Centenary of the Struggle for Upper Coll and Gress

That the Parliament notes the centenary of the land struggles that took place in the communities of Upper Coll and Gress in Lewis in 1919; acknowledges the peaceful protest by the founding members of these villages; understands that, in 1919, nearly 1,000 people gathered for a public meeting with the landlord, Lord Leverhulme, where he denied them the land, despite political promises that had been made that those returning from service in the First World War could expect land of their own; acknowledges that these events took place following a century in which vast numbers of people in the Highlands and Islands had been cleared from their lands; recognises the reforming zeal of the land raiders, who believed in the justice of their cause, even if Lord Leverhulme could not understand it; commends the raiders’ tenacity, as they eventually succeeded in reclaiming the land of Upper Coll and Gress, resulting in the creation of 100 new crofts and establishing crofting communities that are still there today, and praises the children and young people of these villages for their recent commemoration of these events, which included planting potatoes to remember the peaceful protest of potato planting that took place in 1919.