GallowBlogging...

2012-02-14T08:30:00.000-06:00

2012-02-12T09:32:00.000-06:00

Ideal footwear for Highland Games

2012-02-10T08:47:00.001-06:00

Keep your feet comfortable and dry whilst plodding about the Highland Games fields every weekend, or, wear them as a practical and fashionable accessory, suitable for both men and women.

www.piperswellies.com

Stolen World War II rescue boat heading home to Norway

2012-02-08T08:57:00.002-06:00

BBC Scotland - 7 Feb 2012

A fishing boat stolen for a dramatic escape during World War II has begun its journey back to Norway from Scotland.

Four Norwegians desperate to escape the Nazi occupation took the boat and crossed the North Sea to the Aberdeenshire coast in 1941.

The boat was renamed Thistle and then worked out of Stonehaven, before being donated to Johnshaven Heritage Society.

It is being sent home after children of one of the original escapees traced it. It was being driven to Aberdeen and another vessel is then transporting the boat back to Norway. It is understood the original wartime perilous journey was almost ended shortly after it started when the group was intercepted and machine gunned by a German plane.

'Absolutely delighted'
They returned to land and set out again with the boat camouflaged by tree branches, and completed the long journey.

John and Martin Berthelsen, sons of escapee Carl Berthelsen, said they were thrilled to find the vessel which had played such a dramatic part in their father's life.

Don Marr, of the Johnshaven Heritage Society, said: "We in Johnshaven are absolutely delighted to be able to return this historic boat to where she came from."

2012-02-06T08:36:00.000-06:00

Groundskeeper Willie finally reveals his Orcadian roots

2012-02-04T08:58:00.002-06:00

news.scotsman.com - 3 Feb 2012

HE is the cantankerous cartoon Scotsman who was famously voted ahead of Sir Sean Connery, Ewan McGregor, and Rabbie Burns as the person most Americans associate with Scotland.

But the origin of the tartan roots of Groundskeeper Willie, the fiery janitor at Springfield Elementary School in The Simpsons, has been shrouded in mystery.

Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen have all laid claim to being the birthplace of the flame-haired curmudgeon since he first hit Britain’s television screens.

But Groundskeeper Willie has now been officially outed as an Orcadian.

It was revealed yesterday that in an episode of The Simpsons to be broadcast in America later this month, Willie will tell Bart Simpson that he comes from Kirkwall. And he also reveals that he is the offspring of a romance between two of Kirwall’s Uppies and Doonies whose legendary rivalry is played out in the streets of the island capital twice a year in the famous Ba’ Game.

It is a union, Willie tells Bart, that “tore his family apart”.

News of Willie’s Orkney origins were the talk of Kirkwall yesterday.

Local councillor Bobby Leslie, 71, chairman of the Ba’ Committee, said: “It’s fantastic news. Being a Doonie myself we could do with Willie here at the moment because we haven’t been very successful this last few years. They say he’s about the size of two normal Doonies, and we could do with folk like that. The last time we won was New Year’s Day 2011. But we lost both the Christmas and New Year’s Day Ba’ games this year.”

He added: “I know that The Simpsons is watched around the world and it will give Orkney a boost and a focus in America. This just takes it to another level.” But Mr Leslie stressed: “We would be delighted if the visitors come in the summer."

“But we don’t really want any other Ba’ players coming here to take in the game in the winter because it’s getting almost unmanageable because of the numbers on some occasions. We’re not wanting an influx of blokes coming in just to say they’ve played in the Ba’ game.”

Barbara Foulkes, VisitScotland’s manager on Orkney, said: “The Simpsons has millions of fans all over the world. I am delighted to learn that one of the show’s most popular characters hails from Kirkwall.”

Rob Lazebnik, one of the writers of the hit show, explained that the episode features a conversation between Bart, his pal Millhouse, and Willie about myths and legends.

Mr Lazebnik said: “Willie says ‘There’s one thing I do want to clear up about me at school, and that’s everyone thinks that I’m from either Edinburgh or Glasgow, and the truth is 'I’m from Kirkwall in Orkney.’ He’s frequently changing his story. But we liked the idea of him for once saying: ‘I’m not from one of these big cities.’

“So we went online and spent a lot of time looking at lists of towns and cities, and we frankly loved the name ‘Kirkwall in Orkney’.

“More importantly, we came across the Ba’ game and that felt like such a perfect fit for Willie. He is a very powerful man and the equivalent of easily two or three Doonies so he’s an asset for any team.”

Place Your Own Title HERE

2012-02-02T08:54:00.001-06:00

"Selkirk Grace"

2012-01-30T08:47:00.002-06:00

“Some hae meat an canna eat, some wad eat but want it, but we hae meat, an we can eat, sae let the Lord be thankit.”

Translated:
meat: food, nourishment, a meal.

“Some have food but are unable to eat it, some would feed themselves but have nothing, but we have plenty food and we certainly can eat so let us give thanks to the Lord.”

Burns' verse back in Dumfries Globe Inn window

2012-01-28T08:56:00.001-06:00

BBC Scotland - 19 Oct 2011

Three verses etched on glass by Robert Burns at a Dumfries pub have returned after an absence of 177 years.

Using some kind of diamond stylus - or possibly a diamond ring - Scotland's national bard etched the poems on windows at the town's Globe Inn.

They were sold by the pub's owner who hit hard times in the 19th century and an attempt to buy them back failed. Now, using painstaking techniques, exact replicas of the missing lines have been put back in place.

A small wood-panelled upstairs bedroom, in which Burns often slept, has been preserved as he would have known it.
On its windows he inscribed five verses. Two of them have never been away, but the other three were sold and a bid to purchase them a century ago failed. The panes ended up at the Burns Museum at Alloway who do not wish to give them up.

However, it was eventually agreed that exact replicas could be made and these have now been completed and installed in Dumfries.

Ode To a Haggis - Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre

2012-01-26T08:34:00.001-06:00

2012-01-24T08:32:00.001-06:00

Scotch Broth

2012-01-22T10:55:00.007-06:00

This cheerful soup is perfect for crock pot cooking. And a wonderful addition to your upcoming Burns Night supper.

Ingredients...
8oz carrots, peeled, diced
8oz turnips, diced
2 onions, peeled, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 leek, white part only, sliced
3-4oz pearl barley
4oz dried peas, soaked in water for 4-5 hours, drained
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 pints lamb/mutton/or beef stock
3oz kale, chopped (optional)

Preparation...
1.Heat all ingredients, except kale, in a large saucepan until boiling.

2.Reduce heat and simmer gently for a 2-3 hours, or until the peas and pearl barley have softened

3.Stir in optional kale and cook for 10-12 min, more or until kale is tender.

Season to taste, with salt & freshly ground black pepper.

2012-01-20T07:30:00.001-06:00

2012-01-16T10:20:00.000-06:00

Wallace Letter Returned

2012-01-14T09:50:00.001-06:00

Scotch lovers to be offered their whisky in a can for $5

2012-01-12T08:57:00.002-06:00

star.com - 9 Jan 2012

Lesley Ciarula Taylor - Staff Reporter

Consumers who’d always wanted a two-four of whisky may be able to get their hands on a can soon, Scottish Spirits USA says.

Canada’s omnipotent liquor controls boards are “one of the things that we’re working on,” National Sales Director Bart Schroeder told the Star on Monday. “It will be available very soon.”

The year-long delay? “Distribution stuff in the United States and Canada.”

Samples? “It’s not sold anywhere yet.”

In the meantime, the year-old Florida company with a Grand Cayman parent organization has been perfecting the “consumer request” of a resealable top on the cans. Scottish Spirits intends to sell the $5 tins of 350 milllilitre, three-year-old single grain Scotch, distilled and aged in Scotland, in six packs at first, although cases of 24 was the original plan.

“Personally, I’m a little leery of it,” said Matt Franck of Toronto’s Scotchblog.ca. “Aluminum is traditionally a reactive material. Who knows how long it will have been in the can?”

The highly regulated Scotch whisky industry, governed by UK law, clearly spells out what constitutes Scotch but offers not a word about what you can sell it in.

British Scotch blogger Oliver Klimek asked the Scotch Whisky Association to investigate Scottish Spirits last January, when the dram-in-a-can idea was announced. The SWA replied, “The label appears to breach the presentation and labelling regulations. We are examining the matter further.”

There is no evidence, the SWA said in 2010, of a distilling plant in Scotland.

“I can’t find anybody who is standing up and saying they’re making it,” Franck said. I don’t know anyone who’s ever seen it.”

The company’s bottled Scotch, pictured on the website is described as a “concept” of packaging, not a real product. It’s a top seller in the Grand Caymans, the company said.

The company describes its bottled Scotch as an “exceptional blend of the finest malt and grain scotch whiskies.”

Scotch in a can fails on three counts: "Quality, origin, and social responsibility", said Franck. “I’m distinctly unnerved by something that’s 40 per cent (alcohol) wandering around in a can. I can just see someone saying, ‘Oh, I might as well finish it off.’”

The company opened a $25 million bottling and canning plant in Orlando last May with a first-year production capacity of 2 million cases.

Scottish Spirits Ltd., which maintains an office in Glasgow, also announced a scheme to sell $50,000 licence franchises around the world to help “budget whisky producers save import and excise taxes.” The money from that would help finance the Orlando plant.

