Selected items from the St. Andrew's Society of Ottawa Newsbulletin -
Fall 2006 - Vol 160 #4 - ISSN 1492-4439 (Online)
- updated 22 Nov 2006   other News bulletins  go to St Andrew's Society of Ottawa Page 

Tickets are now available for our Annual Spectacular, to be held in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Lyon St., Ottawa, on Saturday 18th November. The location is the Richlieu/Frontenac & Joliet rooms, which are two floors above the Ballroom level.

The Arnprior McNab Pipes and Drums will play for us this year, and the Fiona Champagne Highland Dancers will perform. The Guest of Honour will be Robert Watt, Chief Herald for Canada.David Martin has agreed to be our Master of Ceremonies again. Charlie Inglis will be your host for Scottish dancing - both country and ceilidh. Virtronics will host the Ballroom dancing.Timings are: Cocktail hour from 6 pm; dinner 7 pm, after a piper's call; Gala dancing from 9 pm.Tickets remain at $85 and are available from Executive members.

The pub night sessions for the Fall started with a surprise. On Monday 11 Sept 2006 attendees went to the location of the The Tartan Pub, Wellington St (opposite the Herb & Spice shop); but a new establishment, the Wellington Gastropub, was in operation. This new up-market pub-style restaurant has a menu that changes daily, and arrangements had been made for wild salmon to be on the menu, especially for us. The meal was a delight and members, old and new to society pub nights, were chatting away on a range of topics.

The next events will be Tuesday, October 10th at The Glen, Kanata; Monday Nov 6th at The Tartan Pub, 4025 Innes Rd at Jeanne d'Arc. We'll be at The Highlander, Rideau St on Monday 4th December, and the Black Bear, Albert at Bay on Tuesday 9th January. Pub nights are 6.30 for a 7pm supper; reservations are appreciated.

A reservation has been made for a Dinner on Saturday 20th January. More details in the next issue of this Newsletter. Information will be on the web site before Christmas.

The early-Fall New Member's Reception, held on Saturday 16th September 2006, mid-afternoon to mid-evening, was greatly enjoyed by those who attended. Some wag suggested "This is great - let's have another one - how about next weekend?" But, more seriously, it may well nbecome an annual event.

Lynn Paul kindly arranged for the use of her building's Party Suite. Many on hand, especially Margaret Beauchamp, were happy to assist with setting up the tables and arranging for food preparation. This had been arranged pub-style by yours truly, Hugh Reekie. Soon the videos from the Highlands were being enjoyed; the equipment had been loaned and set up by John Shaver and Bob Bhan. The Trilogy Perthshire Panorama covered Wartime Aberfeldy & The Crieff Quinie; The Grand Curling March - Lake of Mentieth and A Pitlochry Welcome all gave a detailed insight into daily life - particularly in the 1940s and 1950s.

The short item The Sea Kingdom - The Lordship of the Isles - The life and times of Clan Donald over the Centuries was considered too detailed for some, who found a corner and set up a board game "The Rail Race of Britain". While some who played the game were happy to be told to tour the Highlands, with a ferry trip (extra dice thrown) to Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides, others were forced to tour Ireland and take a day trip to Boulogne - with many delays, waiting for a 6 on the dice. Many onlookers not only had their British geography improved, but also obtained an insight into some of the usual practices of UK rail travel, with "hazards" - such as missing rail connections or taking an obligatory detour caused by railway stations being closed!

The supper had choices: either Scotch meat pie or Melton Mowbray pork pie. The "truly British" Branston Pickle (tastier and chunkier than the Canadian version - it must be the selection of malt vinegar used!) was greatly enjoyed by pub-supper afficionados. Dessert, a marvellous Scotch Trifle created by Pat Shaver, was augmented with fruit pie.

After supper, Border videos were shown, starting with Drumlanrig - A Year in the Life of a Great Estate - a Conducted Tour of House, Farm, Woodland & Moorland. It turned out that quite a few present had forebears of friends who were involved with the Drumlanrig estates. The video Edwin's Kingdom - The Border Rievers: Steel Bonnets, Pele Towers & Bastles, from the 14th to 17th Centuries gave a detailed insight into both Border raids and the annual "Border Riding Horse Festivals" now becoming popular with tourists.

