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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 421 - 27th June 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
27 June
1743
Scots Greys, Scots Guards and Scots Fusiliers took part in the Battle of
Dettingen, Germany, defeating a French army in the War of the Austrian
Succession, where King George II became the last monarch of Britain to
personally command his troops.
 27 June
2007
A selection of the John Murray Archives went on public display for the first
time at the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh. The exhibition included
letters from Dr David Livingstone and Lord Byron and was opened by writer
and broadcaster Michael Palin.
28 June
2007
After a three year investigation the Scottish Criminal Review Commission
granted Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi leave to appeal his conviction for
the Lockerbie Bombing for a second time. The Commission said that there were
no fewer than six grounds on which he may have suffered a miscarriage of
justice.
29 June
1620
After earlier denouncing smoking as a health hazard, James VI, King of Scots
and I of England, banned the growing of tobacco in his realms.
29 June
2007
More than 20,000 postal workers across Scotland took part in a day of strike
action for the first time in a decade. The strike was a protest over pay
levels and restructuring plans.
 30 June
2007
Two men were arrested following a suspected terrorist attack on Glasgow
Airport. They had crashed a burning Jeep Cherokee into the front glass doors
of Terminal T’s check-in area – the driver, in flames, wrestled with police
and was restrained. The passenger tried to run into the terminal with
canisters of petrol but was overpowered. The A & E unit of the Royal
Alexandra Hospital was later evacuated after staff and police discovered
what they believed to be an ‘improvised explosive device’ on the badly burnt
driver.
30 June
2007
Among the special guests at the Royal opening of the third session of the
Scottish Parliament was Bill Jamieson, 87, a jeweller who had polished the
Honours of Scotland since 1954.
1 July 1924
Field Marshal Douglas Haig unveiled the National War Memorial in St John’s,
Newfoundland.
1 July 2002
The Scottish Football League accepted in principle a proposal to change
Clydebank’s club name to Airdrie United and to take their place in the
Second Division. Airdrie United, who failed in a bid to join the SFL when
Gretna was admitted, bought over Clydebank.
1 July 2007
Police arrested two men in Paisley in connection with the suspected
terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport.
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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The history dates above inspire this week’s quotations – years
ahead of his time Jamie the Saxt attacked the use of tobacco,
unlike James Thomson he saw no pleasure in enjoying a pipe and a
good book! The terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport last year
serves as a reminder of the courage of the public in facing the
attack and John Smeaton appeared as the public face of those who
tackled the terrorists.
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 John
Smeaton: Glasgow Airport Baggage Handler
You’ve
just to get on with life and you cannot let it affect you. If you let it
affect you then they win.
(Reflecting on his part on averting the alleged terrorist attack on Glasgow
Airport [30 June 2007] on returning to work 20 July 2007)
James Stewart, James VI and I, ‘The Wisest Fool in Christendom’ (1566-1625)
A
custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain,
dangerous to the lungs, and in the black, stinking fume thereof, nearest
resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless.
(A
Counterblast to Tobacco)
James
Thomson (BV) (1834 - 1882): Poet
Give a man a pipe he can smoke
Give a man a book he can read;
And his home is bright with a calm delight,
Though the rooms be poor indeed.
(Sunday Up The River)
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)
I’M O’ER YOUNG TO MARRY YET
I am my mammy’s ae bairn,
Wi’ unco folk I weary, Sir,
And lying in a man’s bed,
I’m fley’d it make me eerie, Sir.
Chorus:
I’m o’er young, I’m o’er young,
I’m o’er young to marry yet;
I’m o’er young, ‘twad be a sin,
To tak me frae my mammy yet.
Halowmass is come and gane,
The nights are lang in winter, Sir;
And you an’ I in ae bed,
In trowth, I dare na venture, Sir.
Chorus:
Fu’ loud and shill the frosty wind
Blaws thro’ the leafless timmer, Sir;
But if ye come this gate again,
I’ll aulder be gin simmer, Sir.
Flagnote:
This song appeared in Volume II of ‘Johnson’s Scots Musical Museum’ on 14
February 1788. Robert Burns noted of this song –
‘The
chorus of this song is very old; the rest is, such as it is, mine.’
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
SCHIEHALLION
Gordon Menzies
Come charge up your glasses and lets drink a toast,
To the bold Scottish heroes and the proud Scottish host,
To the battles we've won and the few that we've lost
Here's a health to the back of Schiehallion.
Chorus :
Schiehallion, Schiehallion, I hear your voice calling,
Across the Great Glen to the coast of Argyll.
The Lowlands, The Highlands, The Borders, The Islands,
I'll drink to the back of Schiehallion.
The bluebell of Scotland is hanging her head,
And the lion once rampant is lying like dead.
