Orkney island celebrates first birth in thirty years
Summary and headline written by AI from the source article. How we work
Jorge Suarez and Alice Traill Ford welcomed their son, Duncan Wilder Thorstein Traill Suarez Ford, on the island of North Ronaldsay, in Orkney, Scotland, last week.
The birth marked the first time a baby had been born on the remote island in more than thirty years, since August 1992.
Islanders celebrated with a traditional toast of whisky, sharing a drink with each resident as they raised a flag at Holland House, a family home built by Alice’s ancestors who purchased the island in 1727. The couple, who also live in Costa Rica, travelled over 5,000 miles for the birth, choosing North Ronaldsay because of its special significance to Alice’s childhood and family history.
She explained that the island felt like the right place for her son to enter the world, and she worked with the National Health Service to make the birth there possible. The family continued local traditions by sharing good luck charms, Groatie Buckies (small shells) and four-leaf clovers, with the islanders alongside the whisky.
Although they will return to Costa Rica in November to continue running their school, Alice intends for Duncan to visit North Ronaldsay every year, continuing a family tradition of summer visits to the island and its tight-knit community.
