Image Galleries

A selection of some of the amazing images of Rathlin's beautiful biodiversity – part of the island's Local Biodiversity Action Plan.

All the action from Festival Week 2011.

Many thanks to all who entered this year's photo competition. The standard was as good as ever, and we are delighted to present the winners, and the highly commended and commended entries. Congratulations!

Congratulations to all this year's winners, and many thanks to all who took the time and effort to enter the competition this year. Thanks are also due to the team of judges who had a very difficult task in sifting through the large number of high quality pictures.

Many thanks to all those who took part in the Halloween festivities this year. The spooky storytelling, children's fancy dress walk, fireworks, bonfire and party in the pub, all made for a highly enjoyable night for all. Thanks are due to everyone who worked to make the night, including the fireworks firing team, the island's volunteer Coastguard and Fire Service teams, everyone in the pub especially for all the food, and of course everyone who dressed up.

This year's Festival Week was busy as ever, with a packed schedule of events. With model yacht races, the plays in the Hall, and a very entertaining raft race, there was plenty to enjoy.

The first race of the new season was extremely well attended, with three new boats bringing the race total to six. The expectation surrounding the new boats built over the winter led to a great atmosphere, and the new boats performed well. The next race will see more boats completed, and hopefully the great attendance will continue throughout the season. All photos Robin Chapple.

This week is the last workshop before the first race of the new season on Easter Sunday, so the pressure is on in particular for Brian and Stephen, who are determined to finish their boats in time for the race. Marianne is almost ready to fill her hollowed-out hull with expanding foam, and Cathal is not far behind in the gouging. Brian is now ready to fit his deck, going without the foam, and Stephen is fitting the keel that Loughie cut for him. Meanwhile, Douglas is cutting more keels for the other boats. Roll on the first race!

This week Cathal is on to the gouging stage, while Marianne and Brian are almost finished. James is planing his hull, and Stephen is now preparing his mast and to fix his keel to the hull.

The countdown to the first race continues, as Marianne and Brian keep up the gouging, and Cathal and James continue the shaping of their hulls. Meanwhile, Stephen is ready to attach his decking.

This week, Marianne, Brian, Cathal and Stephen continued their work, with Brian and Marianne at the gouginh stage, while Cathal planed his hull. There is now just over a month to go before the last race of the season. All photos Stephen Ryan

This week was very busy, with Cathal McCurdy and James McFaul taking one of the new ash blocks, and getting stuck in with the cutting and planing. Also along for the first time was Jessica Bates, helping Stephen finish off their hull in time for the first race in April.

This week, Stephen was checking the expanding foam he had placed in his gouged hull the day before, while Brian and Marianne continued the planing and rasping of their hulls, and James and Cathal continued the heavy work of chiselling their blocks into hull shapes. All photos Stephen Ryan.

The Shackleton 80th anniversary celebration event held in the hall on Saturday was a great success with over sixty people attending. The packed hall listened to Douglas Cecil set the scene, and introduce the other speakers. Loughie McQuilkin gave a very evocative account of his childhood memories of the night the Shackleton ran aground. Eoin, Ryan and Orla recited poetry, Gordon Munro, representing the Coastguard, spoke about the continuing tradition of voluntary search and rescue on the island, and Cllr Cara McShane, Chairperson of Moyle District Council remarked on the sense of community evident on the island, and in the event itself. The crew of the RNLI Red Bay Lifeboat also took the trouble to cross over for the event. Ian Wilson, author of 'Shipwrecks of the Ulster Coast' was unfortunately unable to attend. The attendance enjoyed the artwork of the schoolchildren, including a papier mâché model of the East Light, as well as the exhibition of photographs, documents and artefacts relating to the rescue of the Shackleton eighty years ago today. The exhibits will be in the Resource Centre shortly if anyone would like to see them, or look at them again. It is also hoped to exhibit the material in Ballycastle. All photos Stephen Ryan

This week, as well as the Monday night workshop, there was a practice on Ushet Lough on Sunday afternoon. With three boats in the water, it was an ideal way to test Douglas's new boat and the reconditioned Brockley boat against Loughie's. It also served to show us the light at the end of the tunnel for the blocks of wood being worked on in Loughie's shed. This Monday, Brian continued the careful chiselling of his hull, while Douglas tried out a new template for future hull shapes, and Stephen gouged away at his hull.

This week we went from a shortage of suitable blocks to having a great supply of quality wood. Many thanks to Richard Smyton of Smyton Sawmills in Coleraine, and Daniel McVicar Wood Processors in Bushmills for supplying large blocks of ash that will provide model yachts on the island for some years to come. Coincidentally, Brian was also provided with an old pine roof timber by Paddy Burns, so this workshop often focused on the new blocks and their potential. Brian worked on the initial cutting of his block, while Douglas tried to get the electric planer working again, and Marianne and Stephen worked on the planing and gouging of their hulls. All photos Stephen Ryan.

At this evening's workshop, talk turned to Fr McAteer, who passed away at the weekend. Fr McAteer - among many other contributions to the island community - was largely responsible for restarting the model yacht races in the 1980s. Without that contribution it's unlikely that any of us would have been gathering to make new model yachts today. The work continued though, with Marianne working on the very hard planing of the hull, and Stephen gratefully receiving the help of Douglas and Marianne on the gouging of the other hull. At times progress can seem slow, but it is ultimately very rewarding.

This week's workshop saw Marianne concentrating on the manual planing of the hull, with some help from Douglas. This is obviously hard and slow work, as is the hollowing out of the hull using a combination of chisels and gouges. Stephen, helped by Loughie and Douglas, worked on the hollowing out. Care must be taken not to crack the wood, or to break through to the outside of the hull.

This week, after the Christmas break, Douglas, Marianne and Stephen worked with the hail showers rattling overhead. Douglas was keen to get Loughie's views on some changes he has made on his new boat - the old colour is gone, replaced with a dark varnish, and some streamlining of the keel has also been done. Marianne brought down the old Brockley boat, to compare with the new ones as well as Loughie's old boat, and continued the shaping of the new hull with chisels. Stephen finally got to the stage of being able to begin the hollowing out of the hull. This is a two-step process, with a mix of old and new methods. An electric drill is used repeatedly to break up the surface, while most of the content is removed manually with 'gouges': curved edged chisels.

Each Christmas, many island residents go to great lengths to decorate the outside of their homes with Christmas lights. These stand out particularly well in the dark winter nights on the island, and also offer an attractive twinkling welcome to those arriving into the harbour after dark. This gallery gives some idea of the flashing lights of Rathlin this Christmas. All photos Stephen Ryan.