This reviewer’s previous incarnation as the Stravaigin Reporter for the organisation Scots Tung, has allowed me to be on the mailing list of the Scots Language Centre, the Perth based organisation that distributes information about the Scots language. Their latest email was an invitation tae a pairty! Jings, how could I resist?

The party was held on Sunday 29th August as part of the Edinburgh International Book Festival and was jointly hosted by Luath Press, the Edinburgh based independent book published with an eclectic list of over 300 books in print.

Held in the Party Pavilion in Charlotte Square Gardens, the event took the form of an array of Luath Press authors reading from their work. This was mainly done in Scots, with voices ranging from Shetland through Dundee and Perth to The Capital via West Lothian and Glasgow.

I was sorry to have missed the Ayrshire voice of Rab Wilson and the Dundonian, Mark Thomson, with his eponymous book, Bard fae the Buildin Site but the other Scots voices were enough of a treat to tip the balance of disappointment.

The Shetland voice was heard from two very different poets fae these airts, Christine de Luca with her latest collection, North end of Eden, and Robert Alan Jamieson who read from his fine book, Nort Atlantik Drift. 

Liz Niven delivered her poems in her usual unassuming manner, showing her assured command of lowland Scots and Stuart McHardy from Edinburgh had us in a tongue twisting frenzy trying to master a wee rhyme of his about Ben and Ken that he uses to teach weans about the use of Scots. 

A name new to me was Alistair Findlay, described by the Morning Star as “...one of Scotland’s most original and radical poets”.  He engagingly read the title poem from his book that I’m enjoying reading, Dancing with Big Eunice, which is based on his experience in Social Work.

Lynne McGeachie charmed the crowd with her reading of The Tale o Peter Kinnin, her Scots translation of Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit. A member of The Beatrix Society, she has recently had her latest book, Beatrix Potter's Scotland: Her Perthshire Inspiration published by Luath. 

The event was rounded off by John Cairney who happily and easily reverted to his native Glaswegian to deliver his comic poem about a wee Glesga sparra.

It was gratifying to look round the tent at the braw gathering of folk supporting, appreciating and applauding the use of the Scots language in its many forms, without which the door to our culture, history and literature is closed. Lang may its lum reek.

Now the Fringe is all but over, I’d like to thank the staff of the Living Room for being so welcoming when I arrived for my pre and post show coffees. Many thanks and here’s to the next time.

Luath

In April of this year I started a 3 year contract in the post of Dialect Co-ordinator. At a rate of about 3 times per-week, with 4 weeks in every month, that means that in the 5 months since I’ve been doing my job I’ve been asked about 60 times, “What are you doing with yourself now Bruce?” and not once, after I respond, has anyone had a clue what a Dialect Co-ordinator is, or does. But I don’t blame anyone or take any offence; how could I? When I applied for the job I didn’t fully know what I’d be doing either. All I knew was it sounded like a fantastic opportunity and something I’d be very interested in.

It was only after I took up my post that I began to understand why it had been created and what I would be doing. The post is primarily funded by the European Funding organisation LEADER, then by Shetland Islands Council, Shetland ForWirds, Shetland Amenity Trust and Shetland Arts, who all provide both cash and “money in kind” for the post.

On a day-to-day basis I work for the Council, in the Schools Service, as part of the Creative Links team, but I keep close correspondence with Shetland ForWirds, the local voluntary group whose aim is to promote Shetland dialect.

I am in regular contact with schools and have visited over 20 so far. ForWirds have already developed some dialect teaching material, specifically for nursery and lower primary age groups. Part of my job is to promote the use of this material by the teachers. This will be an ongoing task that requires treating each school and each teacher differently as every group of children present a different challenge in terms of language dexterity.

