CONTENTS
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Electric Scotland News
The Flag in the Wind
The Complete Scotland
The Concise Household Encyclopaedia
Gairloch in North-West Ross-Shire
The Starling, A Scotch Story
The Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal
Scotland as it was and as it is
The Memorials of Cellardyke and the Fife Coast (New complete book)
CLANZ
Electric Scotland News
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Most of my work this week has been on our new Community and it's likely to take up much of my time for some months ahead. We are still on track for the launch at the end of this month.
A few highlights...
We now have the arcade system installed and working with lots of new games.
We have enabled all forums with the TapaTalk app for mobile devices such as the iPhone and Blackberry so you can message on the go.
We're integrating a FaceBook hook up.
Our Links directory is now fully up and running.
The University of Guelph's Centre for Scottish Studies have taken out 7 forums and Simon Fraser University's Scottish studies have taken out 5 forums. We're also in discussions with the University of Otago in New Zealand.
Invites to get involved have been sent out this week to organizations around the world and also to Scotland. We're also in discussions with the Scottish Caucus in the US.
We've created a Calendar specifically for The University of Guelph and Simon Fraser University and also for Highland Games and Scottish Festivals.
The YouTube video link has been installed and so if you add a YouTube link to a message it will show as a Video when the message is read.
We've also populated a lot of forums with messages so you'll have something interesting to read when you login.
And our thanks go to our beta testers who have helped discover bugs and also helped to test out the facilities we'll be offering.
Still lots more to do and it didn't help that Steve put his back out but he's still confident we can meet our end of month deadline. The very last thing we'll be doing is to customize the look and feel of the site and complete our welcome letter that you'll receive when you register for an account. We're working with a graphic designer to help us get the design right.
We've also been working on the admin side of things to help detect spammers and the like.
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John Henderson is now on his summer break. This means he has his orders to stop working and devote his time to his children who will be visiting them in Cyprus for their own summer holidays. Normal service will be resumed toward the end of the summer.
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I am heading in for eye surgery on Monday so hopefully my sight will improve thereafter in time for our community launch.
ABOUT THE STORIES
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Some of the stories in here are just parts of a larger story so do check out the site for the full versions. You can always find the link in our "What's New" section in our site menu and at http://www.electricscotland.com/rss/whatsnew.php
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
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This weeks issue is compiled by Richard Thomson.
You can read his compilation at http://www.scotsindependent.org
The Working Life of Christina McKelvie MSP diary entry for this week can be viewed at
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...lvie/index.htm
Christina is getting quite chatty and informative in her diary entries so I thought I's share her first story in this weeks diary with you here...
Last Friday I had the privilege of visiting the Citizens Advice Bureau in Hamilton, the breadth of work they undertake is astonishing. I met with the whole team and was briefed on this issues they are involved with. By and far the biggest issue is debt and the bulk of the work is undertaken with individuals and families who find themselves in difficult circumstances with finance. Another project they have is Families Outside this fantastic project supports the families of men who are currently in Addiewell prison. It is easy to judge someone on the crime they have committed but it is with support and compassion that we can break the cycle of criminality. Families outside supports the families of these men with advice on financial support and in some cases emotional support to cope with the impact on the family with having someone in prison. It is as very difficult job to do but the commitment and hard work of the staff there can be a real difference made to the difficulties these families experience. One of the great things about our legal system and our civic system is that compassion and support play a very important role in changing attitudes of those who have committed a crime and supporting the families affected by it, it is only in this civilised way that we will support real rehabilitation. CAB explained to me that they had some challenges with funding and I have pledged to support them as much is possible but as they know budgets are tight and not only are people feeling the detrimental effects of personal debt the last governments approach to 'buy now pay later' has meant that we will all pay the price for this financial mis-management in ways that will cause great pain to us all.
