2022 is the Year of Stories in Scotland, a celebration of the tales that thread through our history and way of life. In Orkney, stories define who we are, even more than the rest of Scotland. That’s certainly true here at Ola Gorie.
Over the years, Ola’s fans have grown into a community of jewellery lovers. From all around the world, we hear tales of how much Ola Gorie Jewellery means to people. During the Year of Stories, we’re gathering together as many memories as possible and asking you to share your own.
Each month, we’ll have a story theme to inspire you, as well as prizes to be won. You can send your stories via email, social media or by post, and our winners will be handpicked every month by Ola Gorie and her daughter Ingrid Tait.
A sentence, a paragraph, a page…we’d love to read them all. And if you have a photo or two to illustrate them, so much the better.
Thank you to everyone who submitted their stories for our first two themes. We will be sharing a few of our favourites in the coming months. And congratulations to our two July winners...
MEETING OLA
Cindy Twohy Ragni, USA
My brother David and I came to Orkney from California to chase our Scottish roots in September of 2016. Our great-great-grandmother, Jane Malcomson, was born there in 1823.
Ola is our fourth cousin once removed. Ola made us feel very welcome and we so enjoyed seeing the ancient dig near her historic home at Brodgar and visiting the ancestral homes of our Scottish relatives! She was invariably cheerful as we dragged her through cemeteries and across rocky beaches.
And, of course, I came home with a wonderful Ness of Brodgar necklace.
(Top photo shows Cindy and David at the Ring of Brodgar. Bottom photo shows Ola and David at the ruin of Seaberry, Hoy, home of their joint ancestor.)
OLA AROUND THE WORLD
Annette Margaret Kennedy, Canada
Back in 2008 I was living in South Africa and in a relationship (at 75) with a man (79) from British Columbia, Canada. He proposed marriage (yes, even at that age!) and I wanted a ring, a special ring. Since my mother's family came from Scotland and I liked silver jewellery, we went online to look for something different and came upon Ola Gorie jewellery. There it was, Eilean Donan, the most perfect ring with a beautiful sentiment: Tha gaol agam ort. (My love is upon you.)
By this time Michael had returned to Canada and he ordered the ring for me, to be sent to South Africa. His credit company queried this: a ring ordered in Canada to be sent from Scotland to South Africa? He returned soon after to marry me and put the ring on my finger. We returned to live permanently in Canada and Michael decided he wanted such a ring too, so a second Eilean Donan was ordered.
We still have our beautiful and much-admired silver Ola Gorie Eilean Donan rings and are still very in love with each other. Thank you, Ola Gorie, for your beautiful creations!
