The Wittance April 2023

April 2023

1

Using all media formats to bring Scots, Scotland & the Scottish together.

The Wittance Watch, listen and read

Scots Words video with Alice Photo tour round Skye & Hebrides Scots Book & Music reviews Music & videos from around the country History & news

publishing.com

2

Welcome.

This is the first edition of The Wittance. A new online only magazine embracing written articles, videos, photographs audio files and hyperlinks to contributors sites and social media platforms.

The Wittance is all about Scotland and all things Scottish.

We want to bring as much as we can about our incredible country to the wider world. Art and culture, news, history, music, the scenery, insights and generally anything Scottish that allows us to show off our wee part of the world in the North Sea. We are always looking for new material. If you would like to contribute please get in touch, we would love to hear your Scottish themed stories. If you live outside Scotland how do you celebrate, embrace or maintain your Scottishness? How, why and where did your ancestors settle? Do you have pictures or videos? Let us into the secret and help us tell your Scottish tale to the world.

This issue is free and can be read by everyone, please send it on to those you think may be interested. From Issue 2 onward there will be a nominal cost of £25 per year giving 12 editions. The perfect gift for those that otherwise have everything.

The name Wittance is an old Scots word meaning; to know, have information on or have an understanding of. We will be exploring that theme specifically about Scotland in every issue.

editor@bruhupublishing.com

editor@bruhup

3

Hello, This April edition is packed full of pictures, words and videos from all across Scotland although we do have a particular lean towards Skye and the Western Isles. May sees the return of the Skye Festival and we have music from some of the performers and article from Duncan Chisholm about his new concert series and album.

Our photographic tours take us from Skye to the Outer Hebrides and then across to Fife and the East Neuk villages of Anstruther, Pittenweem and Crail. We have Scots word videos with Alice showing us how to say and, importantly, how to use old Scots words.

Our feature writer Kate MacRitchie looks at Scottish innovation in the space satellite industry and the global importance of the Scottish Flowlands. Curiously, they are linked to each other and need a careful balancing act to allow both to exist and flourish properly.

When it comes to inventions that have changed the world Scotland has punched above it’s weight forever. Indeed we often argue it’s harder to name something that we didn’t invent. Each month we will look at some of the slightly lesser know yet equally important findings. This month we have international time zones and the bank overdraft.

It’s all going on in Scotland, read on and find out.

publishing.com

4

Scots Satellites

Con

Some words to describe the incredible achievements in Scotland

From Stornoway to The Pacific

Alexanders MacKenzies epic journey across Canada in 1793

Scots Words with Alice

Alice as she brings some Scots words to your tongue, how to say them & what they mean.

A Great Adventure, I Presume

From a single room tenement building to crossing South Africa. Dr Livingstone, I presume.

A Saint Before Andrew

St Kessog was around for a long time before being usurped as our national saint.

No More Trees.

The Flowlands and what they mean to Scotland & the wider world.

Golf It All Began In Edinburgh

Not everyone was fighting the Redcoats, some were playing golf.

Scottish Firsts

For a small country we have punched way above our weight in many ways, here are a couple of examples.

Mountains Mend Minds

Watch Ross explain what the Gaelic hill names mean & how therapeutic walking can be.

editor@bruhup

ntent

5

Your Pullout Sections

Books, Music & More Every month we will bring you the books we are reading, reviews and recommendations, music & book festival news and the music that is currently on repeat in our office.

Over The Sea To Skye April bring the annual Skye Live, a music extravaganza of all that is great in Scotland today. What better reason do we need than to showcase Skye & the Hebrides in pictures.

The East Neuk Of Fife This part of Scotland is often missed by visitors to Scotland. We love it though and wanted to let everyone else see where it is and what it looks like.

Radio & Podcasts Here we feature some of our community owned, independent radio stations and podcast producers. This often contains content unavailable elsewhere. This month we have shows from Heartland FM & stories told in Doric.

publishing.com

6

From Shipyards to Outer Space Scotland joins the space race but will our rarest landscapes be left in the dust?

Once famed for its ship building, Glasgow is now making a global name for itself by looking to the skies instead of the sea. Currently, Glasgow builds more satellites than anywhere in Europe. According to Scottish International Development’s website, over

130 space companies operate from Scotland and 18% of all UK space roles are filled by Scotland’s 8,440person strong talent pool.