This is some of the fantastic staff at CAB Hamilton with me outside their office last Friday and here is the link to their website; http://www.hamiltoncitizensadvicebureau.org.uk/
The Complete Scotland
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A comprehensive survey, based on the principle motor, walking, railway and steamer routes. Historical section by J.D. Mackie, M.C., M.A. Professor of Scottish History and Literature and the University of Glasgow and geology and scenery by T.M. Finlay, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S.E., University of Edinburgh.
Added this week...
Glasgow to Oban via. Loch Lomond and Crianlarich
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/trav...land/index.htm
Holiday Cottages
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These are wee tourism articles. Got in this week...
Scottish Clans - Their significance
This can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/travel/holidayndx.htm
The Concise Household Encyclopaedia
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Added Page 384, Drawing, Drawing Room, Page 385, Drawing Room, Page 386, Draw Knife, Drawn Thread Work, Draw String, Page 387, Dresden China, Dressers. These can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/household/d.htm
Gairloch in North-West Ross-Shire
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It's Records, Traditions, Inhabitants and Natural History with a Guide to Gairloch and Loch Maree and a Map and Illustrations" by John H. Dixon FSA Scot. published in 1886.
We're making good progress with Part I. - Records and Traditions of Gairloch. Added this week are...
Chapter XXI.—Antiquities
Want of interesting remains of ancient buildings—Supposed Druidical remains in Tollie wood—Druidical enclosure on Isle Maree—The Island of Justice— Pictish round houses—Vitrified fort—Ancient duns, strongholds, or crannogs— Remains of churches—Gairloch church—Culinellan church—Turf-built church in Tollie Bay—Church at Tollie Croft, or Cruive End—Chapel of Inverewe—Chapel of Sand of Udrigil—Old burial-grounds—Remains of other old buildings—Remains on Isle Maree—On Eilean Ruaridh Beag—On Eilean Suthainn—The Tigh Dige —The Sabhal-Geal—The Temple house—Old houses—Ancient weapons and implements—The Feill Iudha—Caves.
Part II.—Inhabitants of Gairloch
Chapter I.—Ancestry and Names
Highlanders different to Scotch—Gairloch people originally Celtic—Admixture of blood—Mackenzies predominant—Surnames little used—Mode of constructing Gaelic names—Examples—Bynames—Curious names of girls.
Chapter II.—Warfare and Weapons
Gairloch a bone of contention—Broadsword and targe—Bows and arrows— Battle-axe—Dirk—Guns—Clan fights no more—Seaforth Highlanders—A Gairloch company—The press-gang—Donald M'Lean returns "from hell"—Volunteer corps—Story of Finlay Fraser and his guns.
Chapter III.—Polity and Customs
Improvement after the "Forty-five"—Increase of schools—Report on educational position of the people by Rev. James Russell—Education under the School Boards —Relief of the poor—Beggars almost unknown—Tramps—Tinkers—Old man seeking America—Her Majesty's note about him—Old marriage customs—Funeral customs—Whisky at funerals—Heaps of stones at halting-places—New Year's day, old style—Administration of justice at the Island of Justice—Mode of procedure— The Cnoc a Chroich, or Gallows Hill—Some old Gairloch men acquainted with folk-lore.
Chapter IV.—Religion and Religious Observances
No records of Episcopal times—Sunday services—Baptism—The Lord's supper dispensed in the Leabaidh na Ba Baine—Dr Mackenzie's account of churchgoing and the communions—Johnnie at ,church for the first time—Five days' services— Large crowd ; few communicants—Preparation for Gairloch communion—The scene in the Leabaidh—Aunt Sally—Characteristics of Free Church services and religion.
Chapter V.—Character and Characteristics
Criticism invidious-—Gairloch people have a good character—Fidelity, courtesy, and hospitality—Sir G. S. Mackenzie's opinion—Sir Francis Mackenzie's tribute to his Gairloch people—Attachment to home—Caution and keenness in money matters—Anecdote—Captain Burt's charge of want of cleanliness not generally applicable now—Morality—Indolence—Always behind time—Clinging to old ways —Old Highland esprit dying out—Annual competition recommended.