“Our main markets are China Mainland, Latin America, Caribbean Islands, USA, Brazil, Africa, and Russia", the company said.

Scottish Spirits Ltd. calls itself the leading whisky exporter in the U.K., exporting its whiskies around the world since 1896.

2012-01-10T09:51:00.000-06:00

2012-01-08T09:05:00.000-06:00

Thornhill butcher John G Renicks wins Scotch Pie title

2012-01-06T08:54:00.000-06:00

BBC Scotland - 5 Jan 2012

A butcher from Dumfries and Galloway has been crowned World Scotch Pie Champion.

John G Renicks beat competition from north and south of the border to win the title for the first time.

The award-winning family butcher, of Drumlanrig Street, Thornhill, has been a regular participant in the 13-year-old competition.

The World Scotch Pie Championships are held annually in Dunfermline with a wide range of different awards.

Second prize went to Edenmill Farm Shop from Blanefield, near Stirling, and third was Borders bakers, Alex Dalgetty and Sons from Galashiels.

Duntrune Castle

2012-01-04T08:44:00.002-06:00

Duntrune Castle is located on the north side of Loch Crinan, across from the village of Crinan in Argyll, Scotland. It is believed to be the oldest continuously occupied castle in Scotland.

It was originally built by the MacDougall Clan in the 12th century, along with several other castles in the area. Eventually Duntrune Castle was was taken forcibly by Clan Campbell.

The Campbells sold Duntrune in 1792, to the Malcolms of Poltalloch. The castle is now owned by Robin Neill Malcolm, current clan chief of the Clan Malcolm. The curtain wall of the castle dates from the 13th century, although the tower house which forms the main part of the castle is from the 17th century. The most recent renovation was in 1954.

The Piper Of Duntrune
In 1645, an Irish adventurer, Coll Ciotach MacDonald, landed on the Mull of Kintyre with 3,000 men and marched northward, plundering & pillaging as he went. When he reached Crinan, Coll sent a piper ahead to learn of the terrain and determine the strength of the castle.

The piper managed to gain admission into Duntrune, where he quickly realized that the castle’s garrison, although undermanned, could easily hold off a greater force.

The piper soon aroused suspicions of the Campbells, who incarcerated him in one of the castle’s turrets. Through a slit window in the turret, he saw ships of Coll sailing into what he knew would be a trap. To warn the MacDonalds he played a piobaireachd, which was recognized as a warning by Coll’s personal piper on board one of the ships. The piobaireachd caused Coll to leave the loch for the open sea, leaving Duntrune unharmed.

The furious Campbells, denied a chance to strike a decisive blow against their old enemies, the MacDonalds, seized the piper from the turret and chopped off both his hands before putting him to death.

The piper’s heroic spirit is said to have haunted the castle and for many years after the murder the eerie drone of his phantom pipes could be heard from the turrets.

The story might have ended there but for a curious archaeological discovery. In 1792, Duntrune was sold by the Campbells to their neighbors, the Malcolms of Poltalloch, an old Argyllshire family who had made their fortune in Jamaican plantations and who lived across the Crinan Moss at Kilmartin.

Robin Malcolm says that in the 1880s the castle was a grace-and-favour residence for the family of a semi-retired Episcopalian cleric, Dean Mapleton. During his time there, the castle’s dwelling house was damaged by fire.

While repairs and alterations were being carried out, flagstones were lifted in the courtyard and beneath one worker found a handless skeleton, almost certainly the remains of the heroic MacDonald piper murdered over two centuries earlier.

The Malcolms asked that the piper’s remains be given a Christian burial and that his tormented spirit be laid to rest through the ancient rite of Bell, Book, & Candle.

"This is a ritual which can only be conducted by a Bishop of the Church," Mr Malcolm said, "so the Bishop of Argyll and the Isles was requested. He duly carried out the ceremony, but the ghost continued to make its presence felt".

What they hadn’t appreciated was that, as a MacDonald, the piper almost certainly would have been of the Catholic faith and the Episcopalian Bishop would have had no power over him.

The bones were re-buried in an unmarked grave in Kilmartin churchyard.

2012-01-02T09:25:00.001-06:00

"Lum"

2011-12-30T09:36:00.000-06:00

“LISTEN! Ye jist roar queen mum doon each lum till ye hear big Erchie roar back.”

Translated:
lum: chimney, chimney stack

“LISTEN! You just shout 'queen mum' loudly down each chimney until you hear big Archibald shout back.”

2011-12-28T08:40:00.001-06:00

Canadian soldier's Christmas with D-Day hero Lord Lovat

2011-12-26T09:13:00.002-06:00

BBC Scotland - 25 December 2011

An author has uncovered details about how her grandfather spent part of Christmas Day 1941 with World War II hero Lord Lovat.

Canadian Melynda Jarratt has been examining almost 300 letters Canadian Forestry Corps cook Patrick Hennessy exchanged with his family back home. One tells of Lord and Lady Lovat's invitation to the corps to join them at their Highlands castle.

Lord Lovat's actions at D-Day were recalled in the film The Longest Day.

Born Simon Fraser, the clan chief's best known order was to instruct Glaswegian piper Bill Millin to play the bagpipes as he came ashore at Sword Beach on 6 June 1944. Mr Millin was unarmed as he marched up and down the beach playing Hieland Laddie.

He continued to play as his friends fell around him and later moved inland to pipe the troops to Pegasus Bridge.

In the 1962 film, which features a re-creation of Mr Millin's piping, Lord Lovat is played by actor Peter Lawford. It also stars Sean Connery, Richard Burton, Robert Mitchum, and Henry Fonda.

Father-of-six Mr Hennessy was among hundreds of experienced woodsmen from New Brunswick, Canada, who logged Highland forests for the war effort. Skilled in the kitchen, Mr Hennessy served as camp cook with the corps' 15 Company at Beauly, near Inverness. His family said his time in Scotland were among the happiest years of his life.

Granddaughter Ms Jarratt has been researching his war-time stories. She has previously written about war brides, many of them Scots who married Canadian servicemen.

'Star-struck'
Ms Jarratt said her father and other Catholic worshippers among the corps' ranks were invited to mass at the Lovat's Beaufort Castle, near Beauly.

In a letter to his wife Beatrice, who he called Bee, Mr Hennessy wrote: "This invitation we got to the castle is something rare. It was wonderful to see the lovely chapel in the castle and some lovely statues of the Blessed Virgin and the crucifix and Joseph.

"A very magnificent altar. So Bee when you look at Beaufort Castle, think I was at mass on Christmas morning December 25, 1941."

Ms Jarratt said her grandfather and his fellow soldiers would have been awe struck by the invite.

She said: "For men like Patrick, with a grade three education and who had spent most of their lives working the woods and farms of rural Canada, it must have seemed like a dream come true.

"We don't know exactly what happened that day, how many soldiers were invited and what was said to the Canadians by the Lord and Lady - research in the Library and Archives Canada this spring will tell the full story. In all likelihood, the Canadians were left star-struck by their hosts and the opulent interior of a grand Scottish castle with two giant ballrooms and its own private chapel, a scene right out of the 'pictures' - as the movies were called then."

2011-12-24T09:16:00.001-06:00

2011-12-22T08:54:00.000-06:00

VisitScotland boss says Disney film can help Scotland

2011-12-20T09:17:00.002-06:00

19 Dec 2011
by Steven MacKenzie - BBC Scotland

A new Disney/Pixar film set in the Scottish Highlands could help boost tourism during difficult trading times, a VisitScotland boss has said.

Brave, which has characters voiced by Scots including Billy Connolly, Kevin McKidd and Craig Ferguson, is to be released in August 2012.

VisitScotland chairman Mike Cantlay said it would be shown in 72 countries and dubbed into several languages.

He said it would give Scotland and the Highlands specifically huge exposure.

Formerly called The Bear and the Bow, Brave tells the story of Merida, an impetuous girl who defies an age-old custom and inadvertently unleashes chaos, forcing her to discover the meaning of true bravery before it is too late.

Scots actress Kelly Macdonald provides the voice for Merida, and Robbie Coltrane voices a lord called Dingwall - the name of a town in Ross-shire in the Highlands.

Brave versus Braveheart

Brave follows this year's release of an animated short about the Loch Ness Monster that was attached to Disney's latest Winnie the Pooh film. Disney said The Ballad of Nessie was set in the "bonny blue Highlands" and saw the monster's home targeted by a "greedy land developer" called MacFroogle.

Mr Cantlay said he expected the new Disney/Pixar to give Scotland even bigger exposure than Mel Gibson's Braveheart amid challenging times for the tourism industry.

He said: "It's been a tough trading environment for anyone in tourism, for anyone in any business frankly.

"But Scotland, and the Highlands and Islands in particular, have been remarkably resilient when you consider how really, really tough tourism is around the world."

VisitScotland has dubbed 2012 to 2014 the Winning Years, starting with 2012's Year of Creative Scotland and the London Olympics.

In 2013, the organisation will be helping to mark the Year of Natural Scotland and in 2014 the Commonwealth Games will take place in Glasgow.

