lain Nicolson
Uig, Skye, 1990

An interview with Iain Nicolson (IN) recorded by Thomas McKean (TM) about a wedding at Uig on Skye.

IN - But things wasn't so easy got then [just after the Second World War] as it is now. The drinks were scarce at times. But I got so much [i.e. a certain amount], you know, on the quiet. Mm.

TM - How many were at your wedding?

IN - Oh, there would be a hundred anyhow, oh there would be, in Portree. Of course I had to, I butchered two sheep myself and put them up to the hotel because you wouldn't get meat at that time. But I had the sheep here, you know ... on the quiet. [The sheep] went up there and they cooked them there [with] whatever they had over and above that. Aye.

TM - And that was the same day as the queen got married?

IN - Aye, right! Aye, aye, the twentieth of November, [1948). Oh yes I had an anniversary here, three or four years ago, in Portree [laughs]. ... I was there, just the same. Well, it was alright!

TM - Were there a lot of Uig people at the wedding?

IN - Oh yes, quite a lot, yes. Well of Glenconon and ... Earlish and Glenhinnisdal. Oh yes... we got plenty of telegrams anyhow, heaps of them there. Yes.

Source: "Scottish Customs from Cradle to the Grave" by Margaret Bennett.

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