THE Hebridean Princess made its first visit of the year to Ullapool last weekend. She stopped on her way down Loch Broom to let some of her passengers land on Isle Martin — the first time she has done so.

IT'S that time of year again! Tomorrow, Saturday, the spring Soup and Pudding lunch in aid of the Ross-shire Branch of the MS Society will be on at Ullapool village hall from 12.30pm to 2pm.

LOCHBROOM Community Council is taking the first steps to make improvements to Am Pollan — the wee park as you come in to the village from the south.

IN THE week Ullapool found out that it had been Tescoed it was good to welcome the opening of a small independent shop in the village.

LAST week the final touches to Lochbroom Community Council's riverside improvement scheme were made by around fifteen pupils of Ullapool Primary School who planted a variety of native trees in the woodland below the play area. They ignored the appalling weather and just got on with the job. Well done!

ONE of the most exciting nights of music that will be heard in Ullapool this year is at the Macphail Theatre tomorrow (Saturday) night.

NPOWER have confirmed that they will be making a voluntary goodwill payment once the new hydro scheme at Inverlael is up-and-running. The money is intended to fund projects in the local area and Lochbroom Community Council will be setting up a Community Benefit Fund to administer the payment.

ULLAPOOL Fairtrade Group's Curry Night last week was a sell-out – and a great success. It was held as part of Fairtrade Fortnight and all profits are going to the Bangladesh Cyclone Appeal.

GREAT – February is at an end! It finishes in fine style with a performance by the amazing young Shetland fiddler, Jenna Reid.

LAST week I took my six-year-old grandson panning for gold in Edinburgh. Well, sort of!

AS reported in last week's Ross-shire Journal, Gaidhlig Loch Bhraoin are holding a winter festival starting tonight (Friday) with a Gaelic quiz in The Ceilidh Place.

PIANIST, composer, musical director and teacher Andy Thorburn (of Blazin' Fiddles) will be in the Macphail Theatre tonight (Friday) playing along to silent films from the Scottish Screen Archive.

SUNDOWE, the winner of Highland Quest (the search to find a new musical for the Highlands), is coming to Ullapool's Macphail Theatre tonight (Friday) at 8pm and tomorrow at 2.30pm and 8pm.

THIS weekend Chrissy Boyd leaves her job as warden at Ullapool Youth Hostel — a position she has held for the past 21 years.

PETE Irvine's new edition of his guide book Scotland the Best shows Ullapool and Lochbroom in an excellent light. Hotels, restaurants, cafes and so on feature in 14 different categories.

ULLAPOOL'S John Grant started something on January 2 that he might not be able to stop! He organised a 5k and 10k run at Rhidorroch and it was a resounding success.

THE last few days of 2007 saw babies being born to a couple of Ullapool ladies. On December 22 Nanette Cowie, daughter of Isobel and the late Billy, and partner Steven Gourlay had a baby son Aidan William. Aidan is Isobel's fourth grandchild.

WITH Christmas over it's now time for the influx of tourists coming to Ullapool for Hogmanay, adding to all the people who have come home for Christmas and New Year. There's lots of entertainment laid on over this holiday.

OH, the power of the Ross-shire Journal. My appeal for information last week on William Mackenzie, recipient of the Croix de Guerre in 1919, resulted in a phone call to me by a distant cousin of mine, Willie Campbell who lives in Inverness-shire. He told me that William was a brother of his grandmother, Alexandrina Alice Mackenzie.

THE first item in 88 Years Ago in last week's Ross-shire attracted much interest among local people.

ULLAPOOL is so sorry to lose a really popular policewoman. Sheila Slaughter has retired after 30 years in the force, 18 of them in Ullapool.

CONGRATULATIONS to Ullapool's Craig (Taffy) Maclean and Marie Bell of Alness who are getting married today (Friday) in Strathpeffer.

AN exciting new event will be taking place next year.

I HEAR that the proposed helipad at the end of the public road at Rhue has been granted planning permission – a decision that will be greeted with satisfaction by local people who will be glad that the area will soon have an all weather landing site for emergency evacuation of patients and casualties.

I WAS at Eden Court for the opening event last Saturday night and took the chance (along with another thousand people) to have a look round all the new facilities. What a fabulous building it is now with lots of light and space.

