DATES IN
HISTORY
4 May 1926
The General Strike commenced, the first in the UK. It was called off on May
12.
6 May 1743
Ayr-born Andrew Ramsay, aged 57, who supervised the education of Charles and
Henry, sons of James Stewart, ‘The Old Pretender’, died in France.
6
May 1870
Death of Sir James Young Simpson, Bathgate-born physician who discovered the
anaesthetic properties of chloroform, in Edinburgh. His funeral was a day of
public mourning in Edinburgh and 2,000 people followed his hearse.
6 May 1996
Stephen Hendry won the Embassy World Snooker championship for the sixth
time, beating England’s Peter Ebdon 18-12 at the Crucible Theatre,
Sheffield, England.
7 May 2006
Livingston FC were relegated from the Scottish Premier League with the
worst-ever points record, a total of only 18 points from 38 matches, three
less than achieved by St Johnstone in season 2001/2002.
8
May 1747
The Veteran sailed from Liverpool, England, bound for Antigue, St Kitts and
Jamaica, with 149 Jacobite prisoners, including 15 women, on board. They
were to be settle as indentured slaves. En route a French privateer The
Diamant, under Captain Paul Marshal, captured The Veteran and released the
prisoners.
10 May 1850
Birth of Sir Thomas Lipton, founder of Lipton’s grocery chain and
philanthropist, who went from message boy to millionaire by the age of 30,
in Glasgow.
10 May 1973
Five miners died after a roof fall at the Seafield Colliery, Kirkcaldy,
Fife, while working on a new seam three miles out beneath the Firth of
Forth.
10 May 2006
MSPs returned to the main debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament after
temporary repairs costing £30,000 following a 12-foot oak beam coming loose
from its mounting bracket. Relocation cost the parliament £280,000.
See Dates in History in our
Features Section
SCOTTISH QUOTATIONS
I like to have quotations ready for every occasions - they
give one's ideas so pat and save one the trouble of finding
expression adequate to one's feeling.
Robert Burns
Statements in prose and verse which reflect
all aspects of Scottish life and outlook from the 1st century to the present day.
New
quotes added every week. The
quotations are not restricted to native Scots but include observations
from abroad which help us, in the words of our National Bard, Robert
Burns, "To see oursels as others see us"
|
In an
almost political free week the quotations come from
five Rectorial Addresses given at Scotland’s oldest four
universities –
Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews. |
Sir James
Matthew Barrie (1860-1937)
You come
of a race of men the very wind of whose name has swept to the ultimate
seas.
(Rectorial
Address on Courage at St Andrews University 3 May 1922)
Robert (Bob)
John Graham Boothby, Baron Boothby of Buchan and Rattray (1900-1986)
Compassion? It marches hand in hand with moderation. And here, with an
appalling lapse, the Scottish record is not too bad. The lapse, I need
hardly remind you, was the Reformation, as it took place in this land
and in this town [St Andrews]. It brought the Renaissance to an end; and
plunged Scotland into a long dark night, from which she was ultimately
rescued by Robert Burns.
(Rectorial
Address on Tolerance at St Andrews University 17 April 1959)
Thomas Carlyle
(1795-1881)
Work is
the grand cure of all maladies and miseries that ever beset mankind.
(Rectorial
Address at Edinburgh University 1866)
Sir Edward
Montagu Compton Mackenzie (1883-1972)
I
have seen the phenomenon of conversion among those who have wakened to a
sudden comprehension of what true nationalism is. They are changed by
some mystical experience, and in loving their country they love their
fellow-countrymen. It is such love which alone can justify the reformer.
Too many attempts at reformation have been made either in a spirit of
hate and destructiveness or what is ultimately more deadly, in a spirit
of constructive utility. Desire the good of your fellow men, but desire
it because you love them, not because a well-fed, well-clad, well-housed
creature will be an economic asset to the state. Many of you present are
filled with ambition to re-create a nation; but your immediate and
predominant duty is to re-create yourselves, for only in re-creating
yourselves will you re-create that nation.