They grieve for their country whose courage has fled
Far awa' tae the back of Schiehallion.
God speed the day when the Scots shall awake,
The fetters of England to crack and to break.
And stand by the freedom their birthright to take
Here's a health to the back of Schiehallion.
Footnote:
One of the best, and probably most popular, songs from the pen of folk
singer Gordon Menzies. Gordon with his singing partner Robin Watson form
Gaberlunzie, Scotland’s premier folk duo, and the song features regularly in
their performances.
SCOTTISH FOOD, TRADITIONS
AND CUSTOMS
 Our
visitor attraction this week is the award winning Highland Folk Museum
situated on Kingussie Road, Newtonmore. The Highland Folk Museum
triumphed at the 2007 Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards, bringing
home to Newtonmore one of the top prizes – the Tourism People
Development Award. The Folk Museum is situated within the boundaries of
the Cairngorms National Park on two sites: one in Kingussie, and the one
we are looking at this week at Newtonmore. The outdoor museum at
Newtonmore opened in 1995 and is a mile long living history site that
includes reconstructed buildings, a 1700s Township, a 1930 working farm,
live interpretation and a range of visitor facilities. The Highland Folk
Museum promises ‘to ensure that all visitors have a memorable quality
experience, within a safe and cared for environment’, and that is
exactly what they achieve. A great day out for all the family as the
Museum succeeds in its aim of preserving and recording aspects of
Highland life from the 1700s onwards. Within sight of the Cairngorms
this interesting and varied landscape combines farmland, woodland and
open area.
 The
Highland Folk Museum was the brainchild of Dr Isobel F Grant, who although
born in Edinburgh and raised in London, always had the traditional home of
her family in the Highlands in her heart. In 1934 she determined to have an
open air Highland museum and in 1944 a museum was opened in Kingussie – the
forerunner to the 1995 Newtonmore development. Dr Grant’s vision comes alive
at Newtonmore as the Highland township which is based on the original larger
Badenoch settlement of Easter Raitts takes you back to the era of the
Jacobite Risings and the days when Cluny MacPherson brought his clan out on
the side of the deposed Stewarts. Aultlarie Farm, probably dating from the
early 1800s, is worked as it operated in the 1930s. A reminder of how
farming was in the early days of the 20th century. The Open Air
Museum Buildings range from The Railway Halt, Glenlivet Post Office (from
1913), a shepherd’s bothy and fank through to the Leanach Kirk, an early
1900s corrugated tin church relocated from Culloden and Fraser’s Joiner’s
Workshop where carts could be repaired and coffins supplied! As you would
expect the site includes audio visual introduction for visitors, café
facilities, toilets, bairn’s play area, shop and picnic area. Visit
www.highlandfolk.com for further details of this magnificent tourist and
historic attraction.
Whisky and milk would have been in plentiful supply in 1700s Highland
Townships and this week's recipe - Scotch Paradise - contains both.
Scotch Paradise
Ingredients: 50ml Whisky; dash of coconut syrup; milk
Method:
Moisten the edge of a highball glass with sugar syrup. Roll the glass in
desiccated coconut to coat the outer edge. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice
and add – a large (50ml) measure of Whisky, a dash of coconut syrup and top
up with milk (enough to fill the glass). Shake well and pour into the glass.
See
our
Scottish Food, Traditions and Customs
in our Features section
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)
divert : diversion; entertainment
dreip : drip; drizzling rain; soft,
spiritless person
Wee Willie Winkie rins through the toon,
Upstairs an' doonstairs in his nicht-gown,
Tirlin' at the window, crying at the lock
"Are the weans in their bed, for it's now ten o'clock?"
COMPLETE POEM
The Auld Troot
Sandy Thomas Ross
Click here to listen
to this in Real Audio read by Marilyn Wright
The auld broon
troot lay unner a stane,
Unner a stane
lay he,
An he thocht
o' the wund,
An he thocht
o' the rain,
An the troot
that he uist tae be.
A'm a gey auld
troot, said he tae hissel,
A gey auld
troot, said he,
An there's
mony a queer-like
Tale A cuid
tell
O' the things
that hae happened tae me.
They wee-hafflin
trooties are aa verra smart,
They're aa
verra smert, said he,
They ken aa
the rules
O' the gemm
aff by hairt,
An they're no
aften catched, A'll agree.
They're
thinkin A'm auld an they're thinkin A'm duin,
They're
thinkin A'm duin, said he,
They're
thinkin A'm no
Worth the
flirt o' a fin
Or the blink
o' a bonnie black ee.
But A'm safe
an A'm smug in ma bonnie wee neuk,
A'm safe an
A'm snug, said he,
A'm the big
fush that
Nae fusher can
heuk,
An A'll aye be
that - till A dee!
