Formartine Oral History Project

Formartine United Jnrs Step Up

2009-02-26T09:47:00.002Z

The team that was started by a Pitmedden millwright, (Eddie Edmond) in 1947 is now playing in the Highland League next season.

Formartine United JFC along with Turriff United and Strathspey Thistle gained enough votes to join the league in a ceremony last night at Lossiemouth FC's social club. Atholl Cadger, the current manager of Formartine, was delighted by the support received and the prospect of playing on an altogether different scale.

For the full story see the Press & Journal article.

During the oral history project we interviewed three former players, Sidney Rose, Jack Larnach and Ally Shewan. If you want to listen to them, contact Turriff, Ellon or Meldrum Libraries to hear them in the library, or if you have a family connection or are a researcher, contact Gavin Sutherland at the North East Folklore Archive for a copy.

www.nefa.net

Searchable Index

2008-07-11T21:35:00.002+01:00

Hey-ho, I've created a temporary measure until other bodies catch up. You can now search the oral history archive index AND the summaries from the main Formartine site. The index is in Excel format, the summaries are in Adobe Acrobat PDF. Both are searchable using the respective programs' functions for searching (usually CTRL+F and keyword). Where possible I've tried to flesh out the summaries to help with subject searches; some were taken from those who did the interviews and thus are shorter.

I am hoping to get the Meldrum transcripts done - by a helpful friend! - and they will be available in libraries. I don't particularly want to put the full-transcripts online, but you can get them from the libraries in hard copy. If you're unable to get to the libraries, NEFA or the Elphinstone Institute, I'd be happy to send you a copy of transcripts where available (so far only 72 were done, as we got much more interviews than we expected). The archive CDs are still only available for reference in the places specified; due to the kindness of the interviewees for sharing their stories, we do need to keep some sort of check on the interviews' distribution. The groups who did the interviews will all eventually have their own copies. So far Barthol Chapel and Methlick have theirs.

Anyway - the front page of the main site has the links to the indexes, so please, feel free to dig around for content.

The Penny Hing

2008-04-27T18:56:00.008+01:00

(Image - Google Maps)

Ian Sandison recalls a particularly seedy dive in Aberdeen's Constitution Street in the 1960s. He and his wife Jean had rooms around the corner from this establishment which seems to have housed the 'Rab C Nesbits' of their day:

Of all places in the whole wide world we got rooms, two rooms down in Constitution Street. Now, Constitution Street is rough, tough and ragged. There was a place around the corner which now no longer exists, called the Penny Hing, now for folks that dinna ken anything about the Penny Hing, the Penny Hing was literally a bar where down and outers paid a penny and slept hinging on the bar. So there wis winos and aa the funny guys, ye were actually accosted in the street, and ‘Gies the the price o a bottle of wine’, which is true. So that was an experience. Jean, she took a job, paid the princely sum of £2.10/- which paid for the two rooms for the week’s rent. We hated it, loathed it, because we are both country folk. Every Friday, it was Mealmarket Street, doon to the bus, Strichen one weekend and Methlick the next. We couldna bide in the place!

Go to the podcast channel to hear it live.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be featuring more classic clips from the archive.

Things is nae the same...

2008-04-15T13:18:00.004+01:00

...laments John Robertson of Collieston, who recites this amazingly emotive poem of his own composition recalling the fisher village and its characters, some of whom have never left!

There’s nae mair Shally Roadies
An ‘ers nae mair Spelding racks
You’ll nae see bo’ed aul craters
Muckle creels upon their backs
Nae weemen sheelin mussels
And naebody reddin lines
And there’s nae mair dances in the hall
For a’ oor bonnie quines

You’ll nae see aul Tam Walker
Wi he’s wither beaten smile
In ither couthy characters
Have weared awa as fyle,
Coaty, Buckie, Jocky Mae
Tony Sot and Tammy Boo
Aul Tooley and Jimmikie
To name but just a few