Chapter VI.—Language and Dress
Gaelic called Irish—Gairloch dialect—Not dying out—Knowledge of English increasing—Old people still unable to speak English—Gaelic phrases in English— Gaelic literature in Gairloch—Should Gaelic be discouraged?—Ancient dress in Gairloch—Belted plaid or truis—Separate form of the kilt—Antiquity of the kilt —Highland dress' proscribed—Subterfuges—Discouraged homespun fabrics—Kilt common in Gairloch in early part of nineteenth century—Sir Francis Mackenzie on the kilt—Now fallen into disuse—Present dress of men—Gairloch hose —Dress of women—The mutch—Maiden's headdress—Dr Mackenzie on maiden's hair and on mutches.
You can read all these chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...loch/g2ndx.htm
The Starling, A Scotch Story
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By Normal MacLeod D.D. (1877)
We've posted other books by this author and also a biography about him. He was a well know personality during his lifetime and also chaplan to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
This week we've added the following chapters...
Chapter VI
The Starling on his Trial
Chapter VII
The Sergeant on his Trial
Chapter VIII
The Conference in the Manse
Chapter IX
Charlie's Cot once more Occupied
Chapter X
The Sergeant alone with his Starling
Chapter XI
The Old Soldier and his young Pupil on Sunday Evening
Chapter XII
Adam Mercer, Sergeant, But not Elder
Chapter VI starts...
ADAM was left alone with his wife. His only remark as he sat down opposite to her was: "Mr. Porteous has forgot hirnsel', and was too quick;" adding, "nevertheless it is our duty to gang to the kirk."
"Kirk!" exclaimed Katie, walking about in an excited manner, "that's a' ower! Kirk! pity me! hoo can you or me gang to the kirk? Hoo can we be glowered at and made a speculation o', and be the sang o' the parish? The kirk! waes me; that's a' by! I never, never thocht it wad come to this wi' me or you, Adam! I think it wad hae kilt my faither. It's an awfu' chasteesement."
"For what?" quietly asked the Sergeant.
"Ye needna speer, ye ken weel eneuch it's for that bird. I aye telt ye that ye were ower fond o't, and noo!—I'm real sorry for ye, Adam. It's for you, for you, and no' for mysel', I'm sorry. Sirs me, what a misfortun'!"
"What are ye sae sorry for?" meekly inquired Adam.
"For everything!" replied Katie, groaning "for the stramash amang the weans; for the dish-clash o' the neeboors; for you and me helping to break the Sabbath; for the minister being sae angry, and that nae doubt, for he kens best, for crude reasons; and, aboon a', for you, Adam, my bonnie man, an elder o' the kirk, brocht into a' this habble for naething better than a bit bird!" And Katie threw herself into the chair, covering her face with her hands.
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...g/chapter6.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ling/index.htm
The Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal
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This is the very first volume of this journal which I thought would make interesting reading. We've added more chapters this week...
The Glen Sannox Hills
Annual General Meeting
A Climb over Suilven
Three Days among The Cuchullins
The Arrochar Mountains
Ben Aulder
The Mountain Scenery of the North West Highlands
Here is how the chapter on "The Glen Sannox Hills" starts...
By THOS. FRASER S. CAMPBELL.
THERE are few parts of Scotland which present to the climber a better field for the exercise of his favourite sport, than does the island of Arran. The exquisite beauty of the island itself, and the magnificent prospects to be obtained from its summits, form in themselves features sufficiently attractive; while those who seek in climbing a more purely athletic form of exercise, may find in its peaks and corries ample opportunities to test their skill.
I had passed many pleasant hours among the hills and glens of Arran, but it had long been my special desire to have a "big day" in Glen Sannox—to "begin at the beginning," as the children say, and to explore every peak along its ridges. When therefore it was proposed to me by my friend, Mr W. R. Lester, that we should make Corrie the scene of a brief holiday, I accepted the suggestion with alacrity, and one Friday evening in July found us inmates of its comfortable hostelry.