Mr Cantlay said: "Of course we will have this next movie from Disney - Brave. It portrays a rugged, mystic, magical Scotland in a way never seen before across the world. This is a Disney. At the box office it's reckoned it is going to be several folds bigger than the likes of Braveheart, a movie people still talk about today."

2011-12-18T09:19:00.000-06:00

2011-12-16T08:58:00.000-06:00

"Seven Days Leave" - 1930 film

2011-12-14T09:13:00.004-06:00

Seven Days Leave was released in 1930, starring Gary Cooper and Beryl Mercer.

Never knew Gary Cooper wore a kilt, but here it is in black & white. This film would be considered a “chick flick” in contemporary lingo. And it was an early "talkie".

In this melodrama set in WW1, a Canadian Black Watch soldier begrudgingly allows himself to be adopted by a sad spinster, while on leave from the front.

With passage of time, they begin to care for each other. Cooper's character begins calling her "mother".

His leave ended, he is returned to duty and sent behind enemy lines and later killed in action. The military sends his medals to her. Slowly, with tear-filled eyes, she lovingly puts the medals away and then with pride and great dignity, resumes her lonely life.

I wonder if this film had any influence on Cooper's 1941 box office hit, Sergeant York?

"Scalpit"

2011-12-12T08:31:00.000-06:00

“Aye nae question, yer no lookin sae hard noo yiv bin scalpit.”

Translated:
scalpit: scalped, haircut, shorn.

“Ahhh indeed it is not to be disputed, you are not so tough looking now that you have been shorn.”

2011-12-10T09:28:00.000-06:00

2011-12-08T08:06:00.000-06:00

What’s different in this St. Andrew’s Day photo?

2011-12-06T10:10:00.002-06:00

You may have to be a bagpiper to figure this one out, but there’s something a bit unusual about this photo of a pipe band (I’m not sure of the band’s name). I’ll give you a hint. It has something to do with the front row.

bagpipervancouver.com
by Mike Chisholm - 30 Nov 2011

Tattoo says sorry to customers after ticket website crashes

2011-12-04T09:53:00.001-06:00

scotsman.com - 2 Dec 2011

THE producer of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo has apologised, after the website for ticket sales crashed within hours of being launched.

Brigadier David Allfrey said the online booking system had been taken offline late on Thursday evening after technical problems with the site, which had gone live on Thursday morning.

He told would-be customers: “The Tattoo’s online booking facility is currently offline. I am sorry.

“Regrettably, the technical arrangements have been compromised and as a consequence many of you have been inconvenienced, being unable to access the ticket office as easily as I would have wished. We are very conscious that our customers in other time zones have found this particularly frustrating.”

Yesterday, the Facebook site for the Tattoo was inundated with complaints from customers trying to book their tickets for the Tattoo to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year.

Marketing manager Alan Smith said: “We are doing all that we can to help customers but we are in the hands of our IT people, who are working flat out to solve the problem. We do appreciate how frustrating it is.”

The 2012 Tattoo runs from 3 to 25 August, with 25 performances, for which 217,000 tickets will be available. Last year’s Tattoo sold out by early August.

2011-12-02T11:05:00.002-06:00

Challenge Coin

2011-11-30T15:09:00.005-06:00

I had these made recently, for use as "swag" for piping clients. Much better than a ball-point pen or calendar.

They make fine business cards too and have been instrumental in obtaining gigs.

2011-11-28T10:21:00.001-06:00

"Drooth"

2011-11-26T12:18:00.002-06:00

“Nae much left sonny, an I’ve still a terrible drooth upon me.”

Translated:
Drooth: extreme need of a drink /dryness/drought.

2011-11-14T09:06:00.001-06:00

2011-11-11T15:03:00.000-06:00

2011-11-10T10:32:00.000-06:00

Castle Built by Goblins Up for Sale

2011-11-08T09:36:00.002-06:00

Scottish Life - Autumn 2011

According to legend, Sir Hugo de Gifford was a warlock and a practitioner of black magic, alchemy, and sorcery. And when he built Yester Castle in 1267, it is said that he was able, through a pact with the devil, to raise a magical force of goblins to do the work.

The castle was destroyed by the Scots army in the early 14th century. A second castle erected in its place was also leveled and a third, built on top of that, was destroyed by the English army in 1540.

Today, despite its ruinous exterior, the original subterranean chamber, which feature a vaulted Gothic ceiling and is known as the Goblin Ha’ (hall), remains intact.

Last July, the castle, the haunted hall and 321 acres of woodland went up for sale for offers over £450,000 (about $670,000).

But before making an offer on the Gifford, East Lothian, property, you’d better have a look around.

“I have been there once myself,” said Roy Pugh, an East Lothian historian, “and I have to say it was very spooky.”

2011-11-06T06:56:00.000-06:00

Piping Myths Heard over the Years

2011-11-04T08:16:00.003-06:00

At piping gigs, because I am a bit prominent, people approach me. Most simply to carry on a short conversation or perhaps pay a compliment. Others make it their sworn duty to tell bits & pieces related to all things Celtic. Few seem to have any solid basis about which they are speaking.

Here are some I’ve heard – most more than once. To keep this entry relatively succint, I've limited it to piping related comments.

A middle-aged lady told me, quite authoritatively, that once the pipe bag is inflated, that’s all the air available until the piper stops playing and inflates it again.

You must begin piping by age eight, or you'll never learn properly.

Ivory or silver mounts greatly improve the instrument’s tonal qualities. These are decorative elements to the drones, and they increase the selling price.

All pipers ad lib as they perform. There is no written music. I have a bookshelf that sags from the weight of accumulated piping books.

Pipe bags are made from cows’ bladders. Others claim they’re made from sheep’s. Thankfully this is decidedly untrue.

The Picts didn’t invent bagpipes, but actually got them from invading Romans. The Picts didn’t have bagpipes. The Romans - probably did.

If you draw a sgian, it must taste blood before returning to its sheath. Truth be told, I’ve said this to odd strangers who directed me to hand over my sgian for their examination.

Once a feller described to me his fondness of Irish pipes. I told him mine weren't Irish, but Great Highland Pipes. He challenged me, saying that they were most certainly Irish because Scottish pipes have a tartan bag cover, Irish pipes don't. Apparently I should’ve known better according to him. At the time, my bag cover was navy blue velvet.

A goomer told me I'm only allowed to wear a kilt if I have been formally adopted by the clan whose tartan it is. I told him I hadn’t been – and he told me not in uncertain terms that I had no right whatsoever to be wearing it. BTW he was a native Scotsman.

Similarly, another Scottish native informed me there are Scottish Laws prohibiting the wearing of tartan of whose clan you’re not a member. Same statute forbids any non-native Scot from wearing a kilt. According to him I was taking a mighty big chance. BTW both these incidents occurred in Memphis.

You must be wearing a kilt in order to play the pipes. Again, heard from a native Scot.

If the monarch is a Scottish Queen (?), you wear must nothing under the kilt. If a Scottish King, you are permitted to don underwear.

You are not permitted to play the pipes if you aren't a native-born Scot. No exceptions. Some foreign (non-Scot) tourist in downtown Memphis told me this one.

If a hole develops in the bag, the entire instrument is kaput. Until you replace that bag.

The balmoral bonnet is named for the Battle of Balmoral, which took place on a large steep hillside. That's why it is worn pulled to the right side of one's head. The red toorie symbolizes blood shed by the combatants. The corollary, the ‘glengarry’, commemorates the Battle of Glengarry which took place in a glen.

2011-11-02T15:08:00.001-06:00

Hydro plan for Glen Cailliche pagan site shelved

2011-10-30T07:25:00.001-06:00

BBC Scotland - 28 Oct 2011

An ancient shrine of stones has been preserved after proposals for a hydro scheme nearby were dropped.

Owners of the Auch Estate in Glenlyon, Perthshire, had lodged plans for four run-of-the-river projects, including Glen Cailliche where the stones are.

History enthusiasts feared they would affect the setting of Tigh Nam Bodach.

But it has emerged landowner Adam Besterman withdrew the Allt Cailliche planning application last month, shortly before his death aged 51.

The project would have brought construction traffic to within yards of the site near Loch Lyon.

Three weathered sandstone rocks representing an old man, woman and their daughter are believed to have been used in a pre-Christian ritual.

According to myth, it is said that "strange and terrible" things will happen to anyone who disturbs the peace of the three ancient carved stones at Tigh nam Bodach.

The other schemes elsewhere on the Auch Estate still await Perth and Kinross Council planners' consent.

2011-10-28T07:59:00.001-06:00

Green light for Scottish gold rush

2011-10-26T08:20:00.003-06:00

www.scotsman.com - 26 Oct 2011

SCOTLAND is set for a gold rush after controversial plans to open the country’s first commercial gold mine of modern times in one of the most picturesque stretches of the Loch Lomond National Park were approved.

The mine is expected to produce 20,000 ounces of gold and 80,000 ounces of silver each year and it has been estimated that it could generate up to £80 million in economic activity in Scotland through the wider supply chain as well as creating 52 jobs.

The board of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park first threw out an application by Scotgold Resources 14 months ago to begin developing the Cononish gold mine, near Tyndrum, because of conservation concerns.

But yesterday the board members unanimously gave the green light to the multi- million-pound project, ruling that the opportunities for new jobs and economic growth in a sparsely populated area of Highland Perthshire outweighed concerns about the environment.

