helping

Ulva House is a building site. There are workmen up ladders, hammering, plastering, but I leave my muddy walking boots by the door. There’s no central heating or hot water and Banjo Beale and his husband, Ro, have been camping out here for weeks, but he greets me, dazzlingly debonair, in a burnt orange beanie and fabulous Moroccan rug coat.

The 2022 winner of the BBC’s Interior Design Masters, who went on to front his own makeover show Designing the Hebrides, Banjo’s vibe is more exuberant Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen than quizzical Kevin McCloud. His latest project with Ro, the transformation of a derelict mansion on the small Hebridean island of Ulva into a boutique hotel, is the subject of a new six-part series, airing on BBC Scotland. I’m here for a preview of the finished rooms.

At just 7.5 miles long by 2.5 wide, Ulva, across a narrow strait from the Isle of Mull, was privately owned until recently. When it went on the market in 2018, a community buyout was orchestrated with the aim of attracting people back to Ulva and breathing new life into the island.

The first national census in 1841 recorded a population of 570 on the island, but largely owing to the brutal evictions of the Highland Clearances (when lairds forced crofting tenants off the land, replacing them with sheep), by 2015 there were just three adults and two children living here.

Community buyouts are becoming more common across Scotland, following the example of islands such as Eigg, empowering locals to take control of their futures and save local businesses. Numbers on Ulva have since swelled to 16 – the long-term target is 50 – after an advert was posted inviting applications for settlement here. Now, two Aussies (Banjo and Ro) and their wolfhound/greyhound cross, Grampa, are shining an even brighter spotlight on this remote island and helping to turn its fortunes around.

There has been a house here, once the seat of Clan Macquarie, since the 17th or 18th century. The original property was replaced by a Regency-style mansion at the beginning of the 19th century and, after a fire in the 1950s, it was rebuilt on the same footprint. The elegant, Grade B-listed, modernist mansion (with a nod to Arts and Crafts and Regency-influenced interiors) “has good bones” Banjo tells me, but it was derelict when they first stumbled upon it – and decided to plunge their savings into converting it into a hotel. They have secured a rent and repair lease and part of the profits will be ploughed back into the community. “The good thing about Ulva being community owned,” Banjo explains, “is we’re all in this together.”

The pair first washed up in the Hebrides because Ro had a dream of becoming a cheesemaker and they had heard about Sgriob-ruadh (pronounced skrib-rooa), the dairy farm turned award-winning artisan cheesemaker on Mull. Ro learned how to make cheese while Banjo dipped his toe into interior design, doing up the striking Glass Barn cafe with its owner, Chris Reade; rummaging through the old farm buildings for things he could use – and sparking a new passion.

In the entrance hall of Ulva House, and curving up the grand staircase, a romantic mural features palm trees against a mountainous landscape, painted by the artist Melissa Wickham, while a profusion of towering pot plants is scattered around a bamboo-clad reception desk.

“Ro loves tropical stuff,” Banjo smiles. “I’m more classical. The project is a coming together of our styles. We want it to feel bohemian, whimsical.”

I follow him into the Library Bar. “I think I am a frustrated antiques dealer,” he admits as I admire the giant zinc and marble-top bar. “I’ve been collecting pieces for years; most of it’s in storage in a huge shed at the cheese farm.”

Belgium and France are his main hunting grounds; he found the Parisian pitch pine bar near Lyon, a steal at just £1,500. How they got it over from Mull on the tiny passenger ferry is another story. “It had to straddle the boat, then we used a horse float [horse trailer] to get it from the jetty (there are no cars on Ulva) and took the windows out to get it in.”

The library is opulent. You can imagine nursing a negroni and thumbing through the pages of some of the old books. Above the fireplace are framed plans Banjo found in a salvage yard, the date 1827, and signed “Macquarie”. Another Macquarie, he tells me, Major General Lachlan Macquarie (1762-1824), who was born on Ulva, became governor of New South Wales.

