Formartine United Jnrs Step Up

The team that was started by a Pitmedden millwright, (Eddie Edmond) in 1947 is now playing in the Highland League next season.

Formartine United JFC along with Turriff United and Strathspey Thistle gained enough votes to join the league in a ceremony last night at Lossiemouth FC's social club. Atholl Cadger, the current manager of Formartine, was delighted by the support received and the prospect of playing on an altogether different scale.

For the full story see the Press & Journal article.

During the oral history project we interviewed three former players, Sidney Rose, Jack Larnach and Ally Shewan. If you want to listen to them, contact Turriff, Ellon or Meldrum Libraries to hear them in the library, or if you have a family connection or are a researcher, contact Gavin Sutherland at the North East Folklore Archive for a copy.

www.nefa.net

Searchable Index

Hey-ho, I've created a temporary measure until other bodies catch up. You can now search the oral history archive index AND the summaries from the main Formartine site. The index is in Excel format, the summaries are in Adobe Acrobat PDF. Both are searchable using the respective programs' functions for searching (usually CTRL+F and keyword). Where possible I've tried to flesh out the summaries to help with subject searches; some were taken from those who did the interviews and thus are shorter.

I am hoping to get the Meldrum transcripts done - by a helpful friend! - and they will be available in libraries. I don't particularly want to put the full-transcripts online, but you can get them from the libraries in hard copy. If you're unable to get to the libraries, NEFA or the Elphinstone Institute, I'd be happy to send you a copy of transcripts where available (so far only 72 were done, as we got much more interviews than we expected). The archive CDs are still only available for reference in the places specified; due to the kindness of the interviewees for sharing their stories, we do need to keep some sort of check on the interviews' distribution. The groups who did the interviews will all eventually have their own copies. So far Barthol Chapel and Methlick have theirs.

Anyway - the front page of the main site has the links to the indexes, so please, feel free to dig around for content.

The Penny Hing

(Image - Google Maps)

Ian Sandison recalls a particularly seedy dive in Aberdeen's Constitution Street in the 1960s. He and his wife Jean had rooms around the corner from this establishment which seems to have housed the 'Rab C Nesbits' of their day:

Of all places in the whole wide world we got rooms, two rooms down in Constitution Street. Now, Constitution Street is rough, tough and ragged. There was a place around the corner which now no longer exists, called the Penny Hing, now for folks that dinna ken anything about the Penny Hing, the Penny Hing was literally a bar where down and outers paid a penny and slept hinging on the bar. So there wis winos and aa the funny guys, ye were actually accosted in the street, and ‘Gies the the price o a bottle of wine’, which is true. So that was an experience. Jean, she took a job, paid the princely sum of £2.10/- which paid for the two rooms for the week’s rent. We hated it, loathed it, because we are both country folk. Every Friday, it was Mealmarket Street, doon to the bus, Strichen one weekend and Methlick the next. We couldna bide in the place!

Go to the podcast channel to hear it live.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be featuring more classic clips from the archive.

Things is nae the same...

...laments John Robertson of Collieston, who recites this amazingly emotive poem of his own composition recalling the fisher village and its characters, some of whom have never left!

There’s nae mair Shally Roadies
An ‘ers nae mair Spelding racks
You’ll nae see bo’ed aul craters
Muckle creels upon their backs
Nae weemen sheelin mussels
And naebody reddin lines
And there’s nae mair dances in the hall
For a’ oor bonnie quines

You’ll nae see aul Tam Walker
Wi he’s wither beaten smile
In ither couthy characters
Have weared awa as fyle,
Coaty, Buckie, Jocky Mae
Tony Sot and Tammy Boo
Aul Tooley and Jimmikie
To name but just a few

But a’ them and the likes o them
Have gone and left amiss
And Collieston’s just nae the same
But let me tell you this
Whiles I hear the clunk o oars
When ‘ers nae a yawl in sicht
In I clump o leather sea-beets
On an empty pier at nicht

Whilst a burst o lauchin
Comes fae bain lang the shore
That I’d swear was Sarah- Ellen
Like she used to lauch afore
I’ve heard a spunk bein crackit
On the gunnel o a yawl
And turnt and lookit roon aboot
And never seen a soul
But fits mair oot the ordinar’
Was yon whiff o bogey roll

Now ye’ll maybe nae believe me
And I’ll let you hae your say
But I ken there’s naebody here aboot
Smokes bogey roll the day
No naebody here aboot
Smokes bogey roll the day

also to be heard on the podcast channel

Radio Promos

Many thanks to Dave Galloway from Original 106FM and Jim Murray of Radio Scotland for promoting the project on the air. Both Dave and Jim came to visit yesterday and did the project proud by producing very good reports on what's to come in the archive. Jim's broadcast this morning on Radio Scotland's North East news included clips that are all on the podcast channel, and very well done too! Dave's interview has made a few appearances on Original 106's hourly news bulletins, but let me make it clear, as the folk presenting the actual report didn't, we have OVER ONE HUNDRED CDs with interviews, not just the one!

