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Stonehaven (Scottish Gaelic: Cala na Creige) is coastal town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It had grew around an Iron Age fishing village and lies in the shelter of Stonehaven Bay. It is an area of historical significance with evidence of prehistoric  structures at Fetteresso Castle, Neolithic pottery found after excavations in the Spurryhillock area and a number of Iron Age ring cairns. Ring cairns are mysterious structure, thought to have been used for a number reasons, including for ceremonial purposes and having an astronomic function purpose.

Cornish Tick Box - Census 2021

A very warm welcome to all our new members.

As you will doubtless be aware, there is a growing campaign calling for the inclusion of a Cornish 'tick box' in the 2021 census return form.

New Quay (Welsh: Cei Newydd) is a Welsh seaside town in Ceredigion and lies on the Ceredigion Coast Path. The town's lifeboat volunteers rescued a sheep and a dog after separate incidents when the animals fell from cliffs on  New Year's Eve. The Audrey LJ inshore lifeboat was launched in the early afternoon after Murray the dog had fallen 50ft (15m) from the cliffs when walking on the coastal path with his owners. The crew found and rescued the dog, who had sustained a broken leg, from a small cove.

There are fifteen inhabited islands in the Outer Hebrides also known as the Western Isles (Scottish Gaelic: Na h-Eileanan Siar), off the west coast of mainland Scotland. Most celebtared the New Year on January 1st, except for one. Berneray (Scottish Gaelic: Beàrnaraigh na Hearadh) in the Sound of Harris (Caolas na Hearadh), sticks to the tradition of Oidhche Challain, the Old New Year, which is celebrated on January 12th. This is in line with the former Highland tradition of following the Julian Calendar, which was subsequently replaced by the Gregorian calendar.

Woodland Trust Scotland is trying to raise £1.6m so that they can buy the 534m (1,752ft) tall Ben Shiedaig mountain in the north-west Highlands of Scotland, after it was put up for sale by a private landowner. Woodland Trust Scotland Director Carol Evans said: "This is a rare opportunity for us to bring a whole mountain under our care." If successful in their bid the Trust plans to manage its spectacular native woodland within a wider mix of wild habitats that climbs from the sea to the summit.

At approximately 1am on the morning of 8th January 1979 a huge explosion rocked the surrounds and lit the winter skies of Bantry Bay  (Irish: Cuan Baoi ) in the south-west of Ireland. On January 4th, 1979, the 121,000 tonne oil tanker Betelgeuse, which was owned by French company Total SA, had arrived in Bantry Bay from Ras Tanura in the Persian Gulf with a cargo of crude oil. On 6th January having berthed at the offshore jetty for the oil terminal at Widdy Island (Oileán Faoide), discharging the 114,000 tonnes of mixed Arabian crude oil began.

The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) have rescued a rare black seal pup from the beach in Eyemouth in south-east Scotland. Eyemouth is a small town and civil parish in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders (Scottish Gaelic: Crìochan na h-Alba).  The Scottish SPCA is an animal welfare charity, which responded to a call from a member of the public who discovered the pup on December 17 and they took her to their National Wildlife Centre in Fishcross.

The much loved, annual Mollag Ghennal, which has its roots in the Garden Room of the old Villa Marina, before the Mollag Band took over the baton from the Calor Gas Ceili Band in 1993, celebrated its twenty fifth anniversary during the festive season.

It has been announced that the excavation of a site at the former mother-and-baby home in Tuam in Co Galway is set to begin in the latter stages of 2019. The Tuam mother-and-baby home operated from 1925 to 1961 and was run by the Bon Secours Sisters, a religious order of Roman Catholic nuns, Unwed pregnant women were sent to the Home to give birth. It is thought that hundreds of babies are buried at the site after significant quantities of human remains were discovered there in 2016 and 2017.

It's a busy time for those keeping Manx traditions in the spotlight on the Isle of Man when St Stephen's Day (Boxing Day) dawns, with a surge of interest in events this year providing a welcome boost for the future of these important occasions.