But a’ them and the likes o them
Have gone and left amiss
And Collieston’s just nae the same
But let me tell you this
Whiles I hear the clunk o oars
When ‘ers nae a yawl in sicht
In I clump o leather sea-beets
On an empty pier at nicht

Whilst a burst o lauchin
Comes fae bain lang the shore
That I’d swear was Sarah- Ellen
Like she used to lauch afore
I’ve heard a spunk bein crackit
On the gunnel o a yawl
And turnt and lookit roon aboot
And never seen a soul
But fits mair oot the ordinar’
Was yon whiff o bogey roll

Now ye’ll maybe nae believe me
And I’ll let you hae your say
But I ken there’s naebody here aboot
Smokes bogey roll the day
No naebody here aboot
Smokes bogey roll the day

also to be heard on the podcast channel

Radio Promos

2008-04-15T12:59:00.004+01:00

Many thanks to Dave Galloway from Original 106FM and Jim Murray of Radio Scotland for promoting the project on the air. Both Dave and Jim came to visit yesterday and did the project proud by producing very good reports on what's to come in the archive. Jim's broadcast this morning on Radio Scotland's North East news included clips that are all on the podcast channel, and very well done too! Dave's interview has made a few appearances on Original 106's hourly news bulletins, but let me make it clear, as the folk presenting the actual report didn't, we have OVER ONE HUNDRED CDs with interviews, not just the one!

That's:

300+ hours of stories
700+ compact disks
7 copies of the archive
700+ face labels, jewel case covers & index tags
one index
96 summaries
12 groups represented
2,000 hours of transcription in as many pages

... and more, another two archives, one that will go to the School of Scottish Studies in Edinburgh, who have long celebrated the collection of lore and local reminiscence, and one to Balmedie Library so folks in Belhelvie Parish can hear the material.

As I said to Dave Galloway, this is a herculean task! And both Dave and David Heane will now be living in Formartine! So both Original 106 presenters will benefit from the archive, which is great.

We hope to see Northsound2, STV and some of the local papers including the P&J at Fyvie on Saturday. Jim Murray's interview can be found on the podcast channel.

Another gem from the archive

2008-04-15T09:27:00.004+01:00

It's almost here! I've just been listening to the last of the interviews, and am pleased to bring you a clip from Meldrum & Bourtie Heritage Society - quite a few of the interviewees from Meldrum were in the Pipe Band, and Syd Ross recalls one hairy incident with a prize hen and some bad driving!

Evelyn Munro: So have ye any other stories to tell about the Pipe Band? Ony funny stories?
Syd Ross: Well, the only thing that I can mind aboot, once wis, I think it wis Stonehaven we wis at, we wis comin hame fae Stonehaven, it wis… och, it must’ve been twelve o’clock at night, we wis comin through Aiberdeen, Alick Gray won a hen, a white hen, but that time fan ye got a hen it wisna aa parcelled up, ye get its heid and its feet an’ its feathers an aathing! Bill Greig and some o his pals hid an auld car and they were comin ahint us, ach, we pluckit the hen, they thocht it wis snaain! [Laughter] He gid roon the roundabout ower quick and Billy fell oot ower! [Laughs] I aye mind that! Bill, he fell oot! There wis some affa fun that night! We wis aa in the back o Glennie’s lorry ye see? Oh, we hid some great times!

The clip itself is on the podcast channel. Well done to Meldrum for their massive contribution to the project.

Our launch day goes ahead this Saturday (19th April) at Fyvie Castle.

Party at the Castle

2008-02-28T15:05:00.003Z

Well, am just in transcription mode the noo, it's amazing hearing all the interviews again.
So, the news - the launch is going to be held at Fyvie Castle's racquet court building - a lovely glass-roofed hall that the Forbes-Leiths would've played tennis and badminton in - on Saturday 19th April, 2008 from 12.30pm. This is an occasion for the interviewees to get together and hear more from others, and see what is happening to their memories. We'll have afternoon tea provided by Hudson's Catering services, Kinellar, some entertainment provided by my mate Irene Watt, clarsach player who just released her latest album a few months ago. Hopefully we'll have songs and poetry from of our extremely talented interviewees too!