The following morning broke calm and clear; but we were lazy, and contented ourselves with a ramble across the moors which stretch between the back of Maoldon and the lower slopes of Goatfell, and through the castle woods to Brodick.
Sunday, however, found us eager for our work, and immediately after breakfast we took our way along the shore, pursued, as on the previous day, by an innumerable swarm of flies, who bid fair for some time to make our walk unbearable. Deaf to our objurgations, it seemed that rain alone had any power to damp their ardour. A heavy shower coming on before we had left the low ground, our tormentors gradually ceased from troubling, with the exception of one or two, more exasperating than their fellows, whom, however, we incontinently slew. After this we were allowed to possess our souls in peace.
The valley of the Sannox forms an almost complete amphitheatre of hills, the narrow entrance being guarded on either side by the sister peaks of Suidhe-Fheargas and Cioch-na-h'Oighe, the range culminating at the head of the glen in the magnificent hill of Cir-Mhor, the "Great Comb." The surrounding hills, though of no great elevation (the highest being under three thousand feet), present an appearance of greater height owing to the wildness of their character, and to the absence of other adjacent hills with which to compare them; and the glen itself, although from its size it cannot claim to equal its greater rivals, Glen Coe, Glen Lyon, or Glen Tilt, has yet a grandeur of its own from the very nakedness of its rocks and the desolation of its surroundings. No tree breaks its monotony, and the river rushes along its rocky bed unshadowed, save by the bracken and the purple heather, until emerging from the gloom of the hills into the softer beauties of the plain, it pursues its course to the sea through a deep channel, over which the hazels and birches droop their graceful forms.
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ring/chap5.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ring/index.htm
Scotland as it was and as it is
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By the Duke of Argyll, George Douglas Campbell, 8th Duke (1887)
I will first of all mention that each chapter of this book is quite substancial and so you might need to organize a cup of coffee or something before you start.
We have really finished this book with the final appendix going up later tonight.
Chapter I - Celtic Feudalism
Chapter II - The Age of Charters
Chapter III - The Age of Covenants
Chapter IV - The Epoch of the Clans
Chapter V - The Appeal from Chiefs to Owners
Chapter VI - The Response of Ownership
Chapter VII - Before the Dawn
Chapter VIII - The Burst of Industry
Chapter IX - The Fruits of Mind
Appendix I
Chapter IV - The Epoch of the Clans starts,,,
WHEN a great man dies, even after doing imperishable work, it may sometimes be that his work suffers skaith, and that the full value of it may not be seen until after many days. It was so with King Robert the Bruce. His work was one of the greatest which it is given to men to do. He did not merely win a Crown—that may be a very small matter. He made a Nation—and that must always be a very great one. He gave to a weak, and a scattered, and a divided people one common object of ambition, and that a noble object. He welded and disciplined diverse and antagonistic races into one people seeking to establish that national independence on which alone can be raised the structure of liberty and of law. He left a profound impression on the mind of his people. It is one of the great merits of the curious history, of the life of Bruce, which has been left to us by a Monk of the same century, that its laborious rhymes are more true to fact than to the poetic spirit. There are, however, some passages of true poetry, and there is one passage in particular of singular beauty, force, and pathos. It is the passage in which the Chronicler relates the last scene of all—when in his castle of Cardross, looking down on the junction of the Leven and the Clyde, the old Lion had lain down to die. When the sense of death had smitten him, when he had called his Knights around him and told them of his long- cherished purpose—the purpose of all knightly piety in that age—to fight against the Infidel,—when he had begged that some one might be chosen who could at least carry his heart to the war where it had long wished to be,—when the good Lord James Douglas had accepted this mission, when the dying King had given his last instructions—when the Church had shrived him—with "very repentance" Robert the Bruce gave up the ghost. Then the Historian, after the manner of Livy and other ancient authors, puts into the mouth of those who surrounded the deathbed of this great man, a Song of Lament which well expresses the sense of loss which must ever accompany the departure of a powerful Personality from the world:-
"All our Defence," they said, "alas!