To finish off the evening, Ross McLellan kindly offered a "snifter" of a very special, 20-year Highland malt that he had won as a prize at a recent 78th Frasers' dinner. Many met new friends, improved both their geography and history of Scotland, had a pub supper at a good price, and had a wee "Deoch an' Dorus" before they left for home. Our thanks to Lynn Paul for providing access and managing the kitchen.

The "Lowland Clearances" were far worse than in the Highlands, yet they have been largely forgotten, a leading Scottish historian claims. In a recent lecture Professor Tom Devine challenges the Highlands' "cultural possession" of the clearances. He says that, until recently, history has recorded the clearing of people off land needed for farming as a largely Highland issue. While the clearances are recalled in many aspects of folklore, there is little cultural record of the land clearances in the south.

Prof Devine, who gave the annual lecture to the Millennium Institute at Dornoch Cathedral recently, said "In the Highlands, landowners had an unsavoury reputation; they were regarded as the clearers. In Lowland society, they were regarded as enlightened improvers. The curious thing is that both types of landlord adopted virtually the same policies.

There was considerable protest in Highland society against removals, which led to the Crofters' War of the 1880s... The dispossession in Lowland society, however, caused hardly any violent response. There is no folk memory, despite the fact that, in my estimate, significantly more people lost their land in Lowland society than in the Highlands."

- summarized from The Scotsman, 28 Sep 2006; thanks to Bob Bhan

P.S. The book The Lowland Clearances - Scotland's Silent revolution 1760 - 1830 by Peter Aitcheson & Andrew Cassell provides details on the subject; it is based on a recent BBC Radio Scotland series - Ed.

The Drovers' Project - some background

Over many centuries Drovers have herded cattle for hundreds of miles to fairs or markets. Earlier this year a campaign was launched to establish a permanent exhibition for the drovers of years past. The Highland Drover Project was inaugurated by the Highland Livestock Heritage Society; it is hoped this appeal will raise £250,000.

The project includes statue of a drover and a Highland bull to be created by Black Isle sculptor, Gerard Lang. David Henderson, the Drovers' Project chairman, said: "Locating the sculpture outside Dingwall Auction Mart is a fitting tribute to the drovers who secured the only source of hard cash in what was a subsistence economy in the Highlands. Rob Roy, for instance, was a drover. These were a very special, tough breed of men, rough and ready entrepreneurs." Mr Henderson added: "The exhibition will showcase some fascinating original documents and artefacts from the heyday of the drovers. "Droving began as early as the latter part of the 16th century and ended in the twentieth century. Some of today's roads follow the old drove routes, and many paths remain and can be walked. The drovers had to establish locations for overnight feeding and, on occasion, the phrase "drove stance" can be seen on some maps.

The cattle were noticeably smaller than their modern counterparts, and were usually shaggy and black. Some which came from the north of Caithness and Sutherland would join others on the way to the Trysts or Fairs at Beauly and Muir of Ord. On the harder roads to the south, each beast had cattle shoes fitted - requiring two strips of metal on each hoof. Then they would move on to the large trysts at Crieff and, latterly, Falkirk.Once sold-on, the drove would then continue south, often even as far as Smithfield Market in London.

The Queen supports new Highland Drovers' Project

A new Highland Project, based in Dingwall, secured royal approval in June this year, with a generous cash donation from the Queen. Buckingham Palace replied to an earlier appeal from Society Honorary President and Ross and Cromarty, Lord Lieutenant Captain Roderick Stirling. "I received a letter from Buckingham Palace saying that Her Majesty had instructed officials to send a donation from a trust used for such purposes," said Captain Stirling. "It's very heartening to know that she's taken note and is so interested in our efforts." The project's exhibition will emphasise the tremendous influence of Scots on the livestock industry abroad, focussing on the many Scots drovers who emigrated to become cowboys on Canada's prairies, the USA's Chisholm Trail and the South African veldt, or as shepherds on the Patagonian pampas or in Australia.