Due to lowered operating costs, Scotland has become an attractive base for building an extra-terrestrial enterprise.

The newly formed Scotland International Space Advisory Committee (SISAC) aims to provide guidance for home-grown companies within the space industry and to advise the Scottish

editor@bruhup

7

Government on how to gain a £4bn share of the global space market, which could generate up to 20,000 jobs.

The government’s ambition is for Scotland to become one of the world’s leading space nations. With Glasgow already leading the way in satellite manufacture, reaching for the stars isn’t farfetched but reality.

Alba Orbital is a Glasgowbased company that specialises in making picosatellites. Called ‘PocketQubes’ these tiny satellites weigh less than a bag of sugar and cost a fraction of their full-scale counterparts. Sized and shaped like a Rubik’s cube,

publishing.com

these tiny satellites are cleaner, greener alternatives to big satellites.

PocketQubes spacecraft can be extended or stacked together, allowing companies to conduct their own space missions at an affordable price.

Alba Orbital began life earthside in founder Tom Walkinshaw’s bedroom in 2012. Now, more of his PocketQubes orbit Earth than any other organisation in the world. Lauded in Forbes ‘30 under 30’ list, Walkinshaw’s mission for Alba Orbital is ‘Democratizing access to space”.

His initial plan was for Alba Orbital to provide ‘space burials’ which would enable people to send the cremated ashes of space-mad loved ones into orbit. However, UK Space Agency regulations

8

forced Walkinshaw to pivot his business towards schools and universities, where students can learn about electronics by launching their own mini satellites.

Ivan MacKee, Scotland’s Minister for Business is supportive of such spacebased start-ups: “Space brings great opportunity for Scotland in terms of the economic development it delivers, its relevance for the climate change agenda and the power it has to inspire the next generation. That is why the Scottish Government has identified it as a priority in our National Strategy for Economic Transformation.”

Indeed, Scotland’s space sector income is estimated at £254m and it provides a fifth of all UK space-related jobs.

In addition to Glasgow building more satellites than anywhere else in Europe, Scotland hosts over 150 data science companies, making it Europe’s data hub.

Regarding jobs for future generations, it seems that

the sky’s the limit.

But is there a dark side to the space race?

2023 will see Scotland’s first orbital launch, and the rockets are far from tiny. The proposed site was the cause of controversy—the delicate Flow Country in the North of Scotland. This extensive area of rare peatland is home to 190,000 hectares of carbonstoring sphagnum moss. If drained and uprooted the moss will release its carbon into the atmosphere, contributing further to the current climate disaster.

The Flow Country is an area of global significance in terms of climate change, and The Peatland Partnership is seeking protected status via UNESCO (read more in our

editor@bruhup

9

article here). However, miles of boggy land aren’t conducive to building a spaceport, meaning much of the delicate habitat (home to many birds, insects, and plant life) will be destroyed.

The RSPB opposed the proposal. Their concerns were for the birds that flourish in this peaceful corner of Scotland, and the significant visitor footfall the launches will bring to an area already struggling with the North Coast 500 tourist boom.

publishing.com

Is looking star-wards short-sighted if it comes at the cost of Scotland’s rarest landscapes? The economic benefits of the space industry are obvious, but this fast-growing sector needs to be mindful to secure more than jobs for future generations.

To that end a team of experts led by Space Scotland are developing a “sustainability roadmap for space”. Crucially, the roadmap will hold spaceports to minimising their environmental impact” —a global first. The task force is actively seeking participation from environmental charities and promoting more eco-friendly pico-satellites, like Alba Orbital’s, as part of their netzero ambitions.

Glasgow firm Eolas Insight has already used satellite data to track elephant migration, a nifty idea that has also helped NatureScot to track populations of red deer.

In January this year, 11

Scottish companies took part in the Scotland Can Do “Applying Space Data to the Net Zero Economy” research and development challenge.

Funded by the Scottish Government, The Data Lab, and Scottish Enterprise, grants of up to £30,000 are be awarded to businesses developing innovative space projects that help Scotland’s transition to net zero.

Projects successfully funded by the challenge include curbing carbon emissions generated by the online shopping boom and measuring the disposal of natural gas in the North Sea. With climate saving schemes afoot and the reduced weight and carbon-footprint of Glasgow-built picosatellites, there’s hope that Scotland’s ambitious space mission might be the greenest on Earth.

