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CAMPAIGNING FOR SCOTLAND
(Owned, Edited and Printed in Scotland since November
1926)
"Promoting all that is best in Scottish
Nationalism and all that is best in Scotland."
Content of the Flag in the Wind Web Site is the copyright of the Scots
Independent Newspaper.
[
Issue 410 - 11th April 2008] |
Compiled by Peter D Wright |
Lots of great information to
read and enjoy under our
Features Section:
Scots
Language | Scottish Food |
Dates in History |
Scot Wit and lots more
DATES IN
HISTORY
 11 April
1812
Death of Edinburgh-born Jane Gordon, Duchess of Gordon, political hostess
and agricultural reformer, in London: she was buried at Kinrara. She
instigated plans, together with the minister John Anderson, to establish a
village at Kingussie and set up the Badenoch and Strathspey Farming Society
in 1803. Famous for taking an active role in the recruitment of soldiers on
her husband’s estates for the Gordon Highlanders.
11 April
2007
A dedication service was held at the Eastern necropolis in Glasgow to honour
Paisley-born Sergeant James McKechnie, one of the first men to be awarded
the Victoria Cross for his bravery in the 1854 Battle of Alma during the
Crimean War. He died in 1886 and was buried in an unmarked grave. A
headstone donated by Edinburgh-based firm Abercorn Memorials was placed on
his grave a week before the service.
12 April
1606
A union flag incorporating the St George’s Cross of England and the St
Andrew’s Cross of Scotland was introduced by proclamation by James VI, King
of Scots, and I of England.
12 April
1941
Death of Charles Murray, civil engineer and poet, at Banchory,
Aberdeenshire. He worked in South Africa for many years but wrote mainly in
his native Scots and is best remembered for his poem ‘The Whistle’.
12 April
2007
The Bourbon Dolphin, an oil rig tug, capsized off the coast of Shetland.
Three bodies were recovered including Norwegian Captain Odne Remoy and his
15-year-old son David, and five crewmen were missing. A rescue operation
failed to find the missing crewmen.
14 April
1802
Death of John Mackay, eminent botanist and superintendent of the Royal
Botanic Garden of Edinburgh.
 14 April
1947
A Government report said that of almost one million houses built in Scotland
before 1914, 400,000 were without proper sanitary conditions.
14 April
2007
The outgoing Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament George Reid was
Grand Marshall of the National Tartan Day parade in New York. He marched
with 2,000 pipers and drummers along 6th Avenue. It was the
culmination of a fortnight of meetings undertaken by George Reid on behalf
of the Scottish Parliament, including a visit to Quebec, Canada.
17 April
1969
The minimum voting age, which had been 21 since 1928, was reduced to 18.
18 April
1746
A Hanoverian force of 200 commanded by Colonel Cockayne looted Moy House and
took Lady Anne Macintosh, ‘Colonel Anne’, prisoner. A noted Jacobite she had
raised Clan Chatton for the Stewart cause, in spite of her husband being a
Hanoverian officer, and the regiment, led by Alexander MacGillvray of
Dunmaglas, fought at Falkirk and Culloden where MacGillvray died heroically.
Lady Anne was imprisoned in Inverness for six weeks and then released.
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"
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This week Scottish Quotations goes all-American as Saturday 6 April
2008 saw First Minister Alex Salmond, along with Greenock-born
American Superbowl winner Lawrence Tynes lead the Tartan Day Parade
in New York. On the anniversary of the Scottish Declaration of
Independence sealed at Arbroath Abbey on 6 April 1320, a declaration
which inspired the American Declaration of Independence, Alex
Salmond said that Scotland Week in the US had enjoyed exceptional
political support – “from the Speaker of the House of Nancy Pelosi
to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a 47-strong Congressional
membership of the Scottish caucus and soon to be 20 members in the
Senate.’ As well as support from US President George W Bush, Alex
Salmond was able to comment on the support of the leading
Presidential candidates – Hilary Clinton, John McCain and Barack
Obama. Of their support First Minister Salmond said – ‘ However to
get the support of all three Presidential candidates indicates that
whoever is in the White House next year will be a strong supporter
of Tartan Day and a firm friend of Scotland’. They provide this
week’s quotations.