And he that all our comfort was,
Our wit and all our governing,
Alas! is here brought till ending!
His worship, and his mickle might,
Made all that were with him so wycht,
That they might never abased be,
While forouth them they might him see.
Alas! what shall we do or say?
For on life while he lasted, ay
With all our neighbours dred were we:
And in till many ser contrie
Of our Worship sprang the renown
And that was all for his persoune."
These touching words were not more touching than profoundly true. The personal qualities of great men are in all ages powerful. In rude ages, when the foundations of society are being laid, they are the root and spring of everything. But hero-worship, the disposition to follow and be led by any one with strength of hand, like everything else that is good, may have its dangers too. If the men whom others follow be men like Bruce, with some fruitful principle of conduct and some really great objects of pursuit, fidelity to their standard may well be the very highest form of public virtue. But if, on the contrary, the men whom others follow are the reverse of all this—if they embody nothing but the lower instincts of mankind, and have no objects of pursuit higher than intertribal feuds or the lust of power or gain, then fidelity to Chiefs and Leaders may be, and often is, the very greatest danger to which Society can be exposed. It has broken up great Empires, and has thrown back into utter barbarism national governments which had been full of promise.
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...twas/chap4.htm
You can read all these chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...twas/index.htm
Robert Burns Lives!
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By Frank Shaw
We got in this week...
Chapter 89 - The Merry Muses
I met author Valentina Bold in Washington, DC while attending the Library of Congress’ conference on Robert Burns during January of 2009. She was on the program with such notables as Alex Salmond, current First Minister of Scotland; Robert Crawford, poet, writer and professor at University of St Andrews; and Dr. Ted Cowan, author and Director of the University of Glasgow Dumfries Campus where he is also Professor of Scottish History and Literature. Dr. Bold is also associated with the University of Glasgow at Dumfries where she is head of Scottish Studies. She walks among the giants of Scotland academia and is as much at home doing so as any of them! She is used to walking in and among big shoes as her late father was poet and critic Alan Bold, one of my modern Scottish heroes.
Dr. Bold is editor of the 2009 edition of The Merry Muses of Caledonia. Any serious student of Burns will see to it that a copy of this book is placed in their personal library for ready reference. Why is this edition so important? Bold’s insightful 70-page introduction makes it so. She brings a modern approach to the works of Burns and others and basically completes the 1959 edition of James Barke (who, unfortunately, died before the book was published) and J. DeLancey Ferguson. You will find footnotes regarding emails, recorded telephone conversations, and interviews by the author. This is a fresh look at what has been pushed under the bed and out of sight – Burns’s erotica!
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...ns_lives89.htm
All Frank's Robert Burns Lives! articles can be viewed at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...rank/burns.htm
The Memorials of Cellardyke and the Fife Coast
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This is an interesting wee book in pdf format and the link we provide to it is on the chapter about Cellardyke which came from another book. The link to the book is at the foot of the page and just above that is a link to pictures I took of the town while I was staying in the area.
You can get to this page at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/eastneuk2.htm
CLANZ
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Clan Leslie Society of New Zealand & Australia Newsletter is available at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...letters/leslie
And to conclude here is a wee recipe we were sent in for these hot summer days...
Orange Julius
6 oz. frozen orange juice
1 cup water
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon instant vanilla pudding
8 ice cubes
Put everything in the blender and blend away til the ice is mushed up. If you let it all sit for 5 minutes, the ice bits melt...It's GOOD.
If you want to make ELECTRIC Orange Julius, add a jigger of your favorite adult beverage before blending.
We like it without the adult beverage.
Sent in by Beth Gay
And that's it for now and hope you all have a good weekend :-)
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com
I notice that in the SMC Journal section today, is a reference to the farm Tullochgrue.
Our family spent some summer holidays there, including one when war was declared in September 1939 !!
My brother Donald was, for many years, an active member of the club.
Ranald
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