(Rectorial
Address at Glasgow University 29 January 1932)
Flagnote:
Compton Mackenzie was a founder-member of the National Party of Scotland in
1928. His election on 24 October 1931 as the first-ever Scottish nationalist
Lord Rector of Glasgow University was seen as a major achievement and boost
to the fledgling political party which stood for Scottish Independence.
Frederick
Edwin Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead (1872-1930)
Scotland
is renowned as the home of the most ambitious race in the world.
(Rectorial
Address at Aberdeen University)
See
Scottish Quotations in our Features Section
THE BLUE
TOON SONG BOOK
A selection of popular Scottish songs compiled by Anne Fowler and
published by Peterhead branch of the Scottish National Party in
September 2000.
BALLAD OF GLENCOE
Jim McLean
O cruel is the snow that sweeps Glencoe
And covers the grave of Donald
And cruel was the foe that raped Glencoe
And murdered the house o' Macdonald.
They came in a blizzard, we offered them heat,
A roof o'er their heads, dry shoes for their feet.
We wined them, dined them, they ate of our meat,
And slept in the house o' Macdonald.
Chorus :
And cruel is the snow that swept Glencoe
And covers the grave of Donald
And cruel was the foe that raped Glencoe
And murdered the house o' Macdonald.
They came from Fort William with murder in mind,
The Campbells had orders, King William had signed.
Put all to the sword, these words underlined,
And leave non alive called Macdonald.
They came in the night when our men were asleep,
This band of Argylls, through snow soft and deep
Like murdering foxes amongst helpless sheep
They murdered the house o' Macdonald.
Some died in their beds at the hands o the foe,
Some fled in the night and were lost in the snow
Some lived to accuse him who struck the first blow
But gone was the house of Macdonald.
Flagnote: Jim McLean composed many
braw Republican/Nationalist songs, which like this song, quickly entered
into the repertoire of many Scottish Folksingers. The notorious Massacre of Glencoe which was carried out
on 13 February 1692. Under orders from King William a Royalist force,
under the command of Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, carried out
the Massacre of Glencoe which resulted in the death of 38 MacIan
MacDonalds. King William together with his representative in Scotland,
John Dalrymple, Master of Stair, were determined to make an example of a
clan loyal to the Jacobite cause and the MacIan MacDonalds fitted the
bill. Most of the clan escaped the massacre and the Glencoe MacDonalds
turned out in force in the 1715 and 1745 Jacobite Risings. The 'ethnic
cleasing' caused an uproar in the Scottish Parliament who held an
inquiry into the massacre.
See the
THE BLUE TOON SONG BOOK in our
Features section
SCOTTISH FOOD, TRADITIONS
AND CUSTOMS
The
summer-like weather during April must have made think of enjoying time
walking in our beautiful Scottish countryside. In days langsyne Scots walked
because they had to but nowadays walking is done for pleasure as is
testified by the ever-growing number of Walking Festivals. Two Walking
Festivals have already been held – WalkIslay Walking Festival and East
Lothian Walking Festival – and today sees the last day of the Lomond & Clyde
Walking Festival. But as the following list shows there are many more to
come during 2007 –
|
Caithness & Sutherland Walking Festival |
5-21 May |
|
Muirkirk Walking Festival |
5-6
May |
|
Irvine Valley Walking Festival |
11-13 May |
|
Newton Stewart Walking Festival |
11-17 May |
|
Lower Annandale Walking Festival |
11-13 May |
|
Aviemore Annual Walking Festival |
12-20 May |
|
Ballater Royal Deeside Walking Week |
18-25 May |
|
Upper Nithsdale Walking Festival |
26-28 May |
|
Angus Glens Walking Festival |
31
May – 3 June |
|
Glen Affric Walking Festival |
1-3
June
|
|
Langholm Walking Festival |
1-3
June |
|
Aboyne Outdoor Activities Festival |
21-29 July |
|
Spirit of Speyside Walking Festival |
23-27 August
|
|
Scottish Borders Festival of Walking |
1-8
September |
|
East Dunbartonshire Walking Festival |
8-9
September |
|
South Carrick Walking Festival |
21-24 September |
|
Blairgowrie & East Perthshire Walking Festival |
28
September – 3 Oct |
|
Moffat Walking Festival |
5-7
October |
|
Cowal Walking Festival (Cowalfest) |
5-14 October |
|
Crieff & Strathearn Drovers’ Tryst |
6-13 October |
More
information can be found on the website
http://walking.visitscotland.com/events/
There
is nothing to beat a fly cup when you are out in the open air and this
week’s recipe – Squidgy Raisin Flapjacks – will make a tasty fancie piece to
go with your brew. But do remember, when out in the Scottish open-air to be
like a Boy Scout – always prepared – as we notoriously can have all four
season’s weather in the one day!
