Clilstore Facebook WA Linkedin Email
Login

This is a Clilstore unit. You can link all words to dictionaries.

Am Pàipear Community Newspaper

Archie Mackay is the editor and chief reporter for Am Pàipear, the community newspaper for North and South Uist and attached islands. That involves a lot of duties, including finding news stories in the community, and getting out and interviewing people.

Today he is talking to Norman Maclean, the famous writer and entertainer, who has recently returned to live in Uist. Norman has just brought out his autobiography, which Archie will be reviewing in Am Pàipear. Switching naturally between English and Gaelic, the two find they have a lot to talk about, as they have a shared interest in writing. And when he leaves, Archie knows he’s got plenty of material for a two-page spread in the next edition of Am Pàipear.

The Am Pàipear offices are in Balivanich in Benbecula. Archie plans to broaden Am Pàipear’s services to the community, and he’s working on developing a new website. The training sessions are actually delivered over the telephone from a company based hundreds of miles away in Brighton, in England. The new site will have many features, including an interactive “What’s on?” section, and a picture gallery. This will show the work from another new initiative – “Gailearaidh an Trannsa – The Corridor Gallery”. Here, when it’s ready, different local artists will display their work every month.

Meanwhile the monthly deadline for the printed version of Am Pàipear is approaching, and Archie has a lot of work to do to get it ready. The paper carries a lot of advertisements for local businesses, but there are 28 pages to fill. The piece on Norman will cover two.

The wall behind Archie’s desk shows how ready each page is for this month’s edition. But no sooner is one piece ready than he has to check the accuracy of another – a story about the Tobar an Dualchais project in Lochboisdale, and the news that jobs have been secured beyond the original plan by diversifying the work there. It’s important to get the details right, and Archie is happy to check the story over the phone with Shona Macdonald, the manager, before it goes into print.

The paper has to be printed tomorrow, so Archie is going to have a long night tonight, putting every last page in place. In fact, he might not get to bed at all.

A couple of days later, when the papers arrive back from the printer, he is able to check the results of his work. Norman is indeed looking happy in his two-page spread. The news about the jobs in Lochboisdale is excellent, and helps to boost confidence in a community wishing to embrace the potential of new technology. Regular advertisements and community features remind everyone of the services that are available and why they appreciate living here. Archie can reflect that his work is playing an important role in Uist community life.

Clilstore Island VoicesCrossword ExerciseArchie Mackay

Short url:   https://clilstore.eu/cs/671