The decision to approve the ten-year mine development was taken following a lengthy special meeting of the board in nearby Crianlarich.

Linda McKay, the convener of the national park board, said after the meeting: “Without question this has been the largest and most complicated planning application we have ever had to consider.

As guardians of some of the most stunning scenery in Scotland, it would have been easy to refuse the second application if we were considering the short-term impact on the landscape, but this national park plans for long-term conservation management and that includes having the vision to see beyond the temporary life of the gold mine.

“We also have to take into consideration the support from the local community council who back the proposals.” Ms McKay added: “This legally binding agreement means the glen will regain its quiet, remote character following closure of the mine and the landscape will be improved from its current state.

Chris Sangster, chief executive of Scotgold, said: “This represents the culmination of three years’ detailed work towards planning a mining development which meets the exacting environmental standards required by the National Park Authority.

“The Cononish project provides a significant commercial opportunity in the interests of all stakeholders, in particular the local community, which has been a keen supporter for a development that promises increased local employment and economic activity.”

But Bill McDermott, the chairman of the Scottish Campaign for National Parks, said he was “deeply disappointed” at the decision. He said: “We saw it as an issue of principle and a kind of line in the sand because we don’t think Scottish national parks have got their act together in terms of sustainable development. The strongest part of sustainable development must be environmental and we just don’t think you can put an industrial process like that into a national park. It is just not acceptable to the conservation value of the area.”

Gold was last successfully mined in Scotland more than 500 years ago. Development of the original Cononish gold mine was begun in the early 1990s but the mine was never commercially operational and finally abandoned in 1997.

Scotgold acquired the Cononish Gold and Silver Project in 2007.

The board has attached almost 50 conditions to the approval. They include extraction and blasting limits, a traffic management and waste management scheme and financial guarantees for restoration if the mine is abandoned.

Scotgold had recently received the support of a number of national tourism and business groups, including CBI Scotland.

2011-10-24T07:55:00.002-06:00

2011-10-22T20:49:00.002-06:00

Viking boat burial site found intact in Scotland

2011-10-20T07:37:00.002-06:00

www.afp.com - 19 Oct 2011

The first fully intact Viking boat burial site to be found on British soil has been uncovered by a team of archaeologists in Scotland. The five metre-long (16-foot) grave, thought to contain the remains of a high-status Viking, was discovered at a site estimated to be 1,000 years old. The Viking was buried with an axe, a sword, and a spear in a ship held together with 200 metal rivets.

The excavation project's co-director, Dr Hannah Cobb, described the discovery on the remote Ardnamurchan Peninsula as "an exciting find."

"A Viking boat burial is an incredible discovery, but in addition to that, the artefacts and preservation make this one of the most important Norse graves ever excavated in Britain", Cobb said.

The team of archaeologists from the universities of Manchester and Leicester working with other archaeology organisations also unearthed part of a shield, a bronze ring-pin, a whetstone from Norway and Viking pottery at the site. "Though we have excavated many important artefacts over the years, I think it's fair to say that this year the archaeology has really exceeded our expectations", she said.

Viking specialists from the University of Glasgow have said the boat is likely to be from the 10th century AD.

Dr Oliver Harris, of the University of Leicester, who led the project with Cobb, said: "In previous seasons our work has examined evidence of changing beliefs and life styles in the area through a study of burial practices in the Neolithic and Bronze age periods."

"It has also yielded evidence for what will be one of the best dated Neolithic chambered cairns in Scotland when all of our post excavation work is complete. But the find we reveal today has got to be the icing on the cake," Harris added.

2011-10-18T13:20:00.002-06:00

CAPTIONS: ‘Mad Heighlander on a canterin cuddy aboot tae lassoo the Haggis whilst in its bagpippean skirl of distress.’

TRANSLATION: ‘Insane Highlander upon a cantering horse about to lasso a Haggis while it is in the throes of its bagpippean piercing call of distress.’

source: www.stooryduster.co.uk

2011-10-16T08:48:00.002-06:00

2011-10-14T06:31:00.001-06:00

Scotland-Ireland undersea rail link plan 'a surprise'

2011-10-12T07:28:00.003-06:00

BBC Scotland - 8 Oct 2011 by Steven McKenzie

A rail consultant has told of his surprise at finding a Victorian engineer's proposals for a rail link between Scotland and Ireland.

Edinburgh-based David Spaven believed the plans for a tunnel, causeway or an undersea bridge between Stranraer and Belfast were not widely known today. The plans feature in a new book, Mapping the Railways, Mr Spaven has co-written with author Julian Holland.

It also includes abandoned ideas for light railways on Skye and Lewis.

Published for the The Times by Collins, the book has been described as the most comprehensive collection of British railway maps dating from 1819 to the present day.

Mr Spaven worked as a British Rail manager for 18 years until 1995. He stood as a Green Party candidate in Glasgow Maryhill in 1987 and was the first chairman of transport campaign group Transform Scotland, and has also been involved with congestion charge support group Get Edinburgh Moving.

The book is his latest collaboration with Mr Holland, a railway writer and photographer.

Much of the Scottish material was drawn from maps held by the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh.

The undersea rail link, proposed by engineer Luke Livingston Macassey, came to light during Mr Spaven's research of Victorian-era railway maps and plans. He said: "The book has been a fantastic journey of discovery for me. One of the big surprises was a prospectus for a tunnel under the North Channel between Stranraer and Belfast."

"At first I thought it was a Victorian spoof, but through more research I found the person behind the idea was a competent and well regarded engineer."

According to Mapping the Railways, the proposals published in 1890 were for a rail link using either a tunnel, a submerged "tubular bridge" or a solid causeway.

The engineer said the rail connection would quicken travel between Scotland and Ireland and would also spare people "the horrors of 20 miles in rough seas".

Railway network
Mr Spaven said few people were also likely be aware of plans to build light, narrow gauge railways on Lewis, in the Western Isles, and on Skye.

A map from 1919 shows a proposed line from Ardvasar in the south of Skye to Dunvegan in the north of the island.

A light railway network connecting Carloway, Ness and Stornoway on Lewis is also marked on the map.

Mr Spaven said: "There was a short window of opportunity for these railways to be built.

"After the First World War lorries were more readily available and that closed the window on the light railways."

2011-10-10T10:25:00.001-06:00

The Ballad of How MacPherson Held the Floor

2011-10-06T07:28:00.000-06:00

by Robert W Service

Said President MacConnachie to Treasurer MacCall:
"We ought to have a piper for our next Saint Andrew's Ball.
Yon squakin' saxophone gives me the syncopated gripes.
I'm sick of jazz, I want to hear the skirling of the pipes."
"Alas! It's true," said Tam MacCall. "The young folk of to-day
Are fox-trot mad and dinna ken a reel from Strathspey.
Now, what we want's a kiltie lad, primed up wi' mountain dew,
To strut the floor at supper time, and play a lilt or two.
In all the North there's only one; of him I've heard them speak:
His name is Jock MacPherson, and he lives on Boulder Creek;
An old-time hard-rock miner, and a wild and wastrel loon,
Who spends his nights in glory, playing pibrochs to the moon.
I'll seek him out; beyond a doubt on next Saint Andrew's night
We'll proudly hear the pipes to cheer and charm our appetite.

Oh lads were neat and lassies sweet who graced Saint Andrew's Ball;
But there was none so full of fun as Treasurer MacCall.
And as Maloney's rag-time bank struck up the newest hit,
He smiled a smile behind his hand, and chuckled: "Wait a bit."
And so with many a Celtic snort, with malice in his eye,
He watched the merry crowd cavort, till supper time drew nigh.
Then gleefully he seemed to steal, and sought the Nugget Bar,
Wherein there sat a tartaned chiel, as lonely as a star;
A huge and hairy Highlandman as hearty as a breeze,
A glass of whisky in his hand, his bag-pipes on his knees.
"Drink down your doch and doris, Jock," cried Treasurer MacCall;
"The time is ripe to up and pipe; they wait you in the hall.
Gird up your loins and grit your teeth, and here's a pint of hooch
To mind you of your native heath - jist pit it in your pooch.
Play on and on for all you're worth; you'll shame us if you stop.
Remember you're of Scottish birth - keep piping till you drop.
Aye, though a bunch of Willie boys should bluster and implore,
For the glory of the Highlands, lad, you've got to hold the floor."

The dancers were at supper, and the tables groaned with cheer,
When President MacConnachie exclaimed: "What do I hear?
Methinks it's like a chanter, and its coming from the hall."
"It's Jock MacPherson tuning up," cried Treasurer MacCall.
So up they jumped with shouts of glee, and gaily hurried forth.
Said they: "We never thought to see a piper in the North."
Aye, all the lads and lassies braw went buzzing out like bees,
And Jock MacPherson there they saw, with red and rugged knees.
Full six foot four he strode the floor, a grizzled son of Skye,
With glory in his whiskers and with whisky in his eye.
With skelping stride and Scottish pride he towered above them all:
"And is he no' a bonny sight?" said Treasurer MacCall.
While President MacConnachie was fairly daft with glee,
And there was jubilation in the Scottish Commy-tee.
But the dancers seemed uncertain, and they signified their doubt,
By dashing back to eat as fast as they had darted out.
And someone raised the question 'twixt the coffee and the cakes:
"Does the Piper walk to get away from all the noise he makes?"
Then reinforced with fancy food they slowly trickled forth,
And watching in patronizing mood the Piper of the North.