Squidgy Raisin
Flapjacks
Ingredients:
8oz porridge oats; 4oz butter; 2oz Demerara sugar;
1 tablespoon syrup; 3oz raisins; pinch salt
Method:
Preheat oven 180 deg C/ Gas Mark 4. Grease a shallow, oblong tin (7x11
inch). Melt the butter, sugar and syrup together over a low heat, stirring
together with a wooden spoon. Remove pan from heat, add to oats, raisins and
salt in a deep baking bowl. Pour mixture into the tin and press down. Bake
for 20 minutes. Leave to cool then cut into squares. Keep in an airtight
tin.
A KIST O
FERLIES
A Keek at the Guid Scots
Tung
By Peter & Marilyn Wright
(Note: All words underlined in
this section are RealAudio links)
Whaur yon broken brig hings owre,
Whaur yon water maks nae soun,
Babylon blaws by in stour:
Gang doun wi a sang, gang doun.
Deep owre deep; for onie drouth,
Wan eneuch an ye wud droun,
Saut, or seelfu, for the mouth:
Gang doun wi a sang, gang doun.
Babylon blaws by in stour
Whaur yon water maks nae soun:
Darkness is your only door;
Gang doun wi a sang, gang doun.
COMPLETE POEM
The Sidlaw Hills
by R Ford
Read by Marilyn Wright
Click
here to listen to this in RealAudio
There's
nae hills like the Scottish hills
'Mang
a' that rise and fa',
The
Lowthers and the Grampions,
Sae
buirdly and sae braw ;
The
Pentlands and the Ochils,
Sae
comely aye to see, -
O' a' the
hills o' Scotland still,
The
Sidlaw Hills for me.
An' why
sae dear the Sidlaws ?
Ah,
that's the tale to tell ;
It's no'
their buik, - though a' in ane
They
wadna match Goatfell.
They wadna
mak Ben Nevis,
Though
biggit three on three,
Yet
Goatfell nor Ben Nevis
Is
hauf sae dear to me.
Oh. I can
leave Ben Nevis,
Nor
feel a partin' pang ;
Goatfell,
too, and Ben Lomond,
Sae
bauld the hills amang ;
But aye my
heart gaes dunt for dunt,
Whaurever I may be,
If ane but
names the Sidlaws,
The
hills o' hame, to me.
Ilk' time
we cross the Ochils
My e'e
darts ower Strathmore -
It's first
Kinnoull, then Murray's Ha',
Syne
ithers hauf a score ;
Dunsinnan
and Kinpurnie,
And a'
sae fair to see :
They're
wee bit knowes the Sidlaws,
But,
oh, they're dear to me.
They're
dear to me for mony ties
My
heart will never tyne,
For sichts
an' soun's their very thocht
Reca's
frae auld lang syne.
O' those
wi' whom I speil'd their broos
Bare-leggit
to the knee,
An' but to
clasp their han's again
There's nocht I wadna gi'e.
Then
sing's ye like o' ither hills,
And a'
their glories tell,
The
Lowthers an' the Grampions,
Ben
Nevis an' Goatfell ;
But dinna
ferlie though I sit
An'
never lift an e'e :
They're
wee bit knowes the Sidlaws,
But,
oh, they're dear to me.
Gordon
Wright’s Scottish Photo
Library