A very busy week on Islay and Jura …

The mobile outreach team are just back from a packed visit to the inner hebridean islands of Islay and Jura, where over 4 days, we visited 6 schools, ran 3 community events and talked to 238 pupils and 102 members of the island community. Both islands are relatively large, with Islay having a population of around 3230, and Jura having just 188 inhabitants. Despite that, the islands are both major producers of Whisky, with 9 distilleries (one pictured) exporting more than 20 million bottles of Whisky each year. In terms of population density, Jura had around 0.5 people per square kilometre, compared to around 1,500 per square kilometre in London, so it’s no surprise that Jura is an island of extensive natural beauty. In fact people are outnumbered by deer on Jura by about 30 to 1.

We arrived by Calmac ferry on Monday 25th February to Port Ellen to be ready for an early start the following day. On Tuesday (26th) the team split between Port Charlotte Primary School on the west of the island and Bowmore Primary in the middle. This involved a little driving back and forward (only one car), which thankfully the timings allowed. Wednesday (27th) saw both the team visiting Islay High School in Bowmore, and involved several more advanced modules, including Cosmology and Exoplanets. Thursday (28th) was another split day, with Scott staying on Islay, and Chris catching an early ferry to visit the Small Isles Primary School on Jura. The small schools numbers meant that we could run an extensive programme with both sets of students. After school ended, the team joined up on Jura to run an evening community event, which saw around one quarter of the island’s population joining us for an evening of astronomy. Our final on Friday (1st March) was back down to Port Ellen Primary school, where we ran a full day of activities, followed by another well attended afternoon community event. It was then time to quickly pack the car before heading for the 6 pm ferry back to the mainland and home.