Proud, proud was Jock MacPherson, as he made his bag-pipes skirl,
And he set his sporran swinging, and he gave his kilts a whirl.
And President MacConnachie was jumping like a flea,
And there was joy and rapture in the Scottish Commy-tee.
"Jist let them have their saxophones wi' constipated squall;
We're having Heaven's music now," said Treasurer MacCall.
But the dancers waxed impatient, and they rather seemed to fret
For Maloney and the jazz of his Hibernian Quartette.
Yet little recked the Piper, as he swung with head on high,
Lamenting with MacCrimmon on the heather hill of Skye.
With Highland passion in his heart he held the centre floor;
Aye, Jock MacPherson played as he had never played before.

Maloney's Irish melodists were sitting in their place,
And as Maloney waited, there was wonder in his face.
'Twas sure the gorgeous music - Golly! wouldn't it be grand
If he could get MacPherson as a member of his band?
But the dancers moped and mumbled, as around the room they sat:
"We paid to dance," they grumbled; "But we cannot dance to that.
Of course we're not denying that it's really splendid stuff;
But it's mighty satisfying - don't you think we've had enough?"
"You've raised a pretty problem," answered Treasurer MacCall;
"For on Saint Andrew's Night, ye ken, the Piper rules the Ball."
Said President MacConnachie: "You've said a solemn thing.
Tradition holds him sacred, and he's got to have his fling.
But soon, no doubt, he'll weary out. Have patience; bide a wee."
"That's right. Respect the Piper," said the Scottish Commy-tee.

And so MacPherson stalked the floor, and fast the moments flew,
Till half an hour went past, as irritation grew and grew.
The dancers held a council, and with faces fiercely set,
They hailed Maloney, heading his Hibernian Quartette:
"It's long enough, we've waited. Come on, Mike, play up the Blues."
And Maloney hesitated, but he didn't dare refuse.
So banjo and piano, and guitar and saxophone
Contended with the shrilling of the chanter and the drone;
And the women's ears were muffled, so infernal was the din,
But MacPherson was unruffled, for he knew that he would win.
Then two bright boys jazzed round him, and they sought to play the clown,
But MacPherson jolted sideways, and the Sassenachs went down.
And as if it was a signal, with a wild and angry roar,
The gates of wrath were riven - yet MacPherson held the floor.

Aye, amid the rising tumult, still he strode with head on high,
With ribbands gaily streaming, yet with battle in his eye.
Amid the storm that gathered, still he stalked with Highland pride,
While President and Treasurer sprang bravely to his side.
And with ire and indignation that was glorious to see,
Around him in a body ringed the Scottish Commy-tee.
Their teeth were clenched with fury; their eyes with anger blazed:
"Ye manna touch the Piper," was the slogan that they raised.
Then blows were struck, and men went down; yet 'mid the rising fray
MacPherson towered in triumph - and he never ceased to play.

Alas! his faithful followers were but a gallant few,
And faced defeat, although they fought with all the skill they knew.
For President MacConnachie was seen to slip and fall,
And o'er his prostrate body stumbled Treasurer MacCall.
And as their foes with triumph roared, and leagured them about,
It looked as if their little band would soon be counted out.
For eyes were black and noses red, yet on that field of gore,
As resolute as Highland rock - MacPherson held the floor.

Maloney watched the battle, and his brows were bleakly set,
While with him paused and panted his Hibernian Quartette.
For sure it is an evil spite, and breaking to the heart,
For Irishman to watch a fight and not be taking part.
Then suddenly on high he soared, and tightened up his belt:
"And shall we see them crush," he roared, "a brother and a Celt?
A fellow artiste needs our aid. Come on, boys, take a hand."
Then down into the mêlée dashed Maloney and his band.

Now though it was Saint Andrew's Ball, yet men of every race,
That bow before the Great God Jazz were gathered in that place.
Yea, there were those who grunt: "Ya! Ya!" and those who squeak: "We! We!"
Likewise Dutch, Dago, Swede and Finn, Polack and Portugee.
Yet like ripe grain before the gale that national hotch-potch
Went down before the fury of the Irish and the Scotch.
Aye, though they closed their gaping ranks and rallied to the fray,
To the Shamrock and the Thistle went the glory of the day.

You should have seen the carnage in the drooling light of dawn,
Yet 'mid the scene of slaughter Jock MacPherson playing on.
Though all lay low about him, yet he held his head on high,
And piped ass if he stood upon the caller crags of Skye.
His face was grim as granite, and no favour did he ask,
Though weary were his mighty lungs and empty was his flask.
And when a fallen foe wailed out: "Say! when will you have done?"
MacPherson grinned and answered: "Hoots! She'll only haf' begun."
Aye, though his hands were bloody, and his knees were gay with gore,
A Grampian of Highland pride - MacPherson held the floor.

And still in Yukon valleys where the silent peaks look down,
They tell of how the Piper was invited up to town,
And he went in kilted glory, and he piped before them all,
But wouldn't stop his piping till busted up the Ball.
Of that Homeric scrap they speak, and how the fight went on,
With sally and with rally till the breaking of the dawn.
And how the Piper towered like a rock amid the fray,
And the battle surged about him, but he never ceased to play.
Aye, by the lonely camp-fires, still they tell the story o'er-
How the Sassenach was vanquished and - MacPherson held the floor.

2011-10-04T06:03:00.001-06:00

The Bagpipe Who Didn't Say No

2011-10-02T06:34:00.001-06:00

It was nine o'clock at midnight at a quarter after three
When a turtle met a bagpipe on the shoreside by the sea,
And the turtle said, "My dearie,
May I sit with you? I'm weary."
And the bagpipe didn't say no.
Said the turtle to the bagpipe, "I have walked this lonely shore,
I have talked to waves and pebbles - but I've never loved before.
Will you marry me today, dear?
Is it 'No' you're going to say dear?"
But the bagpipe didn't say no.

Said the turtle to his darling, "Please excuse me if I stare,
But you have the plaidest skin, dear,
And you have the strangest hair.
If I begged you pretty please, love,
Could I give you just one squeeze, love?"
And the bagpipe didn't say no.

Said the turtle to the bagpipe, "Ah, you love me. Then confess!
Let me whisper in your dainty ear and hold you to my chest."
And he cuddled her and teased her
And so lovingly he squeezed her.
And the bagpipe said, "Aaooga."

Said the turtle to the bagpipe, "Did you honk or bray or neigh?
For 'Aaooga' when your kissed is such a heartless thing to say.
Is it that I have offended?
Is it that our love is ended?"
And the bagpipe didn't say no.

Said the turtle to the bagpipe, "Shall I leave you, darling wife?
Shall I waddle off to Woedom? Shall I crawl out of your life?
Shall I move, depart and go, dear -
Oh, I beg you tell me 'No' dear!"
But the bagpipe didn't say no.

So the turtle crept off crying and he ne'er came back no more,
And he left the bagpipe lying on that smooth and sandy shore.
And some night when tide is low there,
Just walk up and say, "Hello, there,"
And politely ask the bagpipe if this story's really so.
I assure you, darling children, the bagpipe won't say "No."

by Shel Silverstein

2011-09-30T11:27:00.001-06:00

2011-09-28T10:28:00.001-06:00

2011-09-20T09:43:00.001-06:00

2011-09-16T13:40:00.000-06:00

2011-09-14T12:00:00.001-06:00

Corries: The Bonnie Blue

2011-09-12T06:41:00.004-06:00

Lock of Napoleon’s Hair Rediscovered at Abbotsford

2011-09-10T07:56:00.004-06:00

www.scottsabbotsford.co.uk
8 Sept 2011

A recent visit to Sir Walter Scott’s Abbotsford home near Melrose in the Scottish Borders by BBC TV show Antiques Road Trip has unearthed the latest treasure from the novelist’s collections – a lock of Napoleon’s hair.

The hair was rediscovered as one of the show’s antiques experts, Anita Manning, and Abbotsford’s Jason Dyer examined a blotter book that had belonged to Napoleon and which had been on show in the library at the historic house.

The hair was contained within a small handwritten note dated 8 November 1827, written to Sir Walter Scott from a Mr Dalton. In the note, Mr Dalton explained that the lock of hair was given to him by Lt Col Elphinstone who served under Wellington, and that he believed it would be of great interest to Scott who was famed for his passion for collecting.

The blotter, which is in an extremely fragile condition, the note and hair have now been removed from Abbotsford and are being examined by a team of conservation experts. They will go on show again to the public once this important work has been completed.

The lock of Napoleon’s hair is just one of a host of fascinating objects in Sir Walter Scott’s Abbotsford collections. Other items include a silver urn gifted to Scott by Lord Bryon, a clock that is reputed to have belonged to Marie Antoinette, Rob Roy’s broadsword, dirk, sporran and gun as well as numerous artifacts collected from the field of the battle of Waterloo.

A multi-million pound regeneration is now underway at Abbotsford including the first extensive cataloguing of all of the historic objects in the house as well as much-needed conservation work on many of the pieces.