The light-infused Orangery or drawing room is a glorious space peppered with more pot plants, distressed urns, vintage rattan chairs, and unframed oils on the walls. The peeling pale green paint has been painstakingly preserved with a layer of varnish, a Miss Havisham-esque process he explains is called “arrested decay”.

When it opens later in the year, the seven-bedroom hotel will be open seasonally, with Ro doing the cooking. Until then, visitors to the island can take their pick between two off-grid bothies and a revamped hostel. Banjo’s makeover of Cragaig Bothy for the community featured in an episode of Designing the Hebrides. In fact, the hotel is his third project on Ulva. Last summer, he and Ro, along with a young farmer, charcuterie-maker and baker, Sam, also took on the lease of The Boathouse, the white waterfront restaurant by the jetty.

It became an instant hit, with people flocking over from Mull for platters of langoustine and lobster perched at picnic tables near the rocks, and meandering along the waymarked walking trails that crisscross the island.

I’m staying in Bearnus Bothy for the weekend, a five-mile hike from the jetty along a coastal track. It’s run by Andy and Yvette Primrose, who live off-grid on the neighbouring island of Gometra – an island off an island off an island. The couple are climbers – Yvette has tackled the north side of Everest and her book Expedition from the Backdoor is the tale of her 660-mile journey on foot from Shropshire to Knoydart, on the west coast of Scotland. They also run the island’s hostel.

The pretty, whitewashed bothy above the beach is a welcome sight after a squally walk – as is the basket full of logs and the pulley above the stove for drying wet clothes. There are just two rooms, a bedroom with old-fashioned twin beds topped with woollen blankets and a kitchen/diner, a bathroom with flushing toilet and Belfast sink in between. There’s also a tin bath, which can be filled with water heated on the wood-burning stove.

In front of the fire are two rocking chairs with tartan blankets. Lighting is by candles, tealights and battery-operated fairy lights. There are crocs and wellies by the door. A bookcase is stacked with novels, walking and wildlife guides and games to while away long evenings.

Flicking through the visitor book by candlelight, I read about Swallows and Amazons-style family adventures, swimming from the beach below the bothy, sailing trips and picnics. Inspired, I hike over to Gometra, accessed at low tide over the sand, at high tide over a footbridge, scouring the shoreline with binoculars and spotting seals basking on rocks and a family of otters playing in the water. Soaring high above is a hen harrier. There’s not another soul around.

Solitary rambles might soon be a thing of the past, of course, now that the island is being “re-peopled”. And, with a hotel opening on the horizon, the future for Ulva is starting to look brighter and a little busier.

Accommodation was provided by Bearnus Bothy (airbnb.co.uk), minimum two-night stay from £121. CalMac (calmac.co.uk) ferries sail from Lochaline on the Scottish mainland to Fishnish on Mull, from £6.50 return for foot passengers, £25.60 for a car. The Ulva foot passenger ferry costs £8 return for adults, £4 for children.

The foundation has so far raised £65,000 through, in part, events like a ball at Worcestershire’s New Road and a golf day. But Lisa and Paul have hit an obstacle. Spending the money is proving more problematic than raising it.

“I thought it would be the other way around,” says Paul. “Raising money is never easy, but how do we change people’s lives, how do we make things better for people and have success stories to tell on the back of it?

“The aim is to give something back to the sport of cricket that we cherish as a family.

“It’s not something we have the expertise in, so we’re finding out how we can divert funds into helping people, clubs, or the medical side of the game. It could be helping juniors get to matches, or helping families where finances are a barrier.”

Now, Lisa and Paul are asking anyone who can give the JB33 Foundation some direction to get in touch via the charity’s Instagram page.

“It’s something we’re very passionate about, because it means so much to us,” says Lisa. “We need to start spending and shouting about what we’re doing.”

Even while they’re in Australia, Lisa and Paul are continuing to take calls and hold meetings about the Foundation. When they get home in the new year, they want to press on with their work before the new season begins.