The Wittance The Wittance is based in Highland Perthshire, right in the middle of mainland Scotland and is produced locally by people who live their daily lives across Scotland.

Our aim is to bring Scotland to the world in a positive way, we are non-political just Scottish.

This country has contributed globally in so many ways, belying the small space it takes up in the North Sea. We are interested in your story. What is your take on Scottishness? What events go in your area?

We understand that living here does not give us sole rights to being Scottish that feeling and sense of belonging goes world wide.

Get in touch with your pictures, videos, stories, podcasts and we can celebrate Scotland around the world together.

editor@bruhupublishing.com

12

From The Hebrides to Canada, then Coast to Coast.

Sir Alexander MacKenzie

By Niamh Wood Sir Alexander Mackenzie was a Scottish-born explorer and fur trader most well known for being the first European to cross the continent north of Mexico in 1793.

His work inspired later explorers and traders, such as the famous Lewis and Clark expedition. The

Mackenzie River is named after him in honour of his work.

Alexander Mackenzie was born in 1764 in Stornoway, Scotland. He was the third of four children born to parents Kenneth and Isabelle.

When Alexander was a young child, his mother died, and his father

editor@bruhup

13

decided to move the family to New York City in 1774. With the American War of Independence at large, his father went to work in the military, and Alexander was sent to Montreal to attend school in 1778. The following year, Alexander secured the position of a clerk in the fur trading firm Gregory, Macleod, and Company.

In 1785 he became a partner and took charge of the trading at Ile-ala-crosse. In 1787, the company merged with The Northwest Company. Mackenzie became a partner with them and took on duties to embark on a series of expeditions to open new trading routes.

publishing.com

Mackenzie was second in command to Peter Pond, who had already explored the region extensively.

Peter had put together a route that would head directly to the Pacific.

However, he never got the chance to test if this route would work as he left the company in 1788. Mackenzie replaced him as head of operations in the North West. He established a base at Fort Chipewyan, a hamlet in Alberta, Canada.

His first expedition commenced on June 3rd, 1789. Mackenzie set out from Fort Chipewyan and went to look for the pacific. He followed Peter's route in the hope to end up at the Pacific but soon uncovered

14

that it led to the Arctic Ocean instead. He returned to Fort Chipewyan on September 12th.

Unfortunately, his expedition received little public attention, despite the fact it significantly added to the geographic knowledge of the North West. Mackenzie was undoubtedly disappointed that he had not reached the Pacific and subsequently failed to open a new trading route.

In October 1792, Alexander Mackenzie moved from Fort Chipewyan to Fort Fork, a North West Company trading post on the Peace River. With a newfound better understanding of Western geography, on the 9th of May 1793, he left for his second attempt to find the Pacific. Mackenzie left Fort Fork

and followed the Peace, Parsnip, and McGregor rivers. On the 22nd of July, he met and traded with local First Nations, who advised him to avoid Fraser's wild rapids.

He continued west and eventually reached the Bentick Arm of the Pacific. Here, Mackenzie inscribed the memorable words: ‘Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada by Land, the twenty-second of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three,’ on a (now restored) large rock.

His historic expedition made him the first European to cross North America north of Mexico. By doing this, he mapped significant portions of the far North West and succeeded in finding an accurate route to the

editor@bruhup

15

Pacific – where Peter Pond had failed. However, much to his disappointment, the company did not consider his route applicable for their needs.

Alexander Mackenzie left the North West for good in 1794 and travelled east to Grand Portage and then to Upper Canada. He had a vision that the Northwest Company, Hudson's Bay Company, and the East India company should expand the fur trade throughout the Canadian northwest. Unfortunately, his idea was rejected by John Graves Simcoe, lieutenant of Upper Canada.

However, some of his ideas for the reorganization of the Canadian fur

publishing.com

trade were adopted later in the 19th century.

In 1799 Mackenzie severed his ties with the North West Company and sailed for Britain. In 1801, Mackenzie published his Voyages, and the following year received a knighthood.

He retired to Scotland married Geddes Mackenzie in 1812. Together they had a daughter and two sons.

Sir Alexander Mackenzie died in Dunkeld, Scotland on 12th March 1820. Several places in British Columbia, schools in Canada, and a river have all been named after him to honour his legacy.

