Lighthouse lives: Stories from Scotland's Keepers

Lighthouse Lives: Stories from Scotland's Keepers is at the National Library of Scotland on George IV Bridge on Thursday 12 November, starting at 17:30. It's a talk on the lives of the people who kept Scotland's lighthouses running, and it draws on the Northern Lighthouse Board Heritage Trust's Oral History Project, which recorded the stories of those who lived through the transition from manned to automatic lights. The last one was automated in 1998, and the project captured the first-hand accounts of the keepers who saw that era come to an end.

The talk follows the book Lighthouse Lives, edited by project fieldworker Erin Farley, who shares reflections and stories gathered from the project. For generations, Scotland's lights depended on keepers, ships' crews and engineers. The Stevenson family built a network of lifesaving lights around the coast, each with its own unique flash pattern, and the keepers and their families formed an extended community centred on the coastline that dispersed when the lights went automatic. It's a look at a way of life that disappeared almost overnight.

There's a family connection here too. Robert Louis Stevenson had little desire to be a lighthouse engineer himself, but he remained proud of his family's achievements; on inspection visits with his father, he met many keepers and learned their duties. The talk is followed by an audience Q&A, so there's a chance to ask questions after Farley has had her say. It's free to attend, and it runs from 17:30 at the National Library of Scotland on George IV Bridge, EH1 1EW.