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
Status
The Parish Minister was on
a visit of condolence to Mrs Scott, the widow of one of his
congregation. A short church service having been arranged, the
question of appropriate music arose. Had Mrs Scott any special
preferences? No, she had no suggestions to make. Finally the
Minister asked "Well then, Mrs Scott, what about 'Now the labourers task
is o'er'?"
"Oh!" cried Mrs Scott in
alarm. "That'll no dae ava! John wis nane o yir labourers.
He wis a foreman at the Gasworks!"
Click here to listen to this joke Read and listen to Jokes in our
Scot Wit section
Concert in
St Giles Friday 4 Jul 2008
"Fredome is a nobill thing!" cried the poet John Barbour in 1375 near the
outset of his epic poem "The Bruce". Those words will be heard, sung to
magnificent music by Ronald Stevenson, who is eighty this year, at the end
of a historic and uniquely Scottish choral concert in St Giles Cathedral on
Friday 4th July, starting at 8 p.m. The world famous ensemble Cappella Nova
are singing a programme entitled "Voices of Scotland", consisting of music
written as early as 800 AD and as recently as 2002, setting poetry by
fifteen Scottish poets - written between 597 AD and 1580. The poets include
not only John Barbour and Blind Harry, author of "The Wallace", but George
Buchanan and Mary Queen of Scots, as well as several anonymous poets writing
in Latin. The programme covers the whole of´ Scotland, with music from the
Northern Isles (the Hymn to St Magnus of Orkney, c.1100) to Lincluden in
Ayrshire and Sprouston in the Borders, and from Iona and Glasgow (hymns to
St Kentigern) in the west to St Andrews in the east. Edinburgh is
represented by a setting of Ps.126 in Latin by Patrick Douglas, who was a
priest of St Giles Cathedral before the Reformation of 1560. This will be
the first time his music has been heard in St Giles since that time.
Part One of the concert
opens with plainchant for St Columba, preserved in a manuscript from
Inchcolm Abbey in the Firth of Forth, and a work dating from 2000 by Rebecca
Rowe, "Elegy for Colum Cille". This sets a lament for the death of St
Columba by his disciple Dallan Forgaill, as paraphrased by the modern St
Andrews-based poet Brian Johnstone. Patrick Douglas's psalm 126 of c.1550
speaks of the joy of exiles returning to their homeland. The first half ends
with Gabriel Jackson's 2002 piece "Warldis Vanitie: ane mirroure for Marie
Stuart", which sets five different poems chronicling the life of Mary Queen
of Scots, including one by the queen herself. Starting in a blaze of light
and optimism, Jackson’s cycle ends in deep darkness.
Part Two moves back towards the light, with music for St Magnus and
plainchant for St Kentigern. and a radiantly beautiful piece from 1530 by
David Peebles of St Andrews Cathedral. George Buchanan's wonderful poetic
paraphrases Ps.19 and Ps.72, set to music by the German Statius Olthoff in
1585, lead joyfully to all the optimism of the royal wedding between
Scotland and Norway in 1281, with the Latin hymn "From thee the light
arises, O sweet Scotland". The death of the Maid of Norway was what led to
the conquest of Scotland by Edward I of England, and so this leads straight
into Ronald Stevenson's great "Mediaeval Scottish Triptych" of 1967.
Stevenson found his three texts in Hugh MacDiarmid's incomparable "Golden
Treasury of Scottish Poetry". The first is "When Alexander our king was
dead", the second "Wallace’s Lament for the Graham" by Blind Harry, and the
third is Barbour's "Fredome". Ronald Stevenson, who is 80 this year, is one
of Scotland's senior creative artists. A personal friend of poets like
Sorely MacLean, Hugh MacDiarmid, Sidney Goodsir Smith and Norman MacCaig, he
has taken a lifelong interest in all of Scotland's history and poetry. He
has set over 200 Scottish poems to music, in Scots, Gaelic and English. This
whole remarkable concert programme is a celebrating of his beloved Scotland
and her poetry and her music. Tickets are only £10, £7 concessions,
available from the Queens Hall Box Office, Edinbúrgh (tel. 0131 668 2019).
boxoffice@queenshalledinburgh.org , or at the door on the night.
Gordon & Carmen Wright
Second-hand, Fine & Rare
Scottish Books.
Regular
catalogues issued by email.
To subscribe, email us at:
Gordon.Wright11@btopenworld.com
 Gordon
Wright’s Scottish Photo
Library
Spanning forty-five years
and featuring a wide variety
of illustrations in colour
and black and white covering
all aspects of Scottish life
from Orkney to the Border
country. Thousands of
personality portraits.
Images for reproduction.
Prints for collectors.
Gordon.Wright11@btopenworld.com
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