There will be a report on the project's achievements, and the formal presentation of the disks to Aberdeenshire Libraries - David Catto, the shire's Local Studies librarian will be representing the council - NEFA, the North East Folklore Archive - hopefully Gavin Sutherland will be along and for the Elphinstone Institute, and maybe even NEFA (as he was that archive's founder), Dr Thomas McKean of the Elphinstone Institute. We are also hoping that First Minister, Alex Salmond MSP will come as a guest, but since Alex is aye affa busy, we won't know till the last minute. A consistent fan of all things North East, Alex should find the project archive very interesting for himself too!

After the 19th, folks will be able to go to the libraries in Meldrum, Turriff and Ellon to access the CDs. They will be able to listen to them through the library computers, and each of the groups involved will also have their own copies of interviews done by them, so members of societies will have access to their own sets. The school libraries in all of the three major towns of Formartine will also have copies of the CDs and transcriptions for study purposes.

Since we had 94 or 95 interviews, initially only 72 will be transcribed. We hope that the Meldrum interviews will be transcribed later - could be a project for the Academy! Anyway, as I said in December, it's an embarrasment of riches!

Thanks to everyone for their contributions, and we should see most of you in April!

An embarassment of riches...

2007-12-20T00:52:00.000Z

...yes, that's what we have! The interview total as you will see from the front page has reached 89, which is way more than we expected to get! There are more to come too! Tarves, Newburgh, Collieston, Ellon Academy. Methlick and Belhelvie all have more interviews to send in, so the grand total may end up making a century!

We (the volunteers and I) had a great feed and entertainment at the Redgarth Inn on 12 Dec. Not only was the food superb, the hospitality wonderful, but two of our volunteers revealed hidden talents for Doric recitation! Carol Eddie - who is a doyen of the Fyvie Folk Club - recited some of her own couthie material about the dangers of Santa's busy schedule, over-indulging at the festive season, and how a turkey really feels about i!

Ian Sandison of Turriff, but formerly of Strichen, claimed he could not remember all of the poem he wanted to recite, but I believe it was a Flora Garry (clip coming later on the podcast) and afterwards, the non-natives were throroughly convinced that Scots is a language all its own and not just a poor dialect of English! Fantastic!

So well done, all, but please... stop now! It's becoming like the never-ending porridge pot in the fairy tale!

;-)

Designs on memories

2007-10-28T20:17:00.000Z

Our six winners from the design competition had a fantastic time at the workshop with professional designer, Lynne Strachan of Curious Cranberry Designs on 22-23 October at Aberdeen College.

Kimberley Smith and Nick Breed from Meldrum Academy and Finlay Milne, Sam Murdoch, Duncan Henderson and Eilidh MacInnes from Turriff Academy swapped around and mixed up their initial prize-winning ideas to create 3 covers for the interview CDs which will eventually appear in the public and school libraries in Ellon, Turriff and Oldmeldrum.

We had such a great day; I was so impressed by the professional and sensible attitude of the pupils, and I think their teachers will be justly proud of them too when school starts again this Monday.

Here are some of my snapshots from the day - there are more on the main website.

Kim & Eilidh, though from different schools, made friends very quickly and were inspired by a book featuring old pictures of Turriff and Eilidh's cheeky smiley 'Turra Coo' from her original entry. here's what they came up with:

Nick and Finlay took things very seriously and designed to come up with a montage of Nick's excellent shots of Aberdeenshire farmland. Finlay then told me a story about why the seagulls follow tractors and combine harvesters. He said they were feasting on all the mice and rats killed by the farm machinery! Eeww! Thinking of Robert Burns' famous poem of the 'wee sleekit, coorin', timorous beastie' I suggested he should draw a mouse and a combine behind it to represent the wildlife and the farmyard, so that's how we came up with the drawings of the mice and the combine on the back of their design for Ellon. Here are the boys hard at work and their final design.