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 George
Walker Bush
Scotland and the United States have long shared ties of family and
friendship, and many of our country’s most cherished customs and ideals
first grew to maturity on Scotland’s soil. The Declaration of Arbroath,
the Scottish declaration of Independence signed in 1320, embodied the
Scots’ strong dedication to liberty, and the Scots brought that
tradition to the New World. Sons and daughters of many Scottish clans
were among the first immigrants to settle in America, and their
determination and optimism helped build our nation’s character.
(April
2008)
Hilary
Rodham Clinton
On this
day, we recognise the outstanding achievements and contributions made by
Americans of Scottish descent who have played a prominent role in the
founding of this country, and throughout our history, and who have
helped foster a strong relationship between the US and Scotland.
(April
2008)
John Sidney
McCain
I am
particularly honoured to do so now, [commemorate America’s longstanding
relationship with Scotland] during the first official Scotland Week in
the US. Marking April 6 as national Tartan Day helps raise awareness
among all Americans of the great contributions made by their fellow
countrymen of Scottish descent.
(April
2008)
Barack
Hussein Obama
With
millions of Americans of Scottish descent living throughout the country,
it’s important to celebrate the historic relationship between the US and
Scotland, and the great contributions Scottish Americans have made.
(April
2008)
See
Scottish Quotations in our Features Section
SONGS
OF ROBERT BURNS
A collection of some of the best known songs by Scotland's greatest
songwriter and National Bard, Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)
THE LOVELY LASS OF INVERNESS
The lovely lass o'
Inverness,
Nae joy nor pleasure can
she see;
For e'en and morn she cries,
alas!
And ay the saut tear
blin's her e'e.
Drumossie moor - Drumossie
day -
A waefu' day it was to
me!
For there I lost my father
dear,
My father dear, and
brethern three.
Their winding-sheet the
bluidy clay,
Their graves are growing
green to see;
And by them lies the dearest
lad
That ever blest a
lover's e'e!
Now wae to thee thou cruel
lord,
A bluidy man I trow thou
be;
For mony a heart thou has
made sair,
That ne'er did wrang to
thine or thee!
Flagnote: From memory it was the great Scottish folksinger Jean Redpath
whom I first heard singing this lovely song by our National Bard which
very well captures the anguish following the Battle of Culloden
fought
on 16 April 1746.
See the SONGS OF ROBERT
BURNS in our features section
SING
A SANG AT LEAST
(compiled by Peter D Wright)
"That I for poor auld
Scotland's sake
Some useful plan or book could make
Or sing a sang at least ........"
- Robert Burns
CULLODEN
Gordon Menzies
The wind blows cauld and the wind blows wet
The heather coarse and high
The drums beat out o'er Culloden Moor
And Cumberland is nigh,nigh
And Cumberland is nigh.
Ye hielanders fatigued and starved
Wha line Culloden Moor
Ye're goin' tae die for a Stuart Prince
And a cause that isnae yours,yours
A cause that isnae yours.
Noo Chairlie's bonnie and Chairlie's braw
But see how Chairlie runs,
And leaves his bonnie lads tae face
The Bloody Butcher's guns, guns
The Bloody Butcher's guns.
Macdonald, Cameron, Macintosh
Macneil, MacLean, MacKay
Tak heed, tak head, turn round your steed
The Bloody Butcher's nigh, nigh
The Bloody Butcher's nigh.
A cold wind blows and nothing grows
The heather sways bluid red.
The Stuart Prince tae France has flown
And a' his lads are dead, dead
And a' his lads are dead.
Footnote: A braw song by Gordon Menzies, of Gaberlunzie fame, to
commemorate the
262nd anniversary of the Battle of Culloden on 16
April 1746. In an hour the better trained and equipped Hanoverian
army under the Bloody Butcher, The Duke of Cumberland, swept aside
the last hope of restoring the exiled, ill-fated Stewarts to the
throne. The battle was summed up by the Jacobite soldier and Gaelic
poet John Roy Stuart -
Mo chreach, armailt nam breacan
Bhith air sgaoileadh's air sgapadh's gach àit',
Aig fìor-bhalgairean Shasuinn
Nach do ghnàthaich bonn ceartais 'nan dàil;
Ged a bhunnaich iad baiteal
Cha b'ann d'an cruadal no 'n tapadh a bhà,
Ach gaoth aniar agus frasan
Thighinn a nios oirnn bhàrr machair nan Gall.
