Columba 1400: Community & International Leadership Centre
“I have learned that I can be positive about things and not so negative. I know I find it hard to concentrate and so I will stick at things and focus.”- Columban graduatecommunity Nestled against Staffin Bay at the foot of the Quiraing, Staffin’s gentle and hard-working island spirit is absorbed in each turn in the road taken, each family croft passed, each fishing boat spotted.
Staffin is a fascinating community of significant interest to the anthropologist, archaeologist, biologist, historian, theologian, geologist, hill-walker, world traveller or soul-searcher alike.
Staffin and its surrounding crofting townships at the north end of the Isle of Skye constitute a community in which actions speak louder than words. It is a place that exemplifies the six core principles of The Columban Code and catalyses the impact of our leadership experiences.
An early morning here restores the soul.
out of the mist... I’m sitting at Staffin enveloped in a shroud, Mist rolling off the hills hidden by cloud, My eyes are stinging from the wind and rain, When will I see the hills in the distance again?
Soon the cloud and mist begins to clear, I can see the moors and streams that are near, The landscape begins to take on colour and hue, The grey and black transforms into green and blue.
Gradually the hills come into my sight, And I realise then that the future is bright, Beyond every hill there will be another hill, As a Columban I'll climb them with purpose and will.
- Poem by Neil Bannerman Columban graduate