Croftwork

Donna Smith and Eilidh Ross

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SOCIETY & CULTURE
UPDATED MONTHLY

Each month Donna Smith, Chief Executive of the Scottish Crofting Federation and Eilidh Ross, Principal Consultant at Camus Consulting, will talk to guests about their connection to crofting, their views about the future of the crofting system and the proposed legal reforms to crofting legislation.

JAN 17

Episode 9 - Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw Bt KC

Sir Crispin is currently an Honorary Research Fellow, University of Dundee Law Department and a legal convenor of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland and has had a long and distinguished career in law with a keen interest in crofting and land reform. He was in practise as an advocate from 1982 to 2020 and was appointed a Queens Counsel in 1995. From the start of his career, he specialised in rural property law with a particular interest in agricultural and crofting law. Sir Crispin represented landlords and tenants in the Land Court under the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Acts 1991 & 2003 and was also involved in crofting cases in the Land Court and authored Crofting Law (2000) T & T Clark, also holding the role of Chair of the Crofting Law Group for many years. He was on the Scottish Land Commission advice panel on land reform and other land related issues until 2024. Outside of his professional and voluntary work nowadays, his main interests now are sailing (I have a small boat on the Forth) and mountain biking combined with some hill walking.

50 min
11/24/2025

Episode 8 - Agnes Rennie

Together with Frank, Agnes lives and works on the family croft in the village of Galson. This croft, along with another they now tenant, was allotted to her grandparents when Galson was resettled in 1924 following the 1919 Land Settlement Act. (Galson had been cleared in 1863 by James Matheson, drug lord extraordinaire and was empty of people apart from the tenant farmer and his two shepherds). They still have a small flock of sheep, hens and two ponies and Agnes is a member of the Grazings committee, having served as Chair in the past. They have had a polytunnel for over 20 years and this year added a polycrub to the "covered garden". Agnes has had a wide and varied career both professional and voluntary which has included Community Cooperative Development Officer with HIDB, manager of what was at the time the recently established Gaelic publishing company Acair, the Board of Comann Eachdaidh Nis, the first woman to sit on the Crofters Commission, the board of Community Land Scotland and in 2005 was elected to the Board of the newly established UOG (Galson Estate Trust) of which she is currently the chair. Agnes also occasionally presents Gaelic radio programmes and does voice overs for Gaelic language documentaries, having recently done a fascinating series of six programmes about female spies from WW2. Music credit: Peatbog Faeries

59 min
10/17/2025

Episode 7 - Sally Reynolds

In this episode we discuss community owned crofting estates amongst other things with Sally Reynolds. Sally is a crofter from the Isle of Lewis and she currently leads Community Land Scotland's new Natural Capital Community Partnerships project. Sally's background includes experience working within the crofting sector with strong experience in community engagement and development. Sally previously worked as an Agricultural Consultant with SAC Consulting and as Development Manager with community landowner Urras Oighreachd Chàrlabhaigh (Carloway Estate Trust). Sally's interest and passion for Land Reform led her to be one of the first Scottish Land Commissioners. Music credit: Peatbog Faeries

42 min
09/17/2025

Episode 6 - Malcolm Combe

In this episode we chat with Malcolm Combe, a senior lecturer in Scots private law at the University of Strathclyde, having arrived there by way of a stint in private practice followed by a position as a lecturer at the University of Aberdeen. Malcolm grew up in Renfrewshire with strong Lewis connections; his Mother coming from Point where Malcolm spent family holidays in his younger years. Later on as a law student, Malcolm found himself increasingly drawn to the Western Isles and Lewis in particular, with its deep commitment to community ownership and land reform, just at the time the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 was passed. Land reform remains one of Malcolm's principal academic interests and he is one of the few bridges between the world of land reform and crofting law.

