Tag: Storytelling for schools

The Peterhead Trail Tours

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The last few weeks have been a quiet one for me – not having a voice does enforce no storytelling! 😆

However I’ve been able to spend that time learning even more about the Cordiner family toon of Peterheid! My dad aye made sure I knew loads of stories from Boddam and the Bloo Toon, but thanks to the The Peterhead Trail, there’s so much more to share!

For those of you booked on the tours, I’m looking forward to sharing it all on Saturday!

Guided tour of The Peterhead Trail this Easter School Holiday

Embark on a historic adventure and step back in time as our knowledgeable guide, Pauline, leads you through the streets of Peterhead. From familiar landmarks to stories of krakens and witches, uncover the stories that have shaped this coastal town into what it is today.

Explore hidden treasures whilst discovering hidden corners and secret spots that even the locals might not know about! This tour takes you on a journey to reveal the lesser-known tales and intriguing anecdotes that add depth to Peterhead’s history.

Learn from local expert Pauline who is a passionate historian and storyteller ready to share her expertise and insights with you. Gain a deeper understanding of the town’s heritage, from its modest beginnings to its pivotal role in maritime trade and beyond.

This tour is aimed at families with children aged 8 and over due to the amount of walking and the stories that will be told

Time Choices Available:

🕰️ 11.30am-12.30pm

🔗http://bit.ly/4acQxwG

⌚️1.30pm-2.30pm

🔗http://bit.ly/4cbTIqq

🗓️ Sat 30 March, Drummers Corner Peterhead

Week 5 with SC&T Youth!

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Well today was our last week in Aberdeen’s primary schools as tutors for SC&T Youth! Cornhill Primary School – thankyou for your amazing enthusiasm and wonderful singing!

Once again, pupils from three classes had 4 hours – only 4 hours! of tuition in penny whistle, clarsach, guitar and … Scots Song!

Despite my ever-worsening laryngitis, the pupils of P4, P4/5 and P5 learned to sing The Silver Darlings, The Fisherman’s Lassie and The Barnyards of Delgaty as well as learning all bout the history of the songs and how they describe life in the North East of Scotland. I’ve posted in greater detail about all of these songs in the past few weeks, but I’ve not yet posted about the songs the pupils have been learning for their grand finale!

It is of course Billy Connolly’s The Wellyboot Song – which probably doesn’t need much of an introduction! One of the teachers managed to find this recording of Billy singing it in 1976 -which I can share here cos there’s no swearing! 😀

Noo I’m aff tae nae spik for a wik! 😀

The Silver Darlings (continued!)

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Anither grand day today at Ashley Road Primary School! The P3, 4 and 5 pupils (2 classes of each!) are fair gettin on wi their class songs – The Fisherman’s Lassie, The Barnyards O Delgaty and The Silver Darlings which I spoke about yesterday. (They’re also learning a fourth song which everyone is to join in with, but more on that in another post!)

There are a few videos online, but I like this one the best – the recording is the original by Alastair McDonald and the film that has been put to the song shows old footage of the fishing fleets and the fish gutting lassies swiftly preparing the fish to be salted and packed into barrels. The pupils fair enjoyed watching it!

Ashley Road School and the Silver Darlings

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It’s another busy week ! This time starting off with the pupils of Ashley Road School who we Scat Youth tutors are visiting to teach penny whistle, guitar, clarsach and Scots song!

I’m teaching the P3s The Barnyards O Delgaty and the P5s the Fisherman’s Lassie (both of which I’ve spoken about in previous posts)… but the P4s are learning The Silver Darlings – a song about the herring boom in Scotland which peaked in 1907. “The Silver Darlings” is a fond nickname for the herring.

The song was written by Jim McLean, Bob Halfin and Andy Hulskrammer and later on this week I’ll share a video of a recording of it with Alastair McDonald. (Find a discussion of the song origins here on mudcat: https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=40414 )

The pupils are taught the meaning of the song they’re learning – as well as any unfamiliar Scots words. Many pupils in each school have families who came from farther afield, but no matter where they’re from, they’re all doing a grand job of learning and pronouncing the Scots and Doric!