Jason Dyer, Chief Executive, The Abbotsford Trust said;

“We’re obviously delighted by this latest rediscovery which we believe demonstrates further the importance of preserving this wonderful home and its contents for the future. For the last four years, we have been developing plans and raising funds to enable us to preserve Abbotsford and create a world-class attraction where visitors can learn about Scott, his legacy and his wonderful collections. We believe the restoration process involved will unearth even more treasures and are greatly looking forward to seeing the progress of this exciting project.”

2011-09-08T06:34:00.001-06:00

Historian Won't Let Scotland's Most Famous Dog Lie

2011-09-06T06:30:00.001-06:00

The Wall Street Journal - 3 Sept 2011 by James Hookway

Did Local Wags Concoct Tale of Loyal Terrier's Graveside Vigil?

EDINBURGH, Scotland—To millions of people around the world, he's the loyal dog who kept a lonely vigil at his master's graveside.

Greyfriars Bobby, a Skye terrier, supposedly spent 14 years pining by the grave of his owner, a local known as Auld Jock who died in 1858. The tale of devotion has beguiled generations of visitors to Scotland's capital and inspired dozens of children's books and a 1961 Disney film, "Greyfriars Bobby: The True Story of a Dog."

But to Swedish historian Jan Bondeson, the 150-year-old legend of the dog that stuck it out through snow, hail and freezing temperatures is nothing more than a shaggy dog story cooked up to lure tourists to Edinburgh's rain-soaked Greyfriars cemetery—and some locals and dog lovers are howling.

Dr. Bondeson, a 48-year-old consultant rheumatologist at Cardiff University in Wales, visited Edinburgh several times to study the matter for a new book and now proclaims that Bobby was just a stray trained to hang out in the cemetery.

In his retelling of the tale, Dr. Bondeson argues that a pair of canny Edinburgh men concocted the Greyfriars Bobby story to stir up trade at a hostelry next to the graveyard. When the original dog died, he says, graveyard watchman James Brown and restaurateur John Traill simply procured another, perkier one, which might explain why Bobby reputedly lived for an impressive 16 years.

Some residents say the new version of the story is more plausible than the old one. "Everybody was trying to make some money on the fly back then," says local historian George Robinson. "The area around the Greyfriars Kirk was the Hell's Kitchen of the time, full of drunken laborers and all sorts. It was like that even back in the 1950s," he says.

But to others—including the ones who are still reveling in the legend here in Adam Smith's birthplace—the revisionist thinking isn't sitting too well.

"What's the point of saying that? It's like saying there's no Santa Claus," says Kit Lovie, the owner of Blue, a 10-year-old Skye terrier who often serves as a body-double at ceremonies commemorating Scotland's most famous dog.

"Even if it's not entirely true, it's still a lovely story," the 68-year-old retired care-giver says. "Every year Blue attends a buffet at the church and eats sausages at Bobby's gravestone."

Several recent visitors to Greyfriars church, where Bobby is buried on a small patch of unconsecrated land outside the main entrance, were taken aback by Dr. Bondeson's theories. "Better no tell the weans, pal, eh?" suggested one, John Campbell from Glasgow, on the other side of Scotland. He gestured at a clump of sodden stuffed toys, including a Winnie-the-Pooh bear, which children had left at Bobby's grave.

Dr. Bondeson, though, says he thinks there's something perverse in holding to the old legend. "Why do people want to believe Bobby was a whimpering, miserable dog pining for his master in the cold, when instead he was a happy dog—in fact a happy pair of dogs—chasing cats and rats and visiting their human friends for food?" he says.

Dr. Bondeson, as it happens, has a thing for dogs. Although he doesn't own one himself, he thinks their stories can often shed light on human history, and so he studies them often. He wrote an earlier book which, among other things, examined how Nazi scientists in Germany attempted to teach dogs how to speak and help guard prison camps.

Still, some people struggle to appreciate the leg-work Dr. Bondeson has put into unraveling the story of Greyfriars Bobby.

"My problem with historians digging up the 'true' stories of legends like Bobby is that I find it incredible that anybody takes the tales seriously in the first place," local columnist Martin Hannan wrote in the Edinburgh Evening News. "We've been peddling myths and legends in Edinburgh for centuries and still people keep coming to the city."

The Greyfriars Bobby yarn—at least until now—has always been driven in part by commerce. Mr. Robinson, the local historian, says many people in Edinburgh knew there was something fishy about Bobby, but they knew a good thing when they saw one. He says Mr. Traill made a show of feeding the dog at one o'clock every day and his bowl is now displayed in a local museum. There is also a special collar presented to Greyfriars Bobby by Edinburgh's Lord Provost, or ceremonial mayor, in 1867.

Indeed, Bobby's story has generated a cottage industry of tourist bric-a-brac, with plaster statues, coffee mugs and aprons all competing for tourist pounds. A pub named Greyfriars Bobby's Bar now sits on the site of Mr. Traill's restaurant and a brass statue of Bobby stands across the street on the winding Candlemakers Row. At the bottom of the street is Auld Jock's Pie Shoppe while an online store run from England sells everything from Greyfriars Bobby mouse pads to Greyfriars Bobby bottle openers.

In the Greyfriars cemetery, meanwhile, guides from around Europe spin out the Bobby legend in Spanish, Italian and even Mandarin.

Said a spokesman for VisitScotland, the country's tourism authority, "I'm sure that visitors to Edinburgh will continue to be inspired by Bobby's story and he is worthy of his place in Scottish history."

Some visitors say they take Bobby's story with a pinch of salt in any case.

"Oh, come on," says a wry David McDonald from Indianapolis, Ind. "Next you'll be telling me there's no Loch Ness Monster."

Scottish treasure trove revealed

2011-09-04T06:17:00.000-06:00

BBC Scotland - 2 Sept 2011

A hoard of gold Iron Age torcs found near Stirling is among the highlights of the sixth annual Scottish Treasure Trove report.

The torcs - which earned the finder a reward of £462,000 - were found in 2009 but reported to the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer last year.

Other "outstanding" finds were a gold button unearthed in Perth and Kinross and a Papal Bulla found in Fife.

Discoveries were also made in East Lothian and the Scottish Borders.

The report covers the period from 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011 and details finds dealt with by the remembrancer and the Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel.

Under Scots law, the Crown can claim any archaeological objects found in Scotland.

Finders have no ownership rights and must report any objects to the Treasure Trove Unit.

Catherine Dyer, the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer (QLTR), said: "The report confirms that this has been another magnificent year with some outstanding finds being reported, preserved and displayed in breathtaking museum collections around Scotland.

"Once again I would like to praise the dedicated work of the Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel, the National Museums of Scotland, the Treasure Trove Unit and the QLTR office."

Ms Dyer also thanked the members of the public who reported finds, so "preserving" the history of Scotland for all to enjoy.

The four neck ornaments - or torcs - were unearthed in a field near Blair Drummond by David Booth in September 2009.

They date from between the 1st and 3rd Century BC and are regarded as the most significant discovery of Iron Age gold objects from Scotland for more than 100 years.

A Medieval dagger pommel, decorated with heraldic shields and dating from the 13th Century, was also found near Blair Drummond in Stirling.

The report also describes a 12th Century silver penny of William the Lion, which was found at Preston Pans in East Lothian.

The coin has been cut neatly in half which archaeologists believe was a quick solution to "small change" when these pennies were the smallest denomination available.

And an elaborate Bronze Age spearhead, discovered at Yetholm in the Scottish Borders, is singled out as a "relatively rare" find which demonstrated the "significant skill" needed to produce such weapons.

2011-09-02T09:12:00.000-06:00

2011-08-30T08:51:00.001-06:00

In this 19 minute short subject, Moe, Larry, and Curly are carpenters hanging a door at Mr. Jones' pharmacy. Jones leaves the three in charge while he attempts to settle a liquor delivery problem.

The liquor salesman enters and asks the Stooges to make him a "pick me up", which they concoct in an old boot.

The Stooges' creation knocks his hat off, and the salesman is convinced that the new drink will bring a fortune. He then tries to pass the Stooges off as the Scottish whisky makers McSniff, McSnuff, & McSnort at a party in his boss's home.

Released on 1 August 1935 by Columbia Pictures.

Alasdair Gillies, 1964-2011

2011-08-28T06:55:00.003-06:00

www.pipesdrums.com - 27 Aug 2011

The legendary piper Alasdair Gillies died suddenly on the morning of August 27, 2011, at the age of 47. Probably the most successful solo light music competitor in history, Gillies won almost every major prize in both piobaireachd and light music, some many times over.

A native of Ullapool, Scotland, and the son of the great solo piper Norman Gillies, his record of 11 Former Winners MSR Silver Stars at the Northern Meeting may never be rivaled. Indeed, it was the Northern Meeting where Gillies reigned supreme, winning every trophy in both senior and junior piping but one – the B-Grade Strathspey & Reel – is probably another record that will never be matched.

Among his other awards were the Glenfiddich Championship three times, both Highland Society of London Gold Medals and the Clasp at Inverness.

At the turn of the last century, Alasdair Gillies was voted by pipesdrums readers as the best piper of the 20th century.