16

Scots Words

Scots La

Scots is one of three languages used in Scotland t collection of Doric, Lallans and Scotch also known as

It has been spoken in Scotland for centuries parti Lowlands, Orkne

The Scottish currently carryin consultation befo a Scots Language support all Scots can read the con document here.

Consu Docu

editor@bruhup

s with Alice

anguages

today alongside Scottish Gaelic and English. It is a s Buchan, Dundonian, Glesca and Shetland.

icularly in the Eastern and Southern parts, the ey and Shetland.

h Government is ng out a public fore considering es Bill to help s Languages. You nsultation

ultation ument

publishing.com

17

18

A Great Adventure, I Presume.

David Livingstone

By Niamh Wood

David Livingstone was a Scottish missionary, physician, abolitionist, and explorer. He is famously known as the first European explorer to have crossed Africa. He undertook extensive expeditions throughout a lot of the continent. Livingstone's studies have had a significant influence on Western attitudes towards Africa.

David Livingstone was born on March 19th, 1813, in Blantyre, Glasgow, Scotland. He was one of seven children and grew up in a single tenement room. He was brought up in the Calvinist faith of the Scottish church but later joined an independent Christian congregation.

editor@bruhup

19

At the age of 10, he began working in a local cotton mill company and would receive schooling in the evenings and on the weekends.

In 1836 he began studying medicine and theology in Glasgow before going on to train with the London Missionary Society for a year. He completed his studies at various institutions in 1840 in London and eventually became a missionary doctor.

publishing.com

In 1841, with the official role of a 'medical missionary,' he moved to Africa. A few years later, in 1845, he married Mary Moffat, a daughter of a fellow missionary and the couple went on to have several children.

While over in Africa, he witnessed the horrors of the African slave trade and soon became convinced of his mission to reach the people of Africa, free them from slavery, and introduce them to the Christian

20

faith. This inspired his next exploration.

In 1849, Livingstone made his way north and embarked across the Kalahari Desert. Here he came across Lake Ngami and sighted the Zambezi River in 1851.

In 1852, Livingstone began a 4-year trip to find a route from the upper Zambezi to the coast and reached the western coastal region of Luanda in 1853. In 1855 he

discovered a spectacular waterfall at the border of modern Zambia and Zimbabwe. The natives originally named it ‘smoke that thunders however Livingstone named it ‘Victoria Falls’ after Queen Victoria.

In 1856 Livingstone reached the mouth of the Zambezi on the Indian ocean and became the first European to cross the width of Southern Africa.

editor@bruhup

21

Upon his return to Britain, Livingstone was granted a national hero. He did many speaking tours and in 1857 published his bestselling book, ‘Missionary Travels and Research in South Africa’.

The next year in 1858, the British authorities appointed Livingstone to lead an expedition that would navigate the Zambezi. He discovered other bodies of water but unfortunately, the expedition ended up failing when his wife sadly

publishing.com

passed away after contracting malaria.

In 1864 Livingstone decided to return home. On his return, he again spoke out about his findings but also spoke out against the slavery he witnessed.

Livingstone publicized the horrors he saw the following year in a book called ‘Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambezi and Its Tributaries.’ In the book, he wrote about the slave trade and theorized the connection between malaria and mosquitoes.

In 1866, Livingstone undertook another expedition to Africa. He went with the hope of locating the source of the Nile River. He was not heard from him for months and was presumed to be lost.

Henry Stanley, an explorer, and journalist was sent to Africa to find him. Stanley located him in Ujiji in 1871 and upon seeing him uttered the now-famous phrase, ‘Dr. Livingstone, I presume?’.

Livingstone chose to stay on and parted ways with Stanley.

David Livingstone died on 1st May 1873, at the age of 60 from malaria.

He passed away in now modern Zambia and his body was eventually transported and buried at Westminster Abbey.

22

Books, Mus

Every month we will bring you new rele plus the best of what we ar If you have any recomm

This month we have new books on the travellers of northern Scotla fleet, it was Scottish and in Burma. Black Roods is the tale of the mi

Our fiction offerings bring tales of witches, fairies, shape-shifting an Mowdie. The mostly unknown links between Burma & Scotland are tourists got around the country in days past The Immeasureable Wi

Next month Skye Live happens at The Lump in Portree so our music have a new release video from RURA ahead of their latest album. Hu SXSW festival, we have their latest video inside.