That's:

• 300+ hours of stories
• 700+ compact disks
• 7 copies of the archive
• 700+ face labels, jewel case covers & index tags
• one index
• 96 summaries
• 12 groups represented
• 2,000 hours of transcription in as many pages

... and more, another two archives, one that will go to the School of Scottish Studies in Edinburgh, who have long celebrated the collection of lore and local reminiscence, and one to Balmedie Library so folks in Belhelvie Parish can hear the material.

As I said to Dave Galloway, this is a herculean task! And both Dave and David Heane will now be living in Formartine! So both Original 106 presenters will benefit from the archive, which is great.

We hope to see Northsound2, STV and some of the local papers including the P&J at Fyvie on Saturday. Jim Murray's interview can be found on the podcast channel.

Another gem from the archive

It's almost here! I've just been listening to the last of the interviews, and am pleased to bring you a clip from Meldrum & Bourtie Heritage Society - quite a few of the interviewees from Meldrum were in the Pipe Band, and Syd Ross recalls one hairy incident with a prize hen and some bad driving!

Evelyn Munro: So have ye any other stories to tell about the Pipe Band? Ony funny stories?
Syd Ross: Well, the only thing that I can mind aboot, once wis, I think it wis Stonehaven we wis at, we wis comin hame fae Stonehaven, it wis… och, it must’ve been twelve o’clock at night, we wis comin through Aiberdeen, Alick Gray won a hen, a white hen, but that time fan ye got a hen it wisna aa parcelled up, ye get its heid and its feet an’ its feathers an aathing! Bill Greig and some o his pals hid an auld car and they were comin ahint us, ach, we pluckit the hen, they thocht it wis snaain! [Laughter] He gid roon the roundabout ower quick and Billy fell oot ower! [Laughs] I aye mind that! Bill, he fell oot! There wis some affa fun that night! We wis aa in the back o Glennie’s lorry ye see? Oh, we hid some great times!

The clip itself is on the podcast channel. Well done to Meldrum for their massive contribution to the project.

Our launch day goes ahead this Saturday (19th April) at Fyvie Castle.

Party at the Castle

Well, am just in transcription mode the noo, it's amazing hearing all the interviews again.
So, the news - the launch is going to be held at Fyvie Castle's racquet court building - a lovely glass-roofed hall that the Forbes-Leiths would've played tennis and badminton in - on Saturday 19th April, 2008 from 12.30pm. This is an occasion for the interviewees to get together and hear more from others, and see what is happening to their memories. We'll have afternoon tea provided by Hudson's Catering services, Kinellar, some entertainment provided by my mate Irene Watt, clarsach player who just released her latest album a few months ago. Hopefully we'll have songs and poetry from of our extremely talented interviewees too!

There will be a report on the project's achievements, and the formal presentation of the disks to Aberdeenshire Libraries - David Catto, the shire's Local Studies librarian will be representing the council - NEFA, the North East Folklore Archive - hopefully Gavin Sutherland will be along and for the Elphinstone Institute, and maybe even NEFA (as he was that archive's founder), Dr Thomas McKean of the Elphinstone Institute. We are also hoping that First Minister, Alex Salmond MSP will come as a guest, but since Alex is aye affa busy, we won't know till the last minute. A consistent fan of all things North East, Alex should find the project archive very interesting for himself too!

After the 19th, folks will be able to go to the libraries in Meldrum, Turriff and Ellon to access the CDs. They will be able to listen to them through the library computers, and each of the groups involved will also have their own copies of interviews done by them, so members of societies will have access to their own sets. The school libraries in all of the three major towns of Formartine will also have copies of the CDs and transcriptions for study purposes.

Since we had 94 or 95 interviews, initially only 72 will be transcribed. We hope that the Meldrum interviews will be transcribed later - could be a project for the Academy! Anyway, as I said in December, it's an embarrasment of riches!

Thanks to everyone for their contributions, and we should see most of you in April!