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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 1^st 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"    

David Coulthard

As far as I'm concerned, it’s a question of genetics. You buy little boys a tractor to play with and little girls a doll. Try it the other way and it just doesn’t work.

 

 

Henry McClelland

If a millionaire came in to try and invest in our club, he would be shown the roads north, south, east and west out of Annan. We would be lynched by the people of Annan if we sold the club to a millionaire.

(Vowing that his club Annan Athletic would not go down the Gretna route on being admitted to the Scottish Football League following the demise of neighbouring Gretna FC 3 July 2008)

Allan McNish

This is what my racing life is all about, winning the world’s biggest races and knowing there’s always another Scot watching. It’s brilliant.

(On winning his second Le Mans 24 Hour Race and seeing a Saltire being waved in the crowd 15 June 2008)

John Prebble (1915-2001)

Once the chiefs lost their powers, many of them lost also any parental interest in their clansmen. During the next hundred years they continued the work of Cumberland’s battalions. Land which they had once held on behalf of their tribe now became theirs in fact and law. They wore the tartan and kept a piper to play at their board, but profit and land-rents replaced a genuine pride in race. So that they might lease their glens and braes to sheep-farmers from the Lowlands and England they cleared the crofts of men, women and children, using police and soldiers where necessary. The descendants of those who had fought for the Prince, or against him, were sent in thousands to Canada. It was a new transportation, but this time the laird was responsible not the Government.

From the green saucer of Glenaladale, dipping down to Loch Sheil, Alexander Macdonald had taken one hundred and fifty men to serve in Clanranald’s regiment. Within a century there was nothing there but the lone shieling of the song.

(Culloden 1961)

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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)

YOU'RE WELCOME, WILLIE STEWART
 

Flagnote: Robert Burns became friendly with William Stewart during his time at Ellisland Farm.  Stewart was the resident grieve of Closeburn in Dumfriesshire, the property of the Rev. James Stuart Menteith, Rector of Barrowly in Linconshire, England.  Willie Stewart's sister was the wife of R Bacon, the owner of the Brownhill Inn, Thornhill, situated a few miles south of Ellisland.  A howff regularly visited by Burns when returning from his fatiguing Excise rounds.  The verses were scrathed by the poet on a crystal tumbler.  The glass was acquired by Sir Walter Scott and preserved at Abbotsford.  The song was first published by Lockhart in 1829. 

Tae the Lords o' Convention 'twas Claverhouse spoke,

E'er the King's crown go down there are crowns to be broke,

So each cavalier who loves honour and me,

Let him follow the bonnets o' Bonnie Dundee.

 

Chorus :

Come fill up my cup, come fill up my can,

Come saddle my horses and call out my men;

Unhook the West Port and let us gae free,

For it's up wi' the bonnets o' Bonnie Dundee.

 

Dundee he is mounted and he rides up the street,

The bells they ring backward and the drums they are beat,

But the provost douce man says 'Just let it be,

For the toon is weel rid o' that devil Dundee.'

 

There are hills beyond Pentland and lands beyond Forth,

If there are lords in the south, there are chiefs in the north,

There are brave duine-wassals three thousand times three,

Cry 'Hey for the bonnets o' Bonnie Dundee.'

 

So awa tae the hills, tae the lee and the rocks,

Ere I own a ursurper I'll crouch with the fox,

So tremble false whigs in the midst o' yir glee,

For ye've no seen the last o' my bonnets and me.

SCOTTISH FOOD, TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS

As regular visitors to Culloden Battlefield we have been looking forward to visiting the new £9 million National Trust for Scotland Visitor and Exhibition Centre since it opened to the public on 20 December 2007. Originally planned to open in August last year the centre made it just before the end of The Highland Year of Culture 2007. Perhaps an ironic opening as the fateful day on Drummossie Moor heralded the end of the traditional Highland way of life and the Clan system.

Having missed the official opening on the 262nd anniversary of the battle on 16 April this year, due to football duties, Marilyn and I finally found the opportunity to visit the new centre during a holiday in Inverness and on Sunday 15 June took the Rapson’s bus, on an overcast morning to Culloden. Great things bus passes! Passing signage in both Gaelic and English we immediately had to make use of the new well-stocked Culloden Centre shop as the camera batteries weren’t working!

The new centre fits snugly into the landscape and with a ramp which runs towards the third Hanoverian line from which you can visit both the roof of the building and walk down to the battlefield. The old centre which stood on the Hanoverian lines is now completed cleared. Looking from the Jacobite lines the new building and ramp sit un-intrusively on the horizon.

You approach the new building on a pathway of Caithness flagstones bearing the names of those, world-wide, who donated towards the cost of the centre. Inside you pass the shop – well stocked with pleasant staff – café and toilets to reach the entrance desk. The new exhibition is very 21^st century with interactive screens and off-screen noises! On the right-hand side you can follow the Jacobite story and the Hanoverian on the left. Too much information for two pensioners! Future visits are called for. The exhibition area brings you to a small cinema area where surrounded by screens on all sides a short, 4 ½ minute, film vividly brings the horror of the battle to life. Finally you reach a large, well-lit area where amongst other exhibits are the latest archaeology finds and a large table with a map of Drummossie on which the course of the battle is illustrated. Here we were in time to see a demonstration of Highland weapons by a chiel in period dress, who fairly knew his stuff. We were fortunate after a walk round the battlefield, often in rain, to catch the same cheil in Hanoverian uniform just as deftly dealing with The King’s Army in Scotland weaponry. The highlight of our first visit to the new centre but I am sure that we will gain further insight on repeat visits. However one change I did miss, in spite of the quality of the new film, was the film shown in the previous centre telling the story of The 45 and Culloden beautifully narrated by the late Findlay J MacDonald. A native Gaelic speaker his voice was just right to tell the story of that fateful day.

Outside we took the opportunity to walk along the ramp to the Leanach Cottage and back again to the environmentally-friendly roof, complete with grass, and with a splendid view over the battlefield. Rain blowing through was a reminder of the terrible weather conditions experienced by the ill-fed, tired Jacobites as they watched the well-drilled Hanoverian army line up for battle.

Forgetting that new interpretation handsets are now available, a must for the next visit, we set off back to the Leanach Cottage and started to walk round the battlefield and revisit some of our favourite spots.

More of the battlefield visit over the next two weeks, but as we leave the Hanoverian lines this week’s recipe recalls that the battle was fought between two cousins – an Italian one trying to win back the throne of his forebears and a German one fighting to keep his father’s throne safe. So German Biscuits act as reminder of the Hanoverian side.

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)