I feel a bit of a fraud on this list because I have no ancestors from Bute. My interest lies in the fact that I moved to Arran as a toddler, then went to Cumbrae five years later and from there to school in Rothesay on Bute. A few years ago when my own research seemed to have got as far as it was going (after 25 years) I thought I'd do a one parish study of Cumbrae (yes I know ....an addiction not a hobby..my husband is of the same opinion) So I got a fiche index of the 1851 census, (from Australia) printed it out and then added the details from the film by hand to the paper copy. I also got print outs of the IGI fiche index and then took notes from the OPR film. The idea was to take the families from the 1851 and use them as a basis for a database. But what happened? A trip to the PRO in London suddenly demolished a 15 year old brick wall in my own family tree and Cumbrae got put on the back burner. There just aren't enough hours in the day :-( Irene