The image I’ve chosen to illustrate this post is an etching by James McBey (1883-1959) from 1908. The title is “Herring Fleet, Aberdeen” – the etching has made its way across the pond where it is stored at The Boston Public Library Arts Department. James McBey was local to the area and may be familiar to those that visit Aberdeen Art Gallery where there’s a fantastic exhibition of his work. My daughter and I love the interactive display of how etchings were made! (Thoroughly recommended!)

Spring Festival at Aberdeen University

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Next week will be a busy one teaching Scots Song with SC&T Youth and Spectra Festival over the coming weekend. Then I get a wee break before our final week in Aberdeen primary schools with the SC&T Tutors – just enough of a break to brush up on my DRAGON TALES for the University of Aberdeen Spring Festival Family Fun Day. It is of course the Year of the Dragon and so I’ll be telling tales of dragons and monsters from around the world!

The Confucius Institute will be organising all sorts of activities (dragon stories included!) at the Elphinstone Hall on Sunday 18th February from 10am to 4pm. 

Stories will be from 11am to 12pm and 1 to 2pm

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/events/19843

A Grand Week at Sunnybank School

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I’ve got some braw photies for you today from my week with SC&T Youth at Sunnybank School!

As I said in my post at the start of the week, the P6s were learning The Barnyards O Delgaty – quite the feat for those with non-Scots families, but they pronounced the Scots beautifully and I wis affa impressed wi their “knyot” in Meg MacPherson’s brose!

I posted a link to clarsach tutor Irene singing the song earlier this week, but here’s a link to Bothy Champion Joe Aitken’s performance at the Keith TMSA Festival in 2021 – back when we were still aa daen festivals fae oor livingrooms!

The Barnyards O Delgaty is sung about 22 minutes into Joe’s performance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4yqCYp2O0U

The photo below is of my Dad’s Uncle Willie – taken around 1920. I wanted to show the bairns what ploughing horses looked like, all yokit up. (Uncle Willie is clearly spruced up for this photo, wi his pocket watch and everything!)

The drawings are from a rather talented P6! First she drew one of Uncle Willie’s horses – long after the photo had been taken down off the board! And then she drew me and our cat Apollo 😍

(Apollo is looking mean because he clawed my arm in a moment of “I love you – I love attacking you!” leaving me with a rather obvious scratch, hehe 😃 )

I love when these visits inspire the kids in so many different ways ❤

SC&T Youth at Sunnybank School

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Another fun week with SC&T Youth ahead! This week we’re in Sunnybank School and one of the songs I’m teaching is The Barnyards Of Delgaty

We’ve just had one lesson so far, but the class that’s learning it was doing a grand job o the Doric – pronouncing kynot like natives and huppin and crackin at the right moments! 😃

The Barnyards o Delgaty is a Bothy Ballad from the North East of Scotland – a song from the farming traditions over 100 years ago. The loons (boys and men) would be employed in the farm and would be housed in the bothy – where they’d sleep, cook and wash – or maybe in a chaumer – in which case they’d get their food cooked by the kitchy demes (quines or lassies that worked on the farm, often in the kitchen).

Their jobs would range from Orra Loon (the young lad that got all the odd jobs to do), to plooman (ploughing) or one of the top jobs – Heid Horseman (in charge of the horses who pulled the ploughs).

The songs were written about real farms and people and could be on various subjects “Our crew is the best!” “This farmer is an absolute rotter” “I’m in love with the farmer’s daughter” or even “That time the pig got drunk and caused chaos” – The Barnyards O Delgaty is one of the best known Bothies and tells of a lad who was promised a wonderful farm, but turned out to find it wis affa!

Wur Clasarch teacher Irene Watt has a grand video online which explains fit the song is aa aboot! Often these songs are sung unaccompanied, but Irene’s got nae jist a ukulele, but a friendly cuddy (horse) an aa!

I’ll post anither video the morn – by aene o oor local bothy loons!