To read more and

CLICK

editor@bruhup

23

sic & More

eases from the literary and music world re reading and listening to. mendations let us know.

and from 1600 onward, the story of the worlds’ biggest commercial issing Scottish crown jewels.

nd Scottish folklore, we have the childrens story of the Wee e explored in the Fabulous Flotilla and if you ever wondered how ilds explains all.

c comes from Niteworks live performance at Quiraing, we also umour are a new band based in Glasgow who are setting light to

d watch the videos

HERE

publishing.com

24

Scotland in Pictures We don’t like to boast too much or too often but sometimes there is no option.

We live in a beautiful place. The misty Highland glens, rivers and lochs, forests of pine or oak, coastal villages, sea lochs and islands are a reality.

They do exist and we are abundant in breath taking views.

Words can never do enough therefore we will show you in as many formats as we can, in an attempt to justify how spine tingling Scotland is, every day.

In this edition we have chosen water and some of our favourite lochs. We only have one lake in Scotland, it may appear in the future.

If you have any thoughts or comments let us know. If you want to contribute in any way to future displays please do get in touch.

editor@bruhupublishing.com

editor@bruhup

25

Over the Sea to Skye In our Books & Music pullout we look at the upcoming Skye Live event. You may not be able to go to Skye so let us take you on tour.

Over the next few pages we have have some stunning photographs from Skye and the Outer Hebrides giving you a taste of what to expect when you eventually get there.

The island may be relatively small but it is big on spectacular views.

All pictures are copyright of Duncan J MacPherson If you have images that you would like us to feature, get in touch.

editor@bruhupublishing.com You, of course, retain all copyright to any submissions.

publishing.com

26

Join us, let’s tr Skye & The Ou

Click

editor@bruhup

27

ravel through uter Hebrides

Here

publishing.com

28

Get in Touch We would love to hear your Scottish stories. They may be reminiscences, family folklore or history, questions you need answered, photographs, anything that tells a story of Scottishness.

Do you feel Scottish, how do you express your Scottishness? Tell us your tale and how your ancestors got to be where they set roots and how you maintain that link.

Are you planning an event celebrating Scotland or our Celtic links and background send us the details and we can help you tell the wider world.

There is only one Scotland but it belongs to so many people all across the world, let’s tell that story far and wide.

editor@bruhupublishing.com

editor@bruhup

29

Follow Us

editor@bruhupublishing.com

publishing.com

30

A Saint before St Andrew St Kessog

By Niamh Wood

St Kessog was born in Ireland around the year 460 and is the son of the King of Cashel. He made his name as a Christian missionary in Scotland but started his religious life in Ireland.

Much of what we know about Kessog is based on oral tradition and legends considering there are no written historical records around the time he was alive. Yet he is believed to have worked miracles ever since he was a child.

editor@bruhup

31

One legend about him concerns a swimming incident he endured in his childhood. The sons of several princes visiting the king drowned in a swimming pool, Kessog being the only survivor. He prayed all night long and miraculously in the morning the children had been brought back to life which inevitably averted wars with the various princes.

After this incident it was clear Kessog was destined for a holy life.

He was sent to a monastery to be educated by St Patrick. St Patrick had by then created hundreds of

publishing.com

churches and other Christian institutions and is said to have personally baptised over 100,000 people.

St Patrick sent Kessog to St Machaloi in Nendrum in County Down. Here he was ordained as a monk and then a bishop. It was decided that Kessog should travel to Scotland to become a missionary bishop. He did so and established a monastery on the island of Inchtavannach, meaning the island of the Monks’ house, located on the western side of Loch Lomond.

Local tradition has it that Inchtavannachs highest point, Tom nan Clag, the hill of the bell, got its name from Kessog installing a bell on the summit which he used to summon monks and laity to prayer. The bell was later listed in the funeral investments of the Earldom of Perth as late as 1965.

It is believed that Kessog spent most of his time in and around Loch Lomond, Lennox, across southern Perthshire, and even as far north as modern Inverness preaching the Christian faith.

Today there is a hill near the river Teith in Perthshire known as Tom na chessaig or hill of Kessog named after him.

South Kessoch in Inverness, North Kessoch on the Black Isle, and the Kessoch bridge on the north side of Inverness are also named after him to reflect the

32

long tradition that the saint preached around those areas.

knownas Luss, hence the Gaelic meaning – herbs.

