125295: Domhnall Calaidh – 90th Birthday

Dòmhnall Calaidh 90th birthday July 2012.

In my younger days at 14a Grimshader, my mother and father were not church communicants. My father would rise about four o clock in the morning and go to weave tweeds on an old wooden loom. At ten o’clock in the morning, he would return home, we all had to be gathered and he would lead family worship.

There was a tradition then, which is not observed today. When my mother sat down for family worship she followed the Biblical tradition. A woman’s hair was said to be her crowning glory She would sit down and the first thing she did was cover her hair, hiding her own glory before she came to the word of God. She was not a communicant but this was the custom.

I was 14 years of age in 1937. That was the year of the Dusgadh the revival in our village and my mother and father were converted that year. There were two houses on the croft we were living on, five people professed their faith, the year of the revival. The house next door to ours was Taigh Cluaisean, there was Duidhlan, Alasdair his sister Murdina and Dolaidh.

I remember hearing at the time, that a man in the village had seen an unearthly light going to every house in the village. I am not sure whether it was in a dream he had seen this. But they talked about this man having seen a very bright light which visited every home.

In the previous year 1936, the congregation in the Free Church in Crossbost had got so few in number, that there was only one elderly man who could lead the psalm-singing. On expressing his concern to the minister, the Reverend Malcolm MacIver responded with “Keep it up for the next year, things are going to prosper here”

At the time of the revival in 1937, I thought it was a good thing, although it was not for me. I would go fishing. People came from the Westside to the revival gatherings in Taigh Cluaisean, the other house on the croft. The village meeting house was packed to the limit, it seemed as if half the village had found the Lord.

I had only been to church once when I was eight and I was 30 years old before I went through the doors again. This is how it happened.

My mother had a great friend who lived in Laxdale, Catriona Mhurchaidh Chaluim Mòr  from Bragar. Although my mother had passed on ten years previously, I used to visit Catriona regularly. My sister came home one Tuesday evening and said that both Catriona and her brother were very ill with the flu. I quickly threw my shoes on and drove to Laxdale to see them. Iain ’an Biodaidh’s wife was looking after Catriona and her brother, as they were so ill. She told me that Catriona was so poorly that nobody was getting in to see her. I said I would go upstairs to see Donald. When I came back down the stairs she was waiting for me and said "Catriona wants to see you”. I went to her beside.

The first thing she said was “Did you go to listen to the minister tonight?” Na h-òrdaighean beaga the communions were on and Catriona’s minister Rev MacRitchie was preaching.

“No” I replied.

“Did you go to listen to him last night?” she asked.

“No” I replied. To my surprise I found myself adding – “He is preaching again tomorrow night and I will be there for sure”. Now I did not say those words. The Lord put those words in my mouth. I cannot tell a lie, I would rather keep my mouth shut.

That Tuesday night on the way home, I suddenly had a terrible thought. It was that I had told a lie. But then I reasoned, that if I went to the service on Wednesday evening, it would not have been a lie. So on Wednesday evening I went to the service by Rev MacRitchie and that was the very night the Lord came into my life. An taobh a staigh do d’ bhallachan bidh sìth ’s sonas maith. That was what stayed with me that night and has had special relevance ever since.

Many times God’s Providence has helped me to prosper during my lifetime. After all I will be 90 years of age in July 2012. There are a lot of other things that happen to me during my lifetime that some people would not believe. If they don’t believe it, it does not matter.

One time, it was when I was building an extension to the house. I was working in Arnish Fabrication Yard at the time and there was a rig in the bay. After my day’s work in Arnish I was working on the extension. I knocked down the back wall of the house, propping up the roof and joined the new wall to the old.

Duidhlan next door used to say to his wife Tha eagal mo bheath’ orm gun toir e an taigh air a mhùin. I had not planned what I was going to put in the gap I had made, where I had propped up the roof. One day in Arnish I was helping with an H-Beam that was to be taken to the cutting machine. The foreman gave the required measurements for the H-beam. Ten minutes later he turned to me and said he had cut it short and another H-beam was to be ordered.

Working on the new extension that evening, I was just at the stage when I would have to support the roof, where I had knocked down the wall. I had no idea how I was going to do it. Measuring the gap it was ten feet and a few inches. That night in bed I came up with answer.

Back in the yard the next day I went back to the mainlander foreman and asked him what he happened to the H-beam. It had been thrown in the dump he said. The rig was a government contract, as it was not a private contract they weren’t counting the cost of material. They just ordered another beam for the rig. I expressed a wish to buy the beam which was too short to be of any use for the rig contract. He said “You leave it to me”. He went to speak to the next man in charge. That morning they went out to the dump with the digger, as it took more than two people to carry it. They found the beam, loaded it on a lorry and dumped it by the roadside at my house in Grimshader, later that very day. They would not take a penny for it. Who knows how much that would have cost me if I had had to pay the going rate.

The beam was just perfect for my purpose. It was six inches too long for the gap, easily sorted, with a further three extra inches broken out on both sides. There was no way it could be cut without a specialist saw anyway. It was protruding about quarter of an inch on the ceiling of the room and I would often sit and look at it and remember how that H-beam had been provided for me.

In my latter years I lost the sight in one eye. I was at the front of my own house one day, by the porch, which was made from white wood. I could see the paint was flaking badly and as I had a knife in my pocket I scraped it gently, to my horror the knife sunk right into the wood. It was full of dry rot. As I had lost the vision in one eye I couldn’t repair it myself so I rang Seòras Mackenzie the joiner from the village. He said he would come to have a look at the job later in the day.

An hour later I went to the byre and my eye landed on the old hardwood windows from the main house, which I had replaced with UPC windows some years before.
I took two of the hardwood windows down and put a plank of wood between them. I went back to measure the side of the porch and it was exactly the same size as the two hardwood windows with the spacer. When Seòras the joiner arrived, we took the other hardwood windows out of the byre and lined then up around the porch.

Two windows and a spacer did one side of the porch. Two windows and a spacer fitted the other side of the porch. One window and a spacer, was a perfect fit to the door jab on the third side. When Seòras began to work on the porch, it fitted together like a piece of furniture with those heavy hardwood windows. It fitted so well we didn’t even have to disturb the roof.
The whole thing is so unbelievable, that I am not surprised that people think I made it up. But Seòras is my witness he knows as he worked on my house. It was a miracle. When the Lord does something He will do it right. I think about the help He provided me with, all the years of my life. I would wish that everybody would receive the abundance that I received myself.

Maitheas an Tighearna.

Interview by Magaidh Smith July 2012.