently, so today’s newsletter brings you a general update of our work, including;
- Badgers
- A complaint after last week’s Westminster Hall debate on banning driven grouse shooting
- Our judicial review of a planning decision in Pembrokeshire
- The UK’s first Wild Summit event
- Our judicial review of overgrazing on Dartmoor
Badgers – the costs hearing for our judicial review of Badger culling has been postponed
Last week we were due to attend the High Court in London for a judge to decide the costs of our joint legal challenge – alongside the Badger Trust - regarding supplementary Badger cull licences. You might remember that last year Natural England (NE) asked the court to increase the normal adverse costs cap for our case, from £10,000 to £20,000 for us, and to £30,000 for the Badger Trust. We believe this aggressive manoeuvre by NE attacks the principles of the Arhaus Convention – which we wrote about at the time here – and is an attempt to intimidate us from taking action.
Due to court scheduling issues and the Judge’s current case over-running, our hearing has now been put back until October. The good news is that the main substantive hearing for our challenge has now been scheduled for December. It’s been a long time coming but we look forward to putting our case before the court.
Ban driven grouse shooting debate – a revealing donation
Thank you very much for all your kind and motivating words of support following the debate on our ban driven shooting petition at Westminster Hall last week. It wasn’t much of a debate, being mostly one-sided and consisting of a handful of pro-grouse shooting MPs regurgitating nonsense supplied by their mates in the industry – see Chris’s video here. Sheffield Hallam Labour MP Olivia Blake’s brilliant takedown of this barbaric industry was the only highlight - see here.
When we summarised the debate in our last newsletter, we told you about Bishop Auckland Labour MP Sam Rushworth (not Rushton – sorry, our mistake!) and his disappointing contribution to the session. His odd pro-grouse shooting stance didn’t quite sit right with us, so we did a bit of digging. It turns out, as highlighted on Ruth’s Raptor Persecution UK blog, that Mr Rushworth had previously received a £10,000 donation from a local grouse moor gamekeeper group.
Mr Rushworth’s list of Registered Interests on the Parliamentary website lists the significant donation, gifted by the North Pennine Moorland Group in October 2023 for the purpose of ‘campaign support’. Strangely, Mr Rushworth made no declaration of this prior to his speech in last Monday’s debate, so we’ve written a formal complaint asking the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner to investigate.
Pembrokeshire – two days in court for our judicial review of a planning decision
In June, our judicial review of a planning decision in Pembrokeshire was heard in court. The case, involving the planned development of an adventure hub within the Cardigan Bay Special Area of Conservation, was heard in court in Haverfordwest and was attended by some of us, our lawyers and members of the local community from around the proposed hub.
Gill Lewis, author and local community member, and Dagmarr Moore, also from the local community, have written a guest blog about their experience in watching the two-day hearing in court. Click here to read it on our website.
For those of you interested in the background to this case, Gill has also written another guest blog entitled, ‘Waking the Dragon - A community fighting to protect Ceibwr Bay’ – click here.
We’re expecting to hear the outcome of our legal challenge in the next couple of months.
Wild Summit – join us in Bristol in September 2025
We’re pleased to announce that Wild Justice is a partner for the very first Wild Summit UK event, taking place on Thursday 11th September. We’ll be joining many other wildlife & nature conservation organisations at the Bristol Beacon for a day of nature celebration, action planning and campaigning.
We’ll be running our own hour-long event as part of the lineup on the day (something suitably fun & feisty!) as well as having a stand where we can showcase our work and talk to supporters.
We’d love to see you there! Click here to book tickets.
Dartmoor legal challenge– we’re in court next week
Next week we will be back at the High Court in London to attend the hearing of another judicial review – this time for our case concerning overgrazing on Dartmoor, and what we argue is the Dartmoor Commoners Council’s (DCC) lack of action to tackle the problem. See here for background on the case and topic.
We’ll update you on how it goes next week.
Phew! That’s it for now but we’ll be back soon.
Wild Justice (CEO: Bob Elliot. Directors: Chris Packham and Ruth Tingay).
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PS
We wouldn’t normally send two newsletters in as many days… but today we’ve received some good news we’re excited to share with you!
Toxic Lead Ammunition – BANNED!
After years, no, decades, of campaigning – it’s finally happened; the government has announced a ban on the use of toxic lead ammunition by the shooting industry. Result!
Today Steve Reed, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has made a strong stand for wildlife. Defra’s announcement – see their press release here - lays out plans for a three-year transition period, over which the use of lead shot and bullets must be phased out before an outright ban comes into play.
This has been a long time coming. Wild Justice has campaigned on the subject for years, highlighting the far-reaching impacts of using toxic ammunition by revealing lead contamination in supermarket meats and in dog food. Lead is poisonous for wildlife – killing thousands of waterbirds a year – but we’ve also shown how the irresponsible use of lead shot by the shooting industry is putting the health of people and pets at risk too.
Thankfully – not for much longer. We’ll be celebrating along with other organisations who’ve fought long and hard for this change too; the RSPB, WWT, CHEM Trust and others. We congratulate everyone on their hard work in getting this issue on the agenda, and we thank the government for listening to our concerns too.
This good news doesn’t mean we’ll take our eyes off the ball, however. A watching brief will still be needed; the shooting industry is known for being non-compliant with other legislation, and their self-imposed ‘voluntary’ phase out of lead shot has failed miserably. Last year it was revealed that 93% of gamebirds were still being shot with lead ammunition in year 5 of the voluntary phase out; an embarrassingly slow change that shows shooters won’t jump of their own accord – they must be pushed into tackling this toxic issue.
We also note that this transition is effectively a four year one, not three years, as Defra’s press release states. The legislation for the ban isn’t anticipated until summer 2026, after which the three- year transition period will start. It’s slow, but the direction of travel is clear, and Wild Justice is still pleased that wildlife and the environment will be better off as a result.
So, we hope you join us in celebrating! This is your victory too – you, our supporters, have helped us campaign against lead ammunition for years; signing e-actions, writing letters, responding to consultations and donating to support our work. Thank you.
We’ll leave you with a quote on the subject from our very own Chris Packham;
“In pipes, paint and petrol, we said goodbye to lead poisoning in humans years ago. But down to the cruel belligerence of the shooting industry, which ironically and pathetically postures as pro-conservation, 100 thousand wild birds a year have been dying through the accidental ingestion of lead shot. I don’t call that conservation, I call it a colossal, wilful waste of wildlife. Proper scientific study revealed that voluntary codes of practice to reduce lead shot use were wholly ignored so, albeit belatedly due in part to their tiresome griping, now we have a ban. Top work from Steve Reed and Emma Hardy - thank you. Maybe at last some of the birds they blast might even get safely into the food chain without significant risk to human health... let’s see.”
That’s it for now!
Thank you.
Wild Justice (CEO: Bob Elliot. Directors: Chris Packham and Ruth Tingay).”
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