Kessogs successful missions to the people around Loch Lomond angered the local Pagans, which lead to him being martyred.

Luss has since been associated with St Kessog as he founded the church in the village in 510. The church was later named after him, and it contains an effigy of the saint. 1500 years of continuous Christian presence in the area was celebrated in 2010.

Kessog was attacked and killed on March 10th, 520 AD at Bandry Bay near Luss village on the western shore of Loch Lomond overlooking Inchtavannach. This date remains the annual day of St Kessog.

The reasons for his murder are unclear. A monument of a cairn of stones marks the site of his death.

Kessog was buried on the western shore of Loch Lomond, and the herbs that once grew up around his grave led to the place that became

St Kessog remained widely worshipped and respected even after his death with many places being named after him. The medieval parish churches of Comrie and Auchterarder were both dedicated to him.

editor@bruhup

33

The kessog oil field in the North Sea is also named after him. There is also St Kessog RC church and St Kessogs primary school in Balloch at the southern end of Loch Lomond.

Troops under Robert the Bruce used ‘blessed Kessog’ as a battle cry during The War of Independence.

publishing.com

Legend has it that his remains were even taken into battle and used during the call demanding that the Scots win the Battle in Kessogs memory. Saint Kessog was considered the patron saint of Scotland who helped popularise and spread the word of Christianity before he died.

Saint Andrew was later adopted to the role of the patron saint of Scotland.

34

No More Trees, For Peat’s Sake!

Scotland’s hidden climate hero seeks world recognition.

Flow Country, Caithness and Sutherland. Dragonfly shimmer over wispy bogbean, sunshine yellow asphodel, and spongy cushions of sphagnum moss.

A curlew’s wild, eerie cry ghosts across the green-

ochre patchwork of peaty pools. Still waters brightly reflect a myriad of rushing clouds, making the sky feel twice as big. Fierce gales, untrammelled by trees, gust down the straths, among the highest windspeeds in

editor@bruhup

35

Europe. It’s a wild, limitless landscape—190,000 hectares of undisturbed beauty.

Or is it? Unfortunately, the Flow Country’s raw beauty hasn’t been respected in recent decades with intrusive developments marring its character.

Conservationists are toiling now to reverse damage wreaked upon the peatlands by harmful forestry practises.

Eco-volunteers arriving at the Flow Country might be surprised that their first job is to chop down baby trees.

It’s hard to believe but those peaceful mirror-like pools conceal a hidden danger: carbon. Sphagnum moss, abundant in the Flow Country, soaks up carbon like a sponge. If released all

publishing.com

at once, it would have the same effect on the climate as burning all the petrol, oil, gas, and coal that Scotland uses in 100 years.

For thousands of years the Flow Country’s peatlands remained largely untouched by human activity but come the twentieth century an uneducated Government put commercial productivity before the planet. Deep furrows were gauged into the ‘barren’ land for drainage, uprooting the moss in favour of non-native conifers that could be grown and harvested quickly.

Government tax incentives saw a huge increase in forestry plantations across the Flow Country, thus upsetting the delicate balance of this special place.

36

Today the Peatlands Partnership is seeking World Heritage status to protect a rare habitat that not only provides peace and nourishment for many species (including humans), but also plays a vital role in climate change.

By now we’re all wellversed in the dangers of carbon emissions, but there’s an unsung hero waiting to take centre stage in the battle to cut emissions: moss.

Sphagnum moss

Removing trees keeps peat bogs healthy. As deer stop grazing on fledgling shoots and forestry drains and furrows are blocked, a more even surface forms, encouraging water tables to rise and bog plants to flourish. This in turn attracts insects, herptiles, mammals, and birdlife to return.

editor@bruhup

37

Because sphagnum moss absorbs carbon and stores it as deep layers of peat, it provides huge climate benefits.

Unfortunately, human activity has turned what could’ve been a faithful ally into a deadly enemy. If sphagnum moss is dried, burned, or its watery habitat drained, the carbon locked within the moss is released as a greenhouse gas. flourishes in the Flow Country and is vital in creating the peatlands themselves. The wet, cold climate of Caithness and Sutherland killed off the Ice Age forests and their remains, broken down by mosses in a waterlogged terrain, is what led to the formation of peat. This accumulation of peat has been ongoing for 10,000 years.