Expert tuition from Lynne!

Sam and Duncan decided to go totally abstract for Meldrum's design:

A riot of colour and inovation! Sam particularly enjoyed creating her orange bird which appears on both the front and back. Duncan created the cool trees and leaf patterns.

Three fantastic designs and six happy bairns!

The designs will be going to the Turriff Printing Services later in the winter once we've collected all our interviews. The were will be a display of the designs and the earlier entries at Woodhill House, Aberdeenshire Council's Aberdeen HQ soon. More to come on that.

I also hope to feature clips on the podcast channel of the interviews that took place with the pupils during the workshop.

Rescue of the Lesrix

2007-08-20T00:23:00.000+01:00

A gem appeared from the Collieston Recalling group this week - George Ross of Cluny Cottages recalled a boyhood adventure when he and a friend helped to rescue four crewmen from a broken coaster that had been smashed in half on a winter's night near Hackley Bay, just on the Buchan coast. I honestly couldn't stop listening the first time because it has to be one of the most exciting stories in the project to date!

The clip from the interview appears on our Podcast page at the main site. Here is the transcript of it:

GR: "Dick’s down at this ledge here wi the rope… …so he signalled t’one of the… and I aye mind, it wis the chief mate that came ashore, big man he wis, big, big man, and he came down the Jacob’s Ladder hangin onto the rope, the seas wis lashin ower the boat aa the time! Came along this ledge, and I could see what wis happenin aa the time, cos I wis lookin richt doon on’t, see? And I saw this big…well the seas wis comin in at the time, but this big ane, come in and wint right ower this rope, and the man, he hung on, and he wis just washed richt intae the sea, down he went! And I says ‘Oh dearie me!’ However, the backwash fae the shore, brocht him back up ontae the ledge!"

You can also read more of the details on Collieston's own site run by the Scottish Cultural Resources & Archives Network (SCRAN) and also see a picture of Dick Ingram's medal.

Along with George, Steve Ritchie, that's Rear Admiral Steve, told Colieston's interviewer, Ellie Ingram about how he brought the charming French game of Boules to the tiny fishing village. Thanks to Ellie for getting the Collieston interviews off to a flying start!

The Dangers of Soutering

2007-08-10T20:24:00.000+01:00

Douglas Paterson was born in Gamrie (aka Gardenstown, Morayshire) but his family moved to Turriff and his first experience as an apprentice was shoemaking or soutering to give it its Scots name. He recalls the floor covered with tackets and detritus from the process.

This rather horrific situation seems to have passed him by without too much stress. Perhaps Douglas and his ilk were hardier folk!

Here's what happened:

Now, gey aften in the course o wearin this sandals and opening and shutting them, the stitchin that held the buckle in place didna… it fell aff, so it hid tae be shewn on, so there wis a wye o daen it wi a sewing machine and I wis workin awa at it and whether somebody had spoken tae ma or no, I dinna ken, but the needle gid through ma finger! Richt through the nail and oot the ither side! And I can aye mind Jimmy Horn the souter, he heard ma shout and I said till him, fit wye div I caa the handle tae get the needle tae come up? [Laughter] Aa he could dae wis roar and laugh [more laughter], so eventually I got it oot so I gid it a sook and got it bleedin and aa the rest o’t, and I jist cairriet on wi ma work!

Souters were famous in Scots folk culture too, take Tam O'Shanter's pal Souter Johnny - The character is based on a real person, John Davidson, a cobbler and a friend of Burns.

And at his elbow, Souter Johnny,
His ancient, trusty drouthy cronie,
Tam lo'ed him like a very brither,
They had been fou for weeks thigether.
Tam o' Shanter (January, 1791)

A Pair O Nicky Tams!

2007-08-10T20:03:00.000+01:00

Russell Taylor sang one of my favourite bothy ballads when I went to visit him at his house in Ellon in June. He's performing a selection of Scots songs at the AROHA Traditional Concert Party on November 17th, (details at http://www.arohascotland.org/) which is sure to be great!