For the 2010/11 school year I hope to bring out new material for upper primary classes. Obviously this cannot simply be making up a teaching pack and handing it over – it would be put into the cupboard and never used. Instead it is my and Shetland ForWirds aim to understand what teachers want to teach the children, and how, so we can then offer a dialect version of lessons they already have planned. The aim is always to never add to their workload, instead simply to offer an alternative – which, in a way, is what choosing to speak dialect is.

Wanting to speak dialect is in fact a large aspect of what the job involves. I need to convince teachers as much as I do pupils that it is worth including in their already busy classroom schedule and this is made all the more easy if the lessons are appealing and interesting for those involved. But, as I said in the presentation I gave as part of the interview for this post, I believe in the benefits that local dialect holds for communities, and that it is imperative to make sure the youngest of the community are as interested and well-versed in it’s dialect as possible.

Contact Bruce at bruce.eunson@shetland.gov.uk

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Hance said, ‘Colin Borland gave the impression in a recent comment in the press that he was an opponent of the Scots language. I’ve written to him to enquire about his reasons for holding this view. Perhaps Mr Borland doesn’t know any Scots speaking business owners but I can tell him from my own experience that using Scots is no barrier to running successful and profitable small businesses.’

Hance went on to say, ‘Scots has been part of our culture for centuries. During this time Scotland has led the world in having an enterprising and hard-working culture. It hasn’t been any impediment to success in the past – why should it be now? There are plenty of people running businesses in this country who love Scots culture and speak the Scots tongue. Mr Borland certainly doesn’t speak for them.’

At present Borland has not responded to Hance’s message.  

Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland  

Responding to the criticisms, Hance said, ‘The Daily Express represents a view that is totally out of date. Everyone knows that in the past children could be punished and ridiculed for speaking the Scots language. Those days are past but if you take the Daily Express seriously you can see that some people would like them to come back. Scots speakers are guardians of a centuries old culture. Instead of celebrating and making the most of this, the Daily Express believes that our linguistically gifted children should be told to keep their mouths shut and that their language should be ridiculed. Thankfully, this view is not shared by the educational authorities or wider society.’     

LTS - Scots Resurces

Organisers are inviting bands, singers and cultural organizations throughout Europe to submit new songs in minority languages for the seventh song contest. The contest consists of 11 acts  representing European regions where a minority language is spoken and sung. Artists are invited to send in newly composed music and lyrics in any of the lesser used, regional or minority languages in Europe by 1st September. Liet International organisers aim to announce the selection of the songs not later than the 8th of September.

Previous contests have included songs in languages such as Basque, Breton, Catalan, Cornish, Corsican, Frisian, Friulian, Gaelic, Galician, Karelian, Lowgerman, Manx, Meankieli, Mordvinian, Northfrisian, Occitan, Romani, Sámi, Sorbian, Votian and Welsh. The Sámi (Laps) have won the festival four times, but at the last event in Swedish Lapland in 2008 the competition was won by the Corsican singer Jacques Culioli.

Liet International, a Frisian initiative, collaborates closely with various other song contests in minority languages throughout Europe such as the Premiu al Meyor Cantar of Asturias in Spain, , the Frisian song contest Liet 2010, the Saami Grand Prix in Kautokeino, Norway and Suns, the song contest for minorities from Italy, Austria and Switzerland in Udine. The winners of these events automatically qualify for Liet International.

Songs should be sent on MP3 file or on a CD to lietint@gmail.com Liet International encourages participants to seek financial support for travels expenses from the nation they represent. Liet International takes care of hotel and living expenses. The lyrics and music should be new or newly written and composed, so called traditional songs are not accepted.

Liet International

 If you would like to hear some samples from the CD please click on the audio files below.

Music Scotland

In February 2009, a one-day conference was held at Stirling University to discuss the results of the Government’s audit on the Scots language.  As all those present will remember, the mood of this conference was dynamic and optimistic; and the then Minister for Culture, Linda Fabiani, pledged that the Government would now adopt a policy of actively encouraging the mither tongue.   The Ministerial Working Group is the first outcome of this long-overdue commitment.  It was established at a meeting in the Royal Hotel, Bridge of Allan, on 24^th November 2009, attended by Mike Russell (the then Minister for Culture and now the Minister for Education); and its remit was defined as being to present a report to the Government, by the autumn of 2010, on the state of Scots in various areas of the national life, and to suggest a set of recommendations on which a Governmental policy for Scots could be based. 

