Community Life
There are around 120 permanent residents on the island who live here the full year round. We are a considerably mixed bag of people, combining long term island families who have been here for generations, to nationalities from all over the world who have come to live on this small piece of rock on the Western sea-board of Scotland. Despite our many differences and backgrounds we are very much a self reliant community who share a common experience of small island life. Surviving the gales and darkness of winter takes a certain tenacity of spirit, and above all requires the willingness to share in community life. In short it does not matter where you might have come from, it all depends on how you integrate with island life and how you deal with the challenges that the changing seasons bring.
In short we all wear lots of hats in terms of covering the necessities of life, from childcare, to helping the elderly to organising community events and celebrations. Many people also have several different jobs, and you can easily have a double take at the person serving you in an island shop in the afternoon because you saw them working on a Staffa boat in the morning. The chores of daily life are always needing help from your neighbours as well, such as off-loading deliveries from the mainland, or assisting with the launching and retrieving of boats, to even patching up your roof after a winter gale. We may not have all the services and support that mainland life brings, but between the group of us on the island, we have enough skills and experience to ensure that the jobs are done.
We have an active Community Council that is responsible for co-ordinating things on an island level, and we have various communal enterprises such as the Oran Craft Co-operative that reflect the group approach to life and work on the island. The Hotel itself is relatively large employer on the island, and as a business we are fully committed to our social responsibilities on Iona; from co-operative composting, to flexibility over work times, to assisting and contributing with island events. Our purchasing of as much local produce as possible is very much in line with ensuring that the commercial returns of the business are passed on locally to farmers and fishermen.