The song is Nicky Tams. Perhaps you've heard many different versions, the first I ever heard was the Alexander Brothers long ago when I first got my own tape recorder. Jim Malcolm, now singer with the Old Blind Dogs, also performs it - http://www.jimmalcolm.com/html/main_cly6.htm His words are reasonably accurate if you scroll down his page and look!

Rampant Scotland has a great glossary if you need further interpretation - http://www.rampantscotland.com/poetry/blpoems_tams.htm - and they give this succinct description of this most useful piece of a farmhand's attire: Nicky Tams is the name given to the string used by farm workers to tie their trousers below the knees, partly to hitch them up out of the mud.

Oddly enough, though a 'traditional' song, Nicky Tams does have a known author - George Morris, better kent as The Buchan Cheil and the son of a farrier, George married into the Kemp family and moved to Meldrum (making him an adopted son of Formartine!). His brother-in-law Willie Kemp was also a famous musician and hotelier. By 1930, the great Scots record label Beltona got George to record his compositions, giving Nicky Tams, and a few other great bothy ballads to the world - including, Aikey Brae - recalling the story of the Horse Fair; A New Lum Hat, and the The Buchan Bobby. He died in 1958. Beltona has been revived by Sleepytown Records in Ellon, and its back catalogue available for sale online.

You can hear Russell's rendition on the Podcast page - see sidebar for link

Sad Loss of Cadet Kaylee

2007-08-09T20:02:00.000+01:00

We at the Formartine Oral History Project are very sad to learn about the death of 14 year-old Kaylee McIntosh, an Army Cadet from Fyvie, who drowned in an accident during a training exercise at Loch Carnan, South Uist. As Project Co-ordinator, I would like to extend condolences to Kaylee's family and friends.

Cushie-doos

2007-08-06T20:01:00.000+01:00

And what pray tell is a cushie-doo?

Simple - it's the Scots name for a woodpigeon.

Here, Ian Sandison and John Barron have a laugh about the things John's dad used to shoot as vermin!

Ian Sandison: Mercy me, seven cushies! Noo folk disnae ken fit a cushie is!

John Barron: Aye, aye.

IS: A good old woodpigeon! [JB laughs] a Cushie-doo!

JB: Aye, if ye kent ma father like, that he wis shootin’ linnets… oooh!

IS: Linnets! I mean! Mercy me! [JB: And blackbirds!] Ye’d get the jile for that noo!

JB: One lapwing! [IS: Yes!] He didna get onything for the lapwing. Didna mention’t onywye. But eh,… aye, if it’s there, and he wis daein it, it wis legal!

IS: It must’ve been legal, yes! Aye, there was no protection o birds in those days, obviously no.

JB: ‘Is is fit we blame the Italians and the Spaniards for the day, like…

IS: Absolutely! An’ oor forefathers wis daein the same thing!

JB: Yup, aye!

A Garioch Hill For A Formartine Quine

2007-08-05T21:53:00.000+01:00

Kathleen Noble, aunt of Helen Taylor, our Woodhead & Fyvie interviewer here recites part of a poem about Bennachie, the local big hill in the Garioch, c.1700ft. There is a debate in my mind whether this poem was by Charles Murray or Flora Garry - Kathleen thought it was the latter, but I've seen it in a book under Mr Murray's penship! If you know, tell me! And if somebody kens fit or faar Caliver is, I'd like to know that too! Can't find it on OS maps

Bennachie -

But Bennachie! Faith, yon’s the hill that rowes at yer hert fan ye’re awa!

Schiehallion? Aye, I’ve heard the name, Ben More, the Ochils, Arthur Seat

Take them and aa yer hills o’ fame, wi lochans leemin at their feet

But sit me doon by Gadie-side, or whaur the Glenton lies by Don,

The moorcock and the whaup for guide, up Bennachie an’ rivin on!

Syne, on the Mither Tap sae far, wind-cairded cloods drift by abeen,

And waast ower Keig stands Caliver, wi aa the warld tae me atween.