Since then, the group has had five meetings, each concentrating on one or two of the topics determined at the first meeting, these being Education, Broadcasting, Publishing, Creative Writing, International Contacts, PR/Public Awareness and Dialects.  Normally the procedure is for some designated members of the group to circulate working papers on particular topics in advance of the meetings.  Discussions have been lively and productive; and each meeting has produced a set of draft recommendations to be presented to the government with the final report.

The presentations and discussions have confirmed what was already fairly clear: that much progress has already been made in improving the state of Scots, and that a vast amount still remains to be done.  Many things have emerged that give grounds for optimism: notably, a research project on public attitudes to Scots, the findings of which were presented at the second meeting of the group, shows that the general perception of Scots is strongly positive, with a prevailing feeling that it should be actively encouraged as part of the national identity.  The enormous contributions to the promotion of Scots at both the popular and the academic levels by the Scots Dictionaries, the Scots Language Centre, Itchy Coo, Shetland ForWirds and other bodies have been recognised and saluted, the success of the Association for Scottish Literary Studies in promoting the academic study of Scots (in the context of Scottish literature generally) internationally has been noted; and some specific projects which have been, or promise to be, successful in providing further support to Scots have been brought to the attention of the group: these include the new National Trust Burns Centre at Alloway and the promotion of Muirkirk as the first Scots Toun. 

A fact that has been recognised throughout, progress notwithstanding, is that in the absence of established policy structures instituted at national level, support for Scots in all fields is piecemeal, uncoordinated and excessively reliant on individual initiatives.   The Group has recognised from the first that the hoped-for outcome of its final report and recommendations will be the establishment by Government policy of an overall context in which the place of Scots (in all its forms) in broadcasting and the media, in education, in literature and the arts, in academia and in the public life of the nation, will be guaranteed: that it will have the degree of recognition which indigenous minority languages have as a matter of course in most other European countries. 

Two further meetings of the Group will be held before the presentation of the final report and recommendations, which will take place in October of this year.  Members are confident that a substantial and continuing improvement in the status of Scots will result.

This month the ICH team would like to hear about customs connected with Scot;and’s industrial heritage. Gunn says,   ‘We have a rich industrial history and material heritage. Scotland was the industrial revolution’s fastest, most intensively industrialised country and while we’re now in the ‘post’ industrial age the legacy of that lies with Scotland’s people and in the customs, traditions and many social rituals still practiced in ex-industrial areas.’

‘We want people to add examples of what might seem to them like ‘just’ ordinary everyday things’ they do, but which definitely fall under the heading of ‘living cultural heritage’. In Newtongrange, for example, dads traditionally take their sons to ‘The Dean’ for their first (official) pint, as their dads did them. This is a tradition and we want to see such things the Amazon or in Newfoundland, so we hope that the public will go online to the wiki at www.ichscotlandwiki.org and contribute. It’s very easy, so help us by getting on there and representing Scotland.’

The enthusiastic response of Scots Language Centre visitors to the team’s requests have impressed Gunn. Margaret Tong, a regular blogger on scotslanguage.com, has received particular thanks from the ICHS team for her contribution to the wiki on fishing customs.  

If you would like to enter a play in Scots, and would like more details, please go to www.mclellanartsfestival.co.uk or contact Heather Gough on gough.carlo@virgin.net or phone her on 01770 302 670.

The closing date for entries is Saturday 31 July 2010. 

The Herald

Scottish Literature Department

There you can also order postcards at 25p each, £1.50 the set of 10, email acclarke6@btopenworld.com