Before then, they will finish their Ashes trip in Sydney. On day one of the fifth Test they will once again be wearing their JB33 T-shirts, as they have on the opening day of each of the previous four.

“It hurts like hell because they have his face on the back, but it’s also beautiful,” says Lisa.

Like Melbourne, returning to Sydney will stir unbearable emotions that no parent ever should feel.

It was outside the Sydney Cricket Ground where Josh bowled during the Ashes Test of 2011, and it was in the city when Josh had his winter cricketing adventure just months before he passed away.

“He wasn’t a big Christmas person,” says Lisa. “I don’t doubt that he wouldn’t have spent a Christmas at home for a long time – he’d have been out here playing cricket.

“He loved his life. Music was a big part. Certain songs come on and I have to take a deep breath. He loved his music. He was always singing.

“Coming to Australia is very special to us now. We feel closer to him out here at Christmas than we would at home.”

MILWAUKEE — A jury found a Wisconsin judge accused of helping a Mexican immigrant dodge federal authorities guilty of obstruction Thursday, marking a victory for President Trump as he continues his sweeping immigration crackdown across the country.

Federal prosecutors charged Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan with obstruction, a felony, and concealing an individual to prevent arrest, a misdemeanor, in April. The jury acquitted her on the concealment count, but she still faces up to five years in prison on the obstruction count.

The jury returned the verdicts after deliberating for six hours. Dugan faces up to five years in prison when she’s sentenced, but no date had been set as of late Thursday evening.

The case inflamed tensions over Trump’s immigration crackdown, with his administration branding Dugan an activist judge and Democrats countering that the administration was trying to make an example of Dugan to blunt judicial opposition to the operation.

Dugan and her attorneys left the courtroom, ducked into a side conference room and closed the door without speaking to reporters. Steve Biskupic, her lead attorney, later told reporters that he was disappointed with the ruling and didn’t understand how the jury could have reached a split verdict since the elements of both charges were virtually the same.

U.S. Atty. Brad Schimel denied the case was political and urged people to accept the verdict peacefully. He said courthouse arrests are safer because people are screened for weapons and it isn’t unfair for law enforcement to arrest wanted people in courthouses.

“Some have sought to make this about a larger political battle,” Schimel said. “While this case is serious for all involved, it is ultimately about a single day, a single bad day, in a public courthouse. The defendant is certainly not evil. Nor is she a martyr for some greater cause.”

U.S. Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche praised the verdict on X, saying nobody is above the law, even judges.

According to court filings that include an FBI affidavit and a federal grand jury indictment, immigration authorities traveled to the Milwaukee County courthouse on April 18 after learning 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz had reentered the country illegally and was scheduled to appear before Dugan for a hearing in a state battery case.

Dugan learned that agents were in the corridor outside her courtroom waiting for Flores-Ruiz. She left the courtroom to confront them, falsely telling them their administrative warrant for Flores-Ruiz wasn’t sufficient grounds to arrest him and directing them to go to the chief judge’s office.

While the agents were gone, she addressed Flores-Ruiz’s case off the record, told his attorney that he could attend his next hearing via Zoom and led Flores-Ruiz and the attorney out a private jury door. Agents spotted Flores-Ruiz in the corridor, followed him outside and arrested him after a foot chase. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced in November he had been deported.

Prosecutors worked during Dugan’s trial to show that she directed agents to the chief judge’s office to create an opening for Flores-Ruiz to escape.

An FBI agent who led the investigation testified that after agents left the corridor, she immediately moved Flores-Ruiz’s case to the top of her docket, told him that he could appear for his next hearing via Zoom and led him out the private door.

Prosecutors also played audio recordings from her courtroom in which she can be heard telling her court reporter that she’d take “the heat” for leading Flores-Ruiz out the back.

Her attorneys countered that she was trying to follow courthouse protocols that called for court employees to report any immigration agents to their supervisors and she didn’t intentionally try to obstruct the arrest team.

Richmond writes for the Associated Press.