A GROUP of 5th and 6th year pupils from Ullapool High School are off this weekend for three days in Brussels visiting the European Parliament. The nine students from Ullapool and Lochinver will be accompanied by Phil McCann, head of social subjects, and physics teacher Simon Gill.

MARGARET Matheson is another mother setting off to Australia to visit her family. She is flying out on November 1 to go to her granddaughter Vhairi's wedding in Sydney. Vhairi is the daughter of Margaret's eldest son Murdo Macrae and his Australian wife Val; they also have a son Tolmie.

THERE'S a marriage being celebrated in Coigach today (Friday).

SEVEN children from Achiltibuie got the chance last Saturday to perform in the afternoon concert at Ullapool Guitar Festival.

THIS photo is from May 1954 and is of boys taking part in a Japanese operetta Princess Chrysanthemum in Ullapool village hall.

THERE'S plenty of opportunity this weekend to get out and about and help various charities raise some cash.

THIS weekend of music in Ullapool is followed by dance on Monday. The exciting contemporary dance theatre company Scottish Dance Theatre, based at Dundee Rep Theatre, returns to Ullapool with two pieces – Tenterhook and Sorry for the Missiles!

HAVING had visitors for the past couple of weeks I did my tourist bit at the weekends. It once again brought home to me what a great place Lochbroom is and how many places there are to visit.

CONGRATULATIONS to Ullapool's Joanne Macpherson, daughter of Lynne and Nigel Macpherson, who has just been appointed manager of Lochbroom Leisure in Ullapool. She takes up her post on October 1. For the past three years Joanne has been manager at Assynt Leisure — the sport, youth and learning centre in Lochinver.

RESIDENT or visitor, there's plenty for you to do around Ullapool this weekend.

HOW many of you last week saw the first programme in the BBC series Great British Journeys in which the presenter Nicholas Crane follows the trail of early travellers in Britain? This programme followed the path of Thomas Pennant, a Welsh naturalist, who journeyed to the Highlands in 1772.

ULLAPOOL has many young people who make the village proud. Last week's Ross-shire Journal reported on Gillian Slider, daughter of Neil and Pat Slider, Ladysmith Street, taking up her new role as the Highlands' full- time youth convenor.

THE second phase of improvements to Ullapool River footbridges has been taking place during the past couple of weeks. Once again the army has been doing the work.

ONE of the students back home working for their summer holidays is Janet Kelly, Strathkanaird, younger daughter of Mike and Lesley Kelly. Twenty-two-year-old Janet has had a very different experience of student life. She is studying at Glasgow School of Art for a Masters of European Design specialising in product design.

WE'RE delighted to hear of the birth of the son of Alasdair and Louise MacLennan. Lachlan William Murray MacLennan was born in Truro on Wednesday of last week.

A CHANCE meeting with Fèis Ross director Rita Hunter on the ferry to Stornoway last Friday led me to a wonderful concert at An Lanntair that afternoon.

THE website of the Scottish Youth Parliament tells us that seventeen-year-old Gillian Slider of Ullapool, who represents Ross, Skye and Inverness West, has been appointed Convener of the Transport, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee. Gillian is involved in many youth organisations including SYP as well as Highland Youth Voice, Ross and Cromarty Youth Forum and Youth Bank. Gillian has just left Ullapool High School where she was on the Student Council and was the pupil representative on the School Board. This year she has achieved a Young Quality Scot Award for the work she does in her local community and was a finalist for the communities category at 2007’s Young Scot Awards.

REBECCA Urquhart, daughter of the late Robert Urquhart and of Highland Council’s vice-convener Jean Urquhart, married Gary Craig of Glasgow a couple of weeks ago in the family hotel, The Ceilidh Place.

FOR those of you with access to the internet Highland Council has an excellent bilingual site Am Baile www.ambaile.org.uk which gives information on Highland history and culture and includes photographs and documents.

WESTER Ross Life was a superb magazine edited and run by Don Shaw of Ullapool in the 1990s. He has kindly given all his back copies of the magazine to Sheila Didcock to sell with the proceeds going to Sheila's walk in this year's Great Wilderness Challenge on August 18.

I'VE had a response to the item in Blethers a couple of weeks ago when I wrote about sea eagles and the mention in the 1903 guide book of Edward McLeay, naturalist.

