When berry time comes roond each year
Blair's population's swellin,
There's every kind o picker
there
And every kind
o dwellin.
There's tents and huts and caravans,
There's bothies and
there's bivvies
And shelters made wi tattie-bags
And dug-outs
made wi divvies.
There's corner-boys fae Glesgae,
Kettle-boilers fae Lochee,
There's miners fae the pits o Fife,
Mill-workers fae
Dundee,
And fisherfowk fae Peterheid
And tramps fae
everywhere,
Aa lookin fir a livin aff
The berry fields o Blair.
There's travellers fae the Western
Isles,
Fae Arran, Mull and Skye;
Fae Harris, Lewis and Kyles o Bute,
They come
their luck to try,
Fae Inverness and Aberdeen,
Fae Stornoway and Wick
Aa flock to Blair at the berry time,
The straws and
rasps to pick.
There's some wha earn a pound or twa,
Some cannae earn their keep,
There's some wid pick fae morn till nicht,
And some wid raither sleep.
There's some wha hae tae pick
or stairve,
And some wha
dinna care
There's comedy and tragedy
Played on the fields o Blair.
There's faimilies pickin for one purse,
And some wha pick alane,
There's men wha share and
share alike
Wi wives
wha's no their ane.
There's gladness and there's
sadness tae,
There's
happy herts and sare,
For there's some wha bless
and some wha curse
The berry fields o
Blair.
Before I put my pen awa,
It's this I would
like to say:
You'll travel far afore you'll meet
A kinder lot than they;
For I've mixed wi them in
field in pub
And while I've breath to spare,
I'll bless the hand that led me tae
The berry fields o Blair.
Footnote:
The outstanding traveller, traditional singer and songwriter Belle Stewart
wrote this song in 1947 for the family Hogmanay party at the request of her
brother Donald. She composed a Hogmanay song every year thereafter. Belle
Stewart was born in a bow tent pitched on the bank of the River Tay at
Caputh, near Dunkeld, on 18 July 1906. On the day of her birth, her father
Donald (Dan) MacGregor was pearl fishing in the Tay and found a beautiful,
large pearl, just before word came of Belle’s birth. He declared that he had
two pearls in the one day. A passing American couple bought the Tay pearl
for £5, a large sum at the time, but Dan still had the finest of the two
pearls, Unfortunately Dan died when Belle was only nine month old, and her
mother settled in Blairgowrie. From her Perthshire base Belle travelled
extensively in both Scotland and Ireland. In 1925 she married piper Alex
Stewart. After they were ‘discovered’ as carriers of traditional song and
music, The Stewarts of Blair, became well-known performers on the folk scene
and performed all over Europe and the United States. In recognition of her
contribution to folk music, Belle Stewart was awarded the British Empire
Medal. Aged 91 she died in the cottage hospital in Blairgowrie on 4
September 1997. In an obituary the folklorist Dr Hamish Henderson wrote in
The School of Scottish Studies publication, ‘Tocher’ in 1998 –