Search the Site
For anyone whose ancestors originated in North Angus and the Mearns (Kincardineshire) or the southern part of Aberdeenshire, the sound of the local dialect and stories of past lives and events create an evocative link. If you would be interested in reading and listening to recordings from communities in the area, read on.
In Dundee, a group of storytellers gather regularly to keep alive the oral tradition, collecting and telling stories from all around Scotland, but particularly from Angus, Perthshire, and Fife. Blether Tay-Gither meet on the last Tuesday of each month to share stories, and also work with storytellers and collectors from other areas including the Grampian Association of Storytellers, whose southern boundary merges with the northern reaches of Angus - in the beautiful countryside of the Mearns, setting for Lewis Grassic Gibbon's classic trilogy A Scots Quair - Sunset Song, Cloud Howe and Grey Granite.
In 2003, the Grampian Association of Storytellers (GAS) created a special project to record and transcribe the reminiscences and family stories of some local people with connections throughout the Mearns. Entitled the Persephone project, after the favourite childhood story of then Chairperson Maggie Fraser, the project was funded from the Local Heritage Initiative Scotland. Early research involved trawling the area looking for existing groups who might be willing to tell their stories or the stories of their communities, and a co-ordinator was appointed to make contact with as many of these groups as possible.
Maggie Fraser's own account includes the following extract:
'I have always been aware of my Johnshaven connection. My paternal grandmother was a Johnshaven lass, known as Jeannie Bell. Unfortunately, she died before I was born so I never met her but two or three times every year we (my father, mother and I) would take a run up the east coast and visit my father's folks. My father's favourite uncle, John McBay, was a huge figure of a man and I remember watching my daddy blethering away to his uncle who was much taller, and thinking - from a child's perspective - that daddy would grow as big as his uncle one day. Uncle John's entire life had centred around boats and the sea. A merchant seaman, it still fascinates me when I think of how many times he left Johnshaven and sailed to all sorts of places yet always returned to that lovely little harbour. One of many men, of course.'
The project culminated in the publication of an illustrated book and complimentary DVD 'The Butcher, the Baker and the Tablecloth Maker,' which is available for £10.00 + post and packing, through the GAS website
It's a lovely way to connect with the lives of people in the Mearns, today and in the past.