A career piper, first with the military as Pipe-Major of the Queen's Own Highlanders and latterly as director of Carnegie-Mellon University's degree in piping for 12 years.

A full appreciation of Alasdair Gillies will appear soon in pipesdrums.

On behalf of the world piping and drumming community, we extend our condolences to Alasdair Gillies's family and friends at this sad time.

2011-08-26T07:40:00.001-06:00

Robert Burns' face to be recreated by scientists

2011-08-24T07:46:00.000-06:00

BBC Scotland - 13 August 2011

Scientists are using the latest reconstruction technology to recreate the face of Robert Burns. The result will be a 3D model of his head, which will be revealed next month.

The man behind the idea is Rab Wilson, the Burns' fellowship writer for Dumfries and Galloway. He has been working with facial anthropologists at Dundee University, using a cast of the national bard for a true likeness.

Mr Wilson said that, up until now, the image of the poet had been based on paintings completed during his lifetime.

The new model is almost complete but is still waiting on a wig and its eyeballs.

Mr Wilson said he believed the public would be impressed by the final outcome. "I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised by the way that Burns looks," he said. "We are going to see the man as he would have looked walking down the streets of Mauchline in 1785. I think if folk then could see this they would say: 'That is Burns, the real Robert Burns.'"

2011-08-22T08:13:00.000-06:00

Ardvreck Castle

2011-08-20T08:15:00.001-06:00

Ardvreck Castle is believed to have been constructed about 1590 by Clan MacLeod who owned Assynt and the surrounding area from the 13th century onwards. Indeed Sutherland, the area in which Ardvreck is situated, has long been a stronghold of the Clan MacLeod.

The most well known historical story concerning the castle is that on 30 April 1650, James Graham, the Marquis of Montrose, was captured and held at the castle before being transported to Edinburgh for trial and execution. Montrose was a Royalist, fighting on the side of Charles I against the Covenanters.

Defeated at the Battle of Carbisdale, he sought sanctuary at Ardvreck with Neil MacLeod of Assynt. At the time, Neil was absent and it is said that his wife, Christine, tricked Montrose into the castle dungeon and sent for troops of the Covenanter Government.

Montrose was taken to Edinburgh, where he was executed on 21 May 1650, using the typical method reserved for traitors: hanging, drawing, & quartering.

Ardvreck Castle was attacked and captured by the Clan MacKenzie in 1672, who took control of the Assynt lands. In 1726 they constructed a modern manor house nearby, Calda House, which takes its name from the Calda Burn beside which it stands. The house burned down under mysterious circumstances one night in 1737 and both Calda House and Ardvreck Castle stand as ruins today.

2011-08-18T07:46:00.000-06:00

Alton Brown's Haggis

2011-08-16T07:45:00.001-06:00

2011-08-14T08:19:00.000-06:00

World Pipe Band Championships to attracts crowds

2011-08-12T20:13:00.002-06:00

BBC Scotland - 12 August 2011

About 8,000 pipers and drummers from 16 countries are due to compete in the World Pipe Band Championships.

Every year more than 200 bands attract thousands of spectators to Glasgow Green for the event which is affectionately known as "The Worlds".

The biggest competition of its kind, it is estimated to be worth millions to the local economy.

The championship, which has been held in Glasgow for more than 60 years, also features Highland dancing and games.

2011-08-10T08:06:00.001-06:00

2011-08-04T08:44:00.000-06:00

Bagpipe ban for tat shops

2011-08-02T06:20:00.000-06:00

Edinburgh Evening News
1 Aug 2011 by Michael Blackley

The action against noisy shops starts today and follows discussions with traders about what needs to be done to improve the Royal Mile and surrounding streets.

Extra environmental officers will be in the city centre from today to check no shops are breaking the rules.

They will also be cracking down on a range of other complaints, including shops that have mannequins or rails of merchandise obstructing the pavements.

It follows a meeting between Royal Mile traders and the council to agree on a "reasonable approach" to tackle the problems.

The move has been welcomed by local representatives.

City centre councillor Joanna Mowat said: "A hard-line approach to music coming out of shops would be very welcome because I get a lot of complaints about that.

"People feel that it lowers the tone of the area. If you can walk past and your eye is not drawn to the goods then you can't avoid the music.

"I would certainly welcome a tougher line on this - it is something I have asked for, residents have asked for and I know MSPs have asked for it too."

During a meeting with traders, council chiefs said that music being played into the street was one of their main concerns, as well as rails of goods being displayed on the street, excessive clutter in shop windows, oversized stands obstructing the pavement and too many baskets next to the shop.

It was agreed at the meeting that traders would not limit pedestrian passageways, display items on the street, cover their windows in posters or merchandise or play music into the street.

Traders that now do not follow the agreed rules could face confiscation of items.

A city council spokesman said: "While most shops do operate responsibly, there remain specific examples where this is not the case and, from Monday, council officers will be patrolling the city centre to ensure that displays are what we would consider to be reasonable - as agreed with traders at our meeting on July 22.

"Officers will also ensure that no music is played from speakers situated outside of shop-fronts."

Geoffrey Nicholsby, who runs kiltmaker Geoffrey (Tailor) Kiltmakers and Weaver, which has two branches on the Royal Mile, was unconvinced by the new crackdown.

He said: "We have heard it all before from them and it is all baloney".

"There's piles and piles of tack on the street, so that needs to be the priority. I don't think the music is really that important."

NEW RULES
• Do not limit pedestrian passage
• Display on or by the shop, not on the street
• The aim is to get people into the shop, not trade on the street
• The display should frame - not cover - the windows
• The main display should be in the shop window or inside the shop
• Music should not be projected out into the street

2011-07-30T11:43:00.001-06:00

Play or pipe down? Merchants butt heads over bagpipe performances

2011-07-24T08:55:00.001-06:00

petoskeynews.com - by Ryan Bentley22 July 2011

The Celtic-themed merchandise at Ed Karmann’s downtown Petoskey (Michigan) store recently has been accented with live music from the same cultural tradition.

While the bagpipe music performed several times daily outside County Emmet Celtic Shop’s entrance has drawn some downtown visitors’ attention to that corner of the business district — and applause for bagpiper and store employee Geoff Clark from many who gather to listen — it also has prompted some complaints about matters such as the noise level.

Discussion about the bagpipe performances developed during a Petoskey Downtown Management Board meeting Tuesday. Downtown director Becky Goodman noted that she’d heard several complaints about the music, and wondered whether the board might want its members or a downtown committee to consider the music — or other audible offerings which businesses potentially could set up outdoors — further.

The board did not decide any next steps to take regarding the musical performances, although Karmann did negotiate a scaled-back schedule for Clark’s performances during the meeting. While concerns about the noise were acknowledged, several board members said they would prefer not to pursue an ordinance at this point to regulate such offerings at businesses.

Goodman said she doesn’t expect to bring the topic back up for board discussion, although she anticipates that a board member may do so.

Karmann, who opened his shop at the corner of Lake and Petoskey streets last fall, said he happened across the opportunity to offer the music when he hired Clark as a summer employee — and that it meshes well with his product line. Starting in mid-June, the performances originally were offered several times daily on weekends, and have shifted to a daily basis in recent weeks — normally between midday and early evening.

“It also brings attention to everyone in our little corner of the Gaslight District,” he said during Tuesday’s meeting.

When the bagpipes are played, Karmann said in a Wednesday interview that they tend to evoke strong opinions, either positive or negative.

“People either love them or they hate them,” he said. “In my experience, far more people like them than dislike them.”

Karmann said he’s received favorable feedback from most of the business owners operating on his block.

Some positive input has come from Morning Star Jewelry Repair & Design on Petoskey Street.

“We love it,” said Jeff Lange, that shop’s owner. “We’re two doors away and we have absolutely no problem with it.”

Lange said he enjoys the music, and has noticed the draw that it has provided for that section of downtown.

“People flock to (the bagpiper) and they take video of him and pictures and they clap,” Lange said. “We need all the help down here we can get (in terms of drawing shoppers’ attention). We’re kind of on the outskirts.”

Jennifer Shorter, a downtown board member whose Grandpa Shorter’s Gifts store is across Petoskey Street from County Emmet, has found the music more frustrating, particularly for its volume level.

“Every day, I go home with a headache,” she said Tuesday, apologizing later in the meeting for venting her frustrations. “It’s intrusive into my business.”

Evelyn Kinnunen, whose Northern Michigan Silk Flower Co. shop is next door to County Emmet, noted mixed feelings about the bagpipe performances. Although that type of music doesn’t particularly suit her taste and she prefers that the performances be infrequent, “more power to (Karmann) if he gets someone to help him out and bring (downtown visitors to the west side of Petoskey Street),” she said.

With Clark planning to move out of the area shortly to take a teaching position in Alaska, Karmann said the bagpipe performances will conclude this weekend, at least for this year. But he noted that there’s a possibility that Clark could return to the store next summer.

With Clark performing in a covered area on store property, Karmann believes he’s within his rights to continue offering the music. But the store owner added that he’s willing to consider adjusting the frequency and durations of performances when neighbors share concerns, and that he already has dialed back on these after downtown staff informed him of complaints.

“To the detractors, I say, why didn’t you come to me? Let’s try to work out some kind of compromise,” Karmann said. “Quite frankly, I wouldn’t want to hear (the bagpipe music) all day, but that’s never been the case.”