A SEA eagle has been seen a couple of times near Ullapool in the past couple of weeks. It was spotted near Ardcharnich and then another (or the same?) was seen flying at the hill behind Ullapool.

POPULAR writer Mairi Hedderwick, author of the Katie Morag series of children's books, was at Ullapool Health Centre last Thursday promoting breast feeding.

TODAY (Friday), Annabel Maclennan and Frank Flipsen get married. Annabel is the daughter of Pat Turner and the late Donald Maclennan of Ullapool. Frank is from Holland and the couple met at a dive centre in Thailand three years ago.

WHAT a busy week ahead in Ullapool! First of all there's the book festival (which started last night — Thursday) all weekend with something for everyone.

CONGRATULATIONS to Kath Woods (nee Ross), Leckmelm, for her tremendous achievement in completing the recent London Marathon.

ULLAPOOL'S Bill and Chris Smith will celebrate their golden wedding next Monday. They got married on April 30, 1957 in St Columba's Church in Inverness.

THE new pontoon and access bridge at Isle Martin will be in place very shortly. The pontoon will improve access to the island and also enable small cruise boats to land passengers for a look around this historic island. Isle Martin is community owned and is run by Isle Martin Trust, a registered charity.

LOCAL couple Iain Maclennan and Ruth Urquhart got married last Friday.

THE Ross-shire Journal has been responsible for reuniting two men who had spent time together travelling in Asia nearly four years ago; they had then lost touch as they had both changed e-mail addresses.

AS commemorations of the bicentenary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade took place earlier this week, the name of William Wilberforce and his role in the abolition has been much in the news.

RHUE-BASED artist James Hawkins has an exhibition opening today at Kilmorack Gallery. Water, Wind and Light will run until April 23 at the gallery near Beauly. The paintings are stunning and after seeing the catalogue I can’t wait to see the exhibition.

THERE’S a rash of fundraising activity taking place this weekend. Tonight (Friday), in Coigach community hall, there is a Grand Auction in aid of Coigach Parents’ Association.

ULLAPOOL pops up everywhere. A friend holidaying in South Africa came across an article in a magazine which she brought back and gave to me. It was a travel piece on holidaying in Scotland for 10 days on a 10,000 rand budget (around £830) — including flights. The writers started in Edinburgh, worked their way up the A9 to Inverness and then down to Loch Ness.

ULLAPOOL registrar Doreen Macleod has just married her daughter! Marianne, younger daughter of Doreen and husband Angus, married Innes MacAulay of North Shawbost, Lewis on February 16 at the Royal Hotel. Doreen has been conducting marriages for over seventeen years but this was a really special occasion for her.

A COUPLE of weeks ago Ullapool was visited by a national newspaper that was touring Scotland asking people what they thought of their nation 300 years after the Treaty of Union.

DO you fancy spending the summer living and working on your own on an island?

SHEILA Didcock has returned from her travels in India with wonderful stories of her time there. I’m particularly envious of her breakfasts of fresh coconut and pineapple!

TICKETS for the 2007 Loopallu went on sale this week and the expectation is that the 3,000 tickets will sell even faster than last year when they sold out in eight weeks.

FROM the moment Ullapool pipers Rheanna Urquhart and Kirsty Anne Macfarlane came on stage with a beautifully played set of pipe tunes until two hours later, the Macphail Theatre was filled with music from a group of talented Ullapool High School students in a fundraising concert organised and performed by the pupils themselves.

YOU have to feel for Andrew Themis, manager at Somerfields. That’s twice now that he’s travelled to Perthshire to do his parachute jump for Ullapool High School music department funds, and twice it has been cancelled due to bad weather. The conditions last Saturday were so appalling that even the planes were sheltering in the hangars.

WHILE in Edinburgh over Christmas and New Year, I visited the National Library of Scotland.

AT THE end of 2006 you look back on the year just past and forward to the year ahead.

LAST week I had one of these train journeys that make you want to go by bus or car!

TOMORROW (Saturday) the award-winning comedian Phil Kay will be in Ullapool to do a couple of children’s shows.

HISTORY was made last week when the first ever woman joined the board of Ullapool Harbour Trustees. Local woman Fiona Macdonald, who is a vessel agent, was appointed along with civil engineer Sandy Osborne and former fisherman Alan Britten.

