E-mails - Machrihanish and Fessenden

From: webmaster@machrihanish.net

Dear Sir,

I am the webmaster for Machrihanish Online and I would be grateful if you could add the site to your links page.

URL:
http://www.machrihanish.net       Description: Machrihanish Online Community Website

Thank you,

Best regards,

Cameron McLellan
Webmaster Machrihanish Online.

I replied

Hello Cameron,

Good to hear from you. It will be a pleasure to add a link to the Machrihanish site. I'll give you front page billing in my next edition due up in January.

If you have any articles, stories, tales or reminiscences you want to share with the Mag, there's a page waiting with your name on it.

All the best for now,

Ian


Campbell came back with:

Hello Ian,

Many thanks for the link :)

I am just waiting for a copy of an article on Kilkivan, interestingly enough it has been written for an Australian newspaper by a journalist who contact me a little while ago.
She lives in Kilkivanshire, Australia and has been doing research on the area the county's founding father came from.
Funnily enough I had a bit of a job explaining to her that I couldn't send a photo of the 'main street' in Kilkivan :) she thought it was a town !!
I'll forward the article on as soon as I receive it, coming by good old snailmail so not sure when it will arrive.

On another note, you and perhaps some of your contributors/readers may be able to shed some light on another subject !
I have been trying (in vain) to enlist some support in getting some kind of antiquarian listing or recognition for the remains of the Fessenden Wireless site at Machrihanish. I believe it is such a shame that there isn't even a plaque to commemorate such an important event/time in the history and development of the radio.
I have contacted, so far, Historic Scotland, the National Trust, Scottish Heritage, Argyll Council - Donald Kelly and so far none of these have so much as replied.
I hear from my mother that Donald Kelly, I went to school with Donald, has been talking to various people about the subject but it would be nice to hear something more concrete.

I have been contacted by a Radio Station in Massachusetts and the Reginald Fessenden ARS with regards to info on the area.
2006 will be an important year for them as there are celebrations planned to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the worlds first radio broadcast.
Prior to the 'official' broadcast made by Fessenden on Christmas eve 1906, the first transatlantic voice transmission was heard by operators at Machrihanish.

Anyway, I didn't mean to ramble on but I do feel quite strongly about the subject as you no doubt guessed. If you or your readers could point me in the right direction I would be most grateful.

Thanks again for the link Ian, I look forward to reading the January issue.

All the best

Cameron.

Back from me:

Hello again Cameron,

It'll take me a wee while, but I'll look into the Fessenden thing. I agree that, if possible, more should be made of it.

Until we e again, all the best for Christmas and the New Year to you and yours.

Ian


If any of you good folks have any input for Campbell then do your stuff. - Ian


Return to Page One

Wee Drams   E-mails, comments, queries and enlightenment from around the world

Page  2:       A History of the Gilchrists...............continued

Page  3:       E-mails - Machrihanish and Fessenden

Page  4:       The Kintyre Armours - A New Approach to the First Generation

Page  5:       The Campbeltown Book  - You must look at this!

Page  6:       The MacKeith Family at Kilmichael

Page 7:        By Hill and Shore - Angus Martin

Page 8:        The Rev. Alexander Stewart (1755 - 1798)