The Drovers' Place in Scots History

For hundreds of years, the feeding of Scotland's own depended on cattle making the long and arduous trek from the Highlands to markets in the south. Those coming from the west coast and the Hebrides sometimes had to swim across stretches of water (the Kyle Rhea, Skye, for example) or take a small boat to get to the mainland. Sheep and cattle farming remained the mainstay of farmers in the Highlands and Islands when the richer lowland farms progressed to crop cultivation. The Drovers provided one of few sources of hard cash for the crofters in what was basically a subsistence economy in the Highlands.

Rob Roy, was a drover - a special, tough breed - they were rough and ready entrepreneurs. They bought cattle and walked them hundreds of miles -- for instance, from Skye to the big cattle trysts at Crieff and Falkirk where enormous sums of money changed hands.

Later, drovers took their skills to Canada and the United States and many became cowboys in the American West. Their story deserves a larger audience - which is why the Highland Drover Project was set up. Captain Roderick Stirling, Lord Lieutenant of Ross and Cromarty and President of the Highland Livestock Heritage Society, said a website has been set up and 6,000 copies of a brochure have been sent out to agricultural and rural organisations in this country and to Caledonian, St. Andrew's and other historical Societies and groups around the world. These people helped build Scotland's livestock industry to what it is today and the cash they brought back was the lifeblood of rural communities. They often took the cattle along the by-roads and rough tracks for safety and to avoid being charged for grazing rights en route. These tracks became the 'drove roads' which were the economic arteries for the Highlands and Islands.

- Based on articles in newspapers:

The Scotsman, 6 March 2006 -- The Guardian, 30 March 2006 -- The Glasgow Herald, 31 March 2006 -- The Ross-shire Journal, 2 June 2006

- with thanks to Bob Bhan -=- More details: www.highlandlivestockheritage.co.uk

Alison MacLeod, the International Development Officer of the University of Aberdeen will be in Ottawa on Wednesday 15th November, and would like to meet people from the city, and especially the University, whether Society members or not. For further information contact Hugh Reekie.

A church service to honour Jean McPhee, whose passing was noted in the previous edition of this Newsletter, was held at Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa on Friday 29 Sept at 3.30 pm. A Reception followed and some Society members were in attendance. A notification regarding this service, with change of date, was provided in mid-September to those members who have given us their e-mail addresses.

Some 40 native mice have been returned to their island of Canna; they had been temporarily relocated to a Scottish zoo, while a mass cull of rats took place. About 150 wood mice, unique to Canna, were taken from the island, in the Inner Hebrides, to the Edinburgh Zoo and Wildlife Park in late 2005. Rodent controllers were then able to eradicate the island's 10,000 non-native brown rats which had decimated both the mice and the seabird population.

The £500,000 cull ended in January 2006 and a routine monitoring in April found no sign of the rats. Some mice are remaining in Edinburgh, and will be reintroduced in batches.Pest controllers from New Zealand had been contracted to cull the brown rats which had been both feasting on the eggs of seabirds and posing a threat to the mice.

- summarized from The Scotsman, July 2006

Jimmy Millar has placed his store House of Scotland, at the Westgate Shopping Centre, together with his on-line internet activities, Grey Stag Distribution, up for sale. He is in hospital with a severe illness. Member Barbara Young has been helping out in the store, on occasion. Jimmy was President of our Society for a number of years.

During initial excavations for a new housing development at Culduthel, Inverness, an Iron Age settlement with 17 roundhouses was discovered earlier this year.

Cropmarks had previously indicated a single circular enclosure, but soil movement on the sloping terrain over the centuries had occluded surface indications for much of the site. This overburden also protected the site from ploughing damage. The usual quern stones were found on the site, which has an excellent defensive view of the Great Glen. A detailed cast- metal cross and a fragment of a coloured, enamelled brooch, together with some brightly coloured, detailed glass beads were found. Signs of significant iron workings were also discovered, together with a cobbled yard. Surprisingly, there was little evidence of domestic debris, often a good indicator of the details of daily life.

Summarized from an article by Ross Murray  in History Scotland Magazine, Sept/Oct 2006.

Members of the Scottish Parliament voted, on 28th September, to have St. Andrew's Day, 30th November declared a National Holiday. The report, sent to your editor by Bob Bhan from the Scotsman, Edinburgh, is very brief, and does not list any further details.