Gaelic Ring: Oban to Barra, Eriskay, South Uist, Benbecula,
North Uist, Skye and Mallaig
by Angus Peter Campbell

An award-winning poet, novelist, journalist, broadcaster and film actor. Born on the island of South Uist, Angus Peter now lives with his wife and six children on the Isle of Skye. He was awarded the Bardic Crown for Gaelic poetry and a Creative Scotland Award in 2001. His Gaelic novel An Oidhche Mus do Sheòl Sinn (The Night Before We Sailed) was voted by the public into the Top 10 of the Best-Ever Books written in Scotland. He has starred in the Gaelic feature film Seachd which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival 2007 prior to being shown in cinemas throughout the world. In May 2007, he also published his new Gaelic novel, An Taigh-Samhraidh (The Holiday Home).

Gaelic Ring: Oban to Mull, Ardnamurchan and Skye
by Mairi MacArthur

Born and brought up in St. Andrews into a family with roots, on her father’s side, in Iona and, on her mother’s, in Lewis. Author of several books on the crofting and social history of Iona, she has also acted as Consultant to the island’s Heritage Centre since it opened in 1990. Now resident in Ross-shire, she works part-time as a writer and publisher of local history relating to Mull and Iona and, with her partner Bob Pegg, has been involved in a range of oral history and storytelling projects in the Highlands.

Gaelic Ring: Fort William to Mallaig, Skye, North Uist, Berneray, Harris,
Lewis and Ullapool
by Brian Wilson

A native of Argyll, whose first island journeys were to his mother's native Islay. As founding editor of the West Highland Free Press, based on Skye, he campaigned on a wide range of issues affecting west coast communities. Brian was a Labour MP for 18 years and in 1997 became Minister of State at the Scottish Office, turning some of his ambitions on issues like land reform and the status of Gaelic into government action. He held five Ministerial posts before leaving politics in 2005. Brian now lives with his family in the Uig area of Lewis and is a Director of several companies.

Gaelic Ring: Kennacraig to Islay, Colonsay and Oban
by Iseabail and Margaret Mactaggart

Margaret Anne Mactaggart and Iseabail Mactaggart are mother and daughter. Both live at Kintra Farm in Islay, although Margaret Anne is originally from Lewis. Margaret Anne taught Gaelic for many years in Lewis, Wester Ross, Islay, Lochaber and Sabhal Mor Ostaig. She now manages the farm based tourism business she and her husband, Hamish, have built up over four decades. Now working in Commercial Operations in Islay, previously Iseabail worked in Inverness, London and Shanghai, as a corporate lawyer, broadcaster and Assistant Editor at BBC Radio News. Like her brother and sister, Seumas and Deirdre, Iseabail enjoys Gaelic singing.

Gaelic Ring: Tiree to Oban
by Donald Meek

A boat-builder and seaman by nature, but an academic by profession. He has spent his working life teaching Gaelic and other Celtic languages, and researching Gaelic language, literature and history at the universities of Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh, and has held two Professorships. He has published numerous books and many articles, and, with Nick Robins, he wrote The Kingdom of MacBrayne (2006), which, he says, gave him infinitely more pleasure than any other piece of writing or research. He was Chairman of the Ministerial Advisory Group on Gaelic which recommended the setting up of Bòrd na Gàidhlig in 2003. When he retires he intends to resume his seafaring and boat-building interests.

Gaelic Ring: The Small Isles - Muck, Eigg, Rum and Canna
by Hugh and Jane Cheape

A husband and wife team living in Skye and running a small business on the mainland. While raising a family, Jane worked as a freelance journalist and wrote a book on island food and diet. Hugh was, until recently, a Principal Curator in the National Museums of Scotland where he worked for 33 years, preparing exhibitions and writing articles and books. From the early 1990s, he was helping John Lorne Campbell and Margaret Fay Shaw with their research work in Canna and has spent many happy days every year on the Small Isles ferries.