There’s braver mountains ower the sea, and fairer haughs I’ve kent,

But still! The Vale o’ Alford, Bennachie, yon’s the howe and this the hill!

Bennachie's Trig Point and Marker on the Mither Tap

Turra Interviewees to the Fore

2007-08-05T20:39:00.000+01:00

Turriff Heritage Society were among the first to get going on the Project, so here are transcripts of the extracts from their interviews:

Ian Sandison - Strichen's finest export remembers what happened when he had a TB scare:

IS – An’ m’father hid been on the proper shift tae be at hame, an’ he said ‘Fit’s ‘at?’ An’ I said ‘Ach, something for an x-ray,’ ‘Ye nae gettin’ daen?’, ‘No,’ An’ it was the best advice I ivver got because it turned oot I hid a shadow on the lung, right? So it ended up I hid tae ging an’ be verified or confirmed on a big x-ray, and I mind waa’kin’ doon King Street, aged seventeen and a half, thinkin’ that the sky wiz gaun tae hit ma heid… I wiz telt I hid tae stop workin’, go home, and go straight tae hospital, Strichen wiz a tuberculosis hospital at that time. So the story went roon Strichen of course that I wiz gaun tae be deid in three wiks, an’ ‘at wiz… ‘at wid hae been 1952 or ’53, an’ I’m still abeen the sod yet!

HT – Yes!

Nurse Mary Webster - Our favourite District Nurse recalls a particularly LARGE delivery!:

MW - This lady … it wis in the flax, they all used to come in tents, ye know, and just … in the fields. I got a call one night, Fisherford, ye know, Miss Wood had the farm, and she phoned and said this folk had arrived and the mother was in labour. I says, oh, for goodness sake! I says ‘Oh well, I have delivered in that way before,’ an’ I said, ‘no’, and I went out an’aa the grannies and aathing, and I said ‘Clear out! Get out of the way altogether!’ So I saw Miss Wood, an’ we went in, an’ I got two trestles, in the byre, two trestles, an’ a door, an’ I built it up wi’ straw and I put clean sheets over it, and filled the … the cattle fed out of it,

IS – The hake?

MW - Aye, so, I filled it wi’ straw, because I had to get somewhere for the baby. Well, I managed to deliver her, and that baby … it was a great big strong woman, an’ she had a thirteen pound baby! A great big woman, my hair wiz jist about stan’in’ on end! I said to the woman, ‘Ye know, ‘iss is a terrible way t’have yer baby, why didn’t ye make arrangements?’ ‘Oh, we’ve been moving on,’ ‘Well, but,’ I says, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with ye,’ I says, ‘Ye’ve landed me in the soup,’ ‘Oh, but ye know Christ was born in a manager,’ I says ‘Aye, but it was a clean ane!’

Louis Cameron - Was it the soup or the girl that our bothy loon favoured most?:

LC – Eence upon a day the threshin’ lads hid a lang wye tae cairry the strae fae the barn, it wis aa made intae winlans, aye, it wis aa made intae winlans, but I learned tae mak a winlan right enough, tae please ma kitchie deem ye see! ‘At wis the great thing aboot it.

PMc – Mm-hm, and ye were quite friendly wi her were ye?

LC – I wis, oh, I wis! Oh aye, tell ye this, the broth aye tasted sweeter aifter I’d been oot wi the kitchie deem, am tellin’ ye that!

PMc – Mm-hm, and what was her name?

LC – Ken iss, a’ve forgotten!

Louis, Mary and their friend Jimmy Dick, who was also interviewed, outside Abbeyfield House in Turriff, 2005.

Tarves Victorian Classroom

2007-08-05T20:06:00.000+01:00

This was filmed during a visit to Tarves Heritage Society's main centre which contains a Victorian classroom - pretty appropriate considering the building was once the school!

Les Donaldson is showing me around.

To see more pictures, link back to the Formartine Oral History Project Wiki