Museum of the Isles

This project, entitled "The Crofters and the Second World War", will collect, record and present information, both oral and documentary, on how WWII affected life in Skye and Lochalsh. Involving both school children and the wartime generation, the project will illustrate how the war impacted on crofting, fishing and domestic life.

The partnership of local museums will look at the unique story of what the war meant to the population of the area, many of whom were Gaelic speaking crofters, and who, although geographically distant from the main centres of action, still felt a profound effect, both in changes to their way of life, and in the personal contribution people made to the war.

Vignettes are likely to include:

• the use of horses in croftwork and how the government's tractor scheme introduced tractors to the island and, ultimately, led to the mechanisation of farming work
• the government's pig and milk schemes and how these operated
• children's part in croft work while many of the men were away on the frontline
• the air raid on Arisaig and Morar