Having heard that the music seemed to present a nuisance for some, downtown board member Rod Phillips said local officials might need to consider some means to address it if the concerns persist. He asked if some compromise on the volume level might be possible, but Karmann said bagpipes don’t allow for that type of adjustment.

“That specific instrument is on or off,” he said. “There’s no volume control.”

Karmann negotiated a bit with Shorter during the meeting as to what bagpipe performance schedule would be acceptable to her. She ultimately accepted his offer to limit the music to four daily performances lasting no more than five minutes each.

Although he hasn’t been in close proximity to it regularly, downtown board member David Marvin has had a favorable impression of the music at County Emmet.

“I think it’s pretty neat,” he said. “I thought it brought a nice touch to downtown Petoskey.”

Marvin said he also recognized neighbors’ desire for peace and quiet, but added that regulating it could be a tricky matter.

“Personally, I think it would be nice if it could be worked out as a neighbor to neighbor (resolution),” Marvin said. “I personally would not like to see us create a special law or ordinance.”

Vintage Post Card

2011-07-22T08:30:00.000-06:00

Dig under way at Civil War site

2011-07-20T08:20:00.003-06:00

BBC Scotland - 20 July 2011

A dig at the site of the last major Civil War battle in Scotland has begun, to learn more about the historic clash.

The battle of Inverkeithing, in 1651, was a pivotal win for Oliver Cromwell's forces, from where they launched the final push to conquer Scotland.

Now, 360 years on, experts hope to uncover what may be the best preserved Civil War remains north of the border.

They also hope to learn more about what is seen as an important, yet ignored, battle.

Volunteers backed by a professional archaeologist have begun a survey to uncover artefacts, which is hoped will lead to a full dig next year.

The battle took place when 4,000 Cromwellian troops crossed the Forth from Leith and set up camp on Ferryhills at North Queensferry, in Fife, from where they launched the offensive.

James Lawson, of North Queensferry Heritage Trust, the group leading the initial survey, said: "Unlike perhaps any other battle in Scotland's history, this one was decisive.

"In losing the field that day, all hope of Scotland's defence was lost and for the next 10 years.

"Scotland was subjugated, enslaved and placed under English military rule until Cromwell's death and the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660."

The exact location of the battle of Inverkeithing has long been the subject of debate among historians, but the recent discovery of earthworks at Ferryhills, built as a defence wall by the invading army, led to the project to explore the site further.

The survey is being supported by Fife Council's archaeological unit, along with quarrying company Tarmac, which owns the site.

2011-07-18T07:39:00.001-06:00

2011-07-14T16:02:00.000-06:00

Scottish Borders black grouse show signs of revival

2011-07-10T08:40:00.001-06:00

BBC Scotland - 7 July 2011

Black grouse numbers in the Scottish Borders have shown an increase of nearly 70% compared with last year.
A recent survey undertaken by the Southern Uplands Partnership (SUP) recorded 390 lekking males - up by 160 on the figure for 2010.

Lekking is the territorial display of male grouse during the mating season.

SUP project officer Chris Land said there was a need to build on the "momentum" by creating more suitable habitats for the "iconic species".

Upland sporting estates were shown to have contributed significantly to the total, with birds now showing signs of spreading into adjoining areas.

More than 50 were counted at the Duke of Buccleuch's Bowhill Estate, near Selkirk, where teams have been working closely with the local community to improve habitats.

Mr Land said: "There is a real need to build on this momentum through creating suitable habitats between the core populations to secure the iconic species' future in the Southern Uplands.Source: RSPB

"Isolated populations will eventually die out if there is no genetic variation present, therefore connecting the core sites and establishing new sites is crucial to the species' long term survival prospects."

Derek Goodwin, head grouse keeper at Bowhill, said they were "really passionate" about seeing the bird flourish.

"We have been working alongside the SUP to address key ways we can work to improve the habitat for these birds," he said.

"We have made dramatic changes to stocking levels on our hills allowing key areas to be grazed.

"This has greatly improved the habitat for the successful rearing of chicks."

Other measures to improve biodiversity and address parasite control have seen black grouse numbers on the estate more than double.

"We hope to see this continue in the years to come," added Mr Goodwin.

Vintage Scottish Postcard

2011-07-08T07:48:00.001-06:00

Parliamentary bid launched to wipe Jacobite smear from the records

2011-07-06T06:39:00.001-06:00

Caledonian Mercury - 4 July 2011
by Hamish Macdonell

Three hundred years have passed since the actual rebellions but the failed Jacobite uprisings of 1689, 1715 and 1745 still cast a shadow on a number of Scottish families, a stain that many of them are now keen to eradicate once and for all.

A series of Acts of Parliament in the wake of the Jacobite rebellions in the 17th and 18th centuries "attainted" a large number of Stuart-supporting families.

The legislation formally stripped them of their titles, it disinherited their descendants and – most importantly for those coming after them – their families were declared as having 'corrupted blood' in perpetuity.

It is this smear on their family lineage that their modern-day successors want to get rid of.

Those who were punished in this way included cattle thief and fabled Scottish hero Rob Roy McGregor and Flora Macdonald, who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape capture in the wake of Culloden in 1746.

Some have since managed have individual attainders wiped from the record but others – as many as 30 families – are still waiting, both for a pardon and to have their titles restored.

To start the process of restoring reputation, title and a good bloodline, a motion has been tabled in the Scottish Parliament by Tory MSP Jamie McGrigor.

It calls for the repeal of all "forfeitures and attainders" still in existence.

Mr McGrigor told the Times he believes the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee next year would provide the perfect opportunity to end the sense of injustice felt by those still tainted by the punishment handed down to their ancestors.

He said: “It is really ridiculous that there are families around – and these weren't just nobles and lords affected by this, but clerks and so on as well – who have to carry the stigma of having a corruption of blood, of having 'bad blood'.

“There was this idea that because somebody had been treasonous, then their descendants carried that bad blood too. I really think it's time we got rid of it.”

And Mr McGrigor added: “At this time when everybody is saying sorry to everybody else, this is still going on in the background.”

It would take an Act of Parliament at Westminster to wipe all the attainders from the record but Mr McGrigor hopes that, by raising the issue in the Scottish Parliament, he can spark a similar effort in the Commons.

George IV did make an attempt to wipe out the attainders from the record but he only did so for those who were able to bring forward their own, private acts of parliament and this restricted the number of successful applicants to a handful.

Peter Drummond-Murray of Mastrick, a former banker and heraldry expert, is from a strong Jacobite family which was attainted and, as such, is still condemned officially with “corrupted blood”.

He told The Times that probably half a dozen or so families which would regain former titles if the law was changed but the change, although important, was largely symbolic for many, many more who were tagged with corrupted blood.

“Those who do get their titles back are not going to be allowed to sit in the House of Lords or anything like that,” he said.

And he added: “There is not going to be a change of dynasty for the monarchy but it is right that this is done because it would remove a dishonour.”

Among those who could have their titles reinstated are the earls of Panmure, Southesk and Kellie as well as the Duke of Berwick.

Mr Drummond-Murray argued that the change could be done quickly and easily, without using up too much parliamentary time.

“They nod things through in the Commons nowadays, particularly when there's no opposition and there shouldn't be to this,” he said.

And he added: “(David) Cameron comes from a Scottish family so one would assume he would be sympathetic.”

Mr Drummond-Murray said he was delighted Mr McGrigor had taken up the cause as the Conservative MSP came from a “particularly troublesome Jacobite family” and had been supportive of this cause for some time.

2011-07-04T07:58:00.001-06:00

Rob Roy Gravesite

2011-07-02T08:42:00.001-06:00

Folk hero and "Robin Hood of the Highlands", Rob Roy MacGregor lived most of his life in the Breadalbane area of the Trossachs. He was born near Loch Katrine, in 1671 and died in Balquhidder Glen in 1734.

MacGregor became a legend during his own lifetime when his fictional biography was published by Daniel Defoe. The story was later embellished in the novel Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1817.

He was interred outside the 17th century Balquidder Kirk, now in ruins. Buried beside him are his wife, and two sons.

Vintage Scottish Postcard

2011-06-30T07:50:00.000-06:00

2011-06-28T06:33:00.000-06:00

2011-06-24T08:14:00.001-06:00

Stirling launches 'Bannockburn 700' anniversary plans

2011-06-22T07:32:00.002-06:00

BBC Scotland - 22 June 2011

Stirling has launched its plans to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn.

A series of events will be held in 2014 to mark Robert the Bruce's victory over the English on 24 June 1314.

Stirling Council said Bannockburn 700 would be part of a "summer of celebration", including Highland games and clan gatherings.

The Scottish government has also designated 2014 as Scotland's second year of homecoming.

During that year, Scotland will host the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles.

The council has already announced a £5m visitor centre, which will be built at the battle site in time for the anniversary.

Provost Fergus Wood said it was a chance to put Stirling on the "world stage".

"Let's all rise to the occasion and start planning now for a terrific 2014. I'd like to encourage everyone in the Stirling family to help shape our celebrations," he said.

"I hope as many local people as possible will join in by giving us their ideas and getting involved in their communities.".

2011-06-20T07:46:00.000-06:00