Eriskay giving the Prince a much warmer welcome than in 1745!

It's definitely Borrodale, but their stitching at Eriskay!

If you know your history of the '45 well, you'll know that Eriskay gave the Prince a cool welcome, in fact no welcome at all really, on July 23rd 1745. The message was: Go Home! The present indwellers on the island and on neighbouring South Uist and Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides are showing a great deal more kindness. But maybe the consequences of supporting the Prince are not quite as risky today as they were when Alexander MacDonald of Boisdale offered his contrary advice in 1745.

Their kindness to the Prince shines through in a prodigous stitching effort going along right through the past bleak winter months, with weekly workshops in Eriskay Village Hall. Each time the team goes home re-fired to tackle a further element of the embroidery.

The illustration below is being stitched by Helen MacLean, Panel #12 @ Borrodale House. It shows the Prince despatching messengers seeking support for his Campaign and its planned launch at Glenfinnan on August 19th. Another intriguing comparator here with the Prince's depiction. Smoking eh; and is that white wine in his goblet? It's clearly black ink in the ink-well.

click on images to enlarge