44 min
08/18/2025

Episode 5 - John Toal

John Toal comes from a crofting background in Lochaber and in 1985 he took on the role of grazings clerk and secretary of his local sheep stock club. In the same year the Scottish Crofters Union was formed, and John was directly involved in the formation of SCU branches and the area structure in Lochaber. John was then branch secretary of the Lochaber branch, and became President of the Lochaber Area, representing it at SCU Council level. In 1992 John began crofting-related employment that continued for 30 years with the Scottish Crofters Union, the Lochaber Local Enterprise Company, and the Crofters later the Crofting Commission. This involved work in advocacy, research and policy development, crofting development, project management, community engagement, crofting regulation and legislation, crofting support structures and land management.

47 min
07/17/2025

Episode 4 - Lucy Beattie

In this episode, Donna and Eilidh chat with Dr Lucy Beattie. Lucy is from Leckmelm, close to the village of Ullapool. She has over 28 years of hands-on experience managing her own farming business and has also worked in education, teaching rural skills at Ullapool High and managing education projects for the Scottish Crofting Federation all over the Highlands and Islands. Lucy took a break from work to complete a PhD focused on public engagement with science. She is currently employed by the James Hutton Institute as a researcher in sustainable farming systems and she was recently appointed as a Commissioner for the Scottish Land Commission. Music credit: Peatbog Faeries

47 min
06/17/2025

Episode 3 - Jamie McIntyre

In this episode we talk all things woodland crofting with Jamie McIntyre. Jamie is a freelance forester and community development worker based in Ardnamurchan, though most of his time is spent supporting the Woodland Crofts Partnership (of which SCF is one of 4 partners). He's had a long interest in smaller-scale, rural development forestry and in particular 'family forestry' models such as woodland crofts & woodlots. He was, for a time, woodland crofts officer for HIE/FCS when the model gained 'official' support following the 2007 Crofting Reform Act, but has been self-employed for the last 13 years. His wife was raised on the family croft and they have 4 children, though only 1 is still in school. In his spare time Jamie is involved in various community projects including a hydro scheme, a community-owned school building and a community woodland. Music credit: Peatbog Faeries

1h 1m
05/19/2025

Episode 2 - Rhoda Meek

In this episode we chat with Rhoda Meek. Rhoda is an entrepreneur, digital consultant and crofter based in the Isle of Tiree. Running Isle Develop CIC, and her own business, Meekton Enterprises, keeps her busy most of the time. From time to time she contracts for US Tech Startups, managing Customer Experience. At the moment she is doing Comms & Gaelic Development for the Tiree Community Development Trust. You'll also find her column in the Sunday National each week. We explore Rhoda's thoughts on the crofting system, good and bad, thoughts on the future and what some of the barriers are to new entrants. Music credit: The Peatbog Faeries

44 min
04/17/2025

Episode 1 - Andrew Thin

In this first full episode we chat to Andrew Thin, Chair of the Crofting Commission. Andrew has been a board member of the Crofting Commission since September 2022. His hands-on practical experience of crofting dates back to the 1960s and previous public sector roles have included Chair of the Cairngorms National Park Authority, Chair of Scottish National Heritage, Chair of Scottish Canals and Chair of the Scottish Land Commission. Our chat covers crofting law, what role crofting has to play in the future of land reform and what the good and bad is about being a Commissioner. Music credit: Peatbog Faeries

41 min
04/10/2025

Intro: Croftwork - Meet the hosts

In this short introductory podcast, meet the hosts, Donna Smith and Eilidh Ross, who explain how the podcast came about, what their respective interests in crofting are and what the Croftwork podcast series is going to be all about. Music credit: Peatbog Faeries

1 min

10 Episodes

Each month Donna Smith, Chief Executive of the Scottish Crofting Federation and Eilidh Ross, Principal Consultant at Camus Consulting, will talk to guests about their connection to crofting, their views about the future of the crofting system and the proposed legal reforms to crofting legislation.

Creator

Donna Smith and Eilidh Ross
Years Active

2025 - 2026
Episodes

10
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 2025
Show Website

Croftwork