A GROUP of young musicians from Ullapool High School took to the stage last Friday evening in The Ceilidh Place as support act for Scottish traditional singing legend Archie Fisher.

ULLAPOOL has recently become a Fairtrade Village. Fairtrade status is acquired by meeting several criteria, including the availability of Fairtrade products in a required number of retailing and catering establishments.

ATTA Macrae returned to Ullapool last week from Australia where he attended the marriage of his son Glenn to Elaine King of Dumbarton on October 27.

YET again Ullapool people have shown their wonderful generosity. Last Saturday's Soup and Pudding Lunch resulted in £670 being sent to the Ross-shire Branch of the MS Society.

TONIGHT (Friday) the Lochewe branch of An Comunn Gaidhealach is holding an unmissable ceilidh and dance in Ullapool's Harbour Lights Hotel at 7.30pm. And what a treat is in store; the organisers have booked a superb line-up of singers and musicians.

LAST Monday in Ullapool there was a Scottish Executive roadshow offering people the opportunity to learn about proposals for Scotland's first coastal and marine national park, and to have their say.

NEXT Friday is "National In The Pink Day" and The Seaforth Inn is staging a large fundraiser in the evening. There will be a disco and a quiz (for individuals or for teams - it's all very informal!) as well as a really good raffle with prizes donated by suppliers.

JOHN Grant may have turned 50 earlier this year but he's still got it in him! Last Sunday, after months of being a familiar sight pounding the village streets morning and evening, he took part in the Loch Ness marathon. Not just took part but excelled in very wet conditions.

LOOPALLU has been and gone and there are not enough superlatives to describe the festival! The sun shone, the music was amazing, the children's musicmaking and art tents were excellent, the food stalls were stars in their own right - and the organisation was superb.

ANDREW Themis, manager of Ullapool's Somerfield store, is going to jump out of a plane on Sunday - but he will have a parachute on and it's all in a good cause.

TOMORROW a couple of Isle Martin Trust directors will be leading a couple of history walks on the island.

FORMER Ullapool High School (and primary school) pupil Ailsa Campbell is flying high in her career. Thirty-year-old Ailsa, youngest daughter of Robin and Sandra Campbell, gained a degree in sound engineering before making a career change and moving to Peterborough to work in IT support with an insurance company.

VISITING Ullapool for the afternoon on Monday were Gordon Macleod (ancestors from Kintail) and Adrienne MacKenzie (ancestors from Barra) from near Pictou, Nova Scotia. They have been staying in Skye with Andy Mitchell and Morag Anna Macleod and had attended the Clan Macleod Parliament in Dunvegan.

ODDBALLS Day is here again - a day to raise funds for the local shinty and football clubs. It will take place tomorrow (Saturday) on Quay Street outside The Seaforth.

THE Morefield bridges were formally handed over to Highland Council last Saturday.

BY tomorrow the army will have completed the renovation of the footbridges over the river leading to Morefield. Since Monday morning members of Aberdeen University Officer Training Corps have been working with army regulars to get the work completed.

JUDIE Watson of Morefield Brae, daughter of Scott and Roseanne Watson and grand-daughter of Rosie and the late Ken Urquhart, graduated Bachelor of Science with the Open University at the end of May. She studied long distance for four years while also working part-time in the Gaelic nursery in Ullapool.

ULLAPOOL is definitely the place to be tomorrow! Ullapool Rotary Club's Round the Pier - Summer's Here 2006 takes place from 10 am.

TONIGHT (Friday), Crash Banjos are playing in Ullapool village hall for a very special cause. The dance has been organised by Lochbroom Camanachd to raise money to send five of their members (all under 17) to the national development camp in Perth.

NEWS of another local baby! Robert Logan Flipsen was born on Tuesday, May 30, to Annabel Maclennan and partner Frank Flipsen in Raigmore Hospital.

A QUIZ in the Arch Inn last Saturday raised around £300 for Computers for Africa, a charity that refurbishes old computers and sends them to Africa for use in schools there.

LAST Saturday's Isle Martin open day was great fun - and well attended. Seventy-five people went to the island for the day, many of them for the first time.

CALLING all chocolate lovers! Ullapool has a new business which will gladden your heart.