(Woe is me for the plaided troops scattered and routed everywhere at
the hands of these utter foxes of England who observed no fairness
at all in the conflict or the skill of them but the westward wind
and the rain coming down on us from the flat lands of the
lowlanders.)
Gordon's song 'Culloden' featured on the first album recorded by
Gaberlunzie in 1969 and was recently re-released on CD in 2005.
See the
SING A SANG AT LEAST in our
features section
SCOTTISH FOOD, TRADITIONS
AND CUSTOMS
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)
In Aprile at the hicht of noon,
whan leean hauf-licht there was nane,
nae
flichtie ferlie was to blame
for yon queer sicht: an aik in blume.
COMPLETE POEM The
Whistle
By Charles Murray
Read by Peter Wright
Listen to this poem in Real
Audio here
He cut a sappy sucker from the muckle rodden-tree,
He
trimmed it, an' he wet it, an' he thumped it on his knee ;
He
never heard the teuchat when the harrow broke her eggs,
He
missed the craggit heron nabbin' puddocks in the seggs,
He
forgot to hound the collie at the cattle when they strayed,
But you should hae seen the whistle that the wee herd made !
He
wheepled on't at mornin' an' he tweetled on't at nicht'
He
puffed his freckled cheeks until his nose sank oot o' sicht,
The kye were late for milkin' when he piped them up the closs,
The kitlin's got his supper syne, an' he was beddit boss ;
But he cared na doit nor docken what they did or thocht or said,
There was comfort in the whistle that the wee herd made.
For lyin' lang o' mornin's he had clawed the caup for weeks,
But noo he had his bonnet on afore the lave had breeks ;
He
was whistlin' to the porridge that were hott'rin on the fire,
He
was whistlin' ower the travise to the baillie in the byre ;
Nae a blackbird nor a mavis, that hae pipin' for their trade,
Was a marrow for the whistle that the wee herd made.
He
played a march to battle, it cam' dirlin' through the mist,
Till the halflin squared his shou'ders an' made up his mind to 'list ;
He
tried a spring for wooers, though he wistna what it meant,
But the kitchen-lass was lauchin' an' he thocht she maybe kent ;
He
got ream an' buttered bannocks for the lovin' lilt he played.
Wasna that a cheery whistle that the wee herd made ?
He
blew them rants sae lively, schottisches, reels, an' jigs,
The foalie flang his muckle legs an' capered ower the rigs,
The grey-tailed futt'rat bobbit oot to hear his ain strathspey,
The bawd cam' loupin' through the corn to "Clean Pease Strae" ;
The feet o' ilka man an' beast gat youkie when he played -
Hae ye ever heard o' whistle like the wee herd made ?
But the snaw it stopped the herdin' an' the winter brocht him dool,
When in spite o' hacks an' chilblains he was shod again for school ;
He
couldna sough the catechis nor pipe the rule o' three,
He
was keepit in an' lickit when the ither loons got free ;
But he aften played the truant - 'twas the only thing he played,
For the maister brunt the whistle that the wee herd made !
Click
here to listen to this in Real Audio
See Scots Language in
our Features Section
for other poems, stories, songs, sayings, jokes and words in the Scots language
SCOT WIT
Enjoy a Scottish Joke every week and
listen to it as well
No Half-Measures
Donald, the gamekeeper, had
been far from well and the Doctor had prescribed the application of
leeches and gave his wife the necessary instructions. On his next visit
he found Donald looking the waur o the wear.
"I see you have
been applying the leeches to some purpose" remarked the Doctor.
"Leeches" snorted
the practical wife "Leeches did ye say? Whit wad leeches dae tae a big
man like that? A pit the ferret at him!
Click here to listen to this joke Read and listen to Jokes in our
Scot Wit section
Gordon & Carmen Wright
Second-hand, Fine & Rare
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Spanning forty-five years
and featuring a wide variety
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