The Slemish Snakes

The absence of snakes in Ireland gave rise to the legend that they had all been banished by St. Patrick, chasing them into the sea after they attacked him during a 40-day fast he was undertaking on top of Slemish Hill. I passed the hill today, a mini Ayers Rock, which juts out of the […]

The Clouds of Cushendall.

Cushendall village is the meeting point of three glens: Glenann, Glenballylemon and Glencorp. Perched on the north-eastern coast of Northern Ireland, this was once a sword producing town that made the best of the best. Star of ‘Rob-Roy MacGregor’, swashbuckling Liam Neeson has a wee home here and often frequents the local pubs. Great choice, […]

Spring into Summer

Lots going on just now. Just had a great night with some old rock pals from the 80s and 90s. Hamie from the band Heavy Pettin and Neil and Davie from the band Glasgow , my regular drummer and pal Craig, Deke – renowned sax player, belt it oot Barsy, Allan Russell, George Douglas and […]

Autumn Approaches

September has been a busy one as usual. It kicked off with an energised visit to the fabulous New Lanark Heritage site. 250 children to entertain and educate, and the whole world at my feet. See pic. The kids from the surrounding schools were tops, with loads of great questions about Bears, Bands and Books. […]

Heroes and Projects

It’s been crazy over the last few months. Lots of traveling – to Lanzarote, Belfast, London, Duns, Biggar and then back to Helensburgh. I find out that Lanzarote is a lot more than a collection of semi-dormant volcanos, it has some of the best wildlife I’ve seen in The Canaries. For example, the great grey […]

The Squashed Worm and Bramble Pie

This month began with a nasty form of lurgie. I felt awful but after 3 days of Lemsips and honey, I pulled myself out of bed at 5 am, still feeling miserable, and headed down to London. After a few fraught meetings in the mansions of power, negotiating with marketing and sales, I managed to […]

Curried Butterfly Prawns

Prawns often get a bad press when it comes to healthy eating, especially when it comes to the old cholesterol levels. So, I thought I’d try and cancel out some of the bad stuff with some cholesterol busting onions and leeks. Prawns are too scrumptious to ignore so, here we go… Heat smidgen of olive […]

Something Shining in the Sea

It all started when I saw something shining in the sea. Off the coast of Albania, a disc-like object was refracting the sunlight, flashing a random morse in the dusky light. A small boat veered off course to investigate and actually hooked whatever it was out of the water. I thought this would make a […]

Dolly Mixtures

August and September seem to have slipped by in smirr of rain, wind and pond water. That jaunt to Mallorca early on in August gave the whole family lucky boost before the onslaught of the Scottish summer of 2011. The SS Wilding has barely moved from her mooring. Well, that’s not entirely true; we have […]

Jose, Patrick and the Flood

Yes, it has been another crazy month in the zany life of Sam Wilding… fantastic kids up in Ullapool and Oban, wind-powered children in Galston, with under-floor heating. All in all, another 500 children got to design their very own monsters and find out a little more about asthma. The next bit sounds a bit name-droppy, but I’ll […]