Dundee Community and Scots

On Tuesday 15 June Dr Dauvit Horsbroch of the SLC was invited to participate in a community education project in Dundee’s Hilltown. Jane Barrett, community education student, and currently on placement with Enviroment Arts at Dundee Council, has recently been collecting Scots words as used in Dundee. Miss Barrett visited sheltered housing units, Age Concern, and a local writers’ group in order to collect Scots words to be used in creative workshops (printing, collage work and singing) as part of a local festival aimed at improving community cohesion. On Tuesday a group of 12 children aged 8-9 from Our Lady’s Primary School, accompanied by teachers and members from a local history group, took part in the workshops held at the Mark Henderson Centre on Ann Street, Dundee. The Centre is run by Signpost International and the workshops were assisted by Community Development Worker, Timon Scheven, a member of staff. During the visit the children took part in a lively discussion about the meaning of Scots words on a series of printed cards, photographs, and collages. Dr Horsbroch took part in the discussion and also guided them through some texts written in Scots by a Dundonian in the 1590’s. The children were intrigued by the differences between English and Scots and displayed a wide passive knowledge of the language. When asked what they thought Scots was, the children replied it was “speaking Scottish” or “the Scottish language.”  After the general discussion, the children worked on collages, and printed their favourite Scots words onto the designs.