Sphagnum moss never fully rots but is preserved under soaking, acidic conditions alongside other vegetable debris, allowing peat bogs to deepen and expand over many years.

publishing.com

This is exactly what happened in the 1970s and 1980s, when the Government offered tax incentives to the rich and famous to plant trees in the Flow Country. Celebrity investors (Sirs Terry Wogan and Cliff Richard among them), contributed to a short-sighted scheme to make boggy land profitable.

Ultimately, the scheme failed, with the timber crop unable to thrive in such wet conditions. Once the tax incentives stopped, conservation groups were able to start repairing the extensive damage. Today, seeking World Heritage

38

status is an essential step towards the peatland’s restoration.

The Flow Country is a remarkable expanse that holds more than 400,000 hectares of blanket bog, making it the largest of its kind in Europe. While the poor forestry practises of the past would never be allowed now, the collective groups that form the Peatlands Partnership want to ensure such harmful practises never happen again. They believe that achieving World Heritage status is vital to protecting this rare patch of land which serves as a haven for wildlife and weary humans, not to mention its global significance to the climate emergency.

Sutherland. The Flow Country would be protected in the same way as the Great Barrier Reef and would become Scotland’s seventh World Heritage Site alongside the likes of St Kilda and Skara Brae.

Visitors walking the Dubhlochain trail or exploring the Forsinard Visitor Centre will quickly realise the benefits of this unique habitat, one of

World Heritage status is a matter of national honour and would confer due dignity on the ancient, watery heartland of Caithness and

editor@bruhup

39

the rarest in the world. Did you know, for example, that sphagnum moss’s antiseptic qualities made it ideal for dressing wounds during World War One? Or that the Flow Country’s blanket bog stores over three times the amount of carbon in all British woodlands? These peatlands also hold a whopping 30% of all terrestrial carbon.

But there’s a deeper, more intangible benefit. In this boggy, flat country the still skies, buzz of dragonfly and call of the curlew set the soul to rights. It’s what the Scottish Government described in a paper as a natural wonder that “makes life worth living.”

publishing.com

While other conversation projects get bogged down with planting trees, the Peatland Partnership is committed to maintaining the Flow Country’s emerald swathes of planet-saving moss. It is the most unique and extensive bog system in the world, a haven for both wildlife and humans, and one of the best allies we’ve got in saving the planet— surely World Heritage status is assured? In 2022 the Peatlands Partnership submitted an application to UNESCO and expect a decision to be reached in 2024. We’re keeping our fingers crossed!

40

Golf. It all began in Edinburgh.

The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers The Honourable Company of Edinburgh golfers, originally named gentlemen golfers of Leith, is one of the oldest golfing societies in the world founded in 1744. The group established the earliest known rules of the game, the thirteen ‘rules of golf’.

club trophy is the oldest in the golfing world.

On the 2nd of April 1744, eleven players, all from the Leith golfing society, took part in the first competition, a five-hole course on the

These were adopted without change in 1754 by the royal and ancient golf club of St Andrews – which later became the governing body for the sport in Great Britain.

They also petitioned the city officials of Edinburgh for a silver club to be awarded to the winner of an annual golf competition on Leith Links.

The prize was inspired by The City of Edinburgh when they gifted a silver arrow to The Royal Company of Archers in 1709. The silver

editor@bruhup

41

Links of Leith. They included John Rattray, Robert Biggar, James Carmichael, Richard Cockburn, William Crosse, David Dalrymple, Hew Dalrymple, James Gordon, Hon James Leslie, George Suttie, and James Veith. All the players were well-known people in Edinburgh. Several were even mentioned in a mock-heroic poem about the golfers at Leith called The Goff, written by Thomas Mathison in 1743.

John Rattray, an Edinburgh surgeon, and champion archer was the first winner and was declared the ‘Captain of the Golf’ and had a silver ball attached to the silver club inscribed with his name.

After winning the golf competition in 1744 and again in 1745, he was caught up in the Jacobite Rebellion after becoming a physician to Bonnie Prince Charlie.

He was arrested following the Battle of Culloden. He was initially released but was arrested again and held in

publishing.com

London until 1747 when he was finally freed. He was exceptionally fortunate to have escaped execution, as this was almost the inevitable fate of others who got caught. It is believed that this was thanks to the intervention of Lord Forbes of Culloden, who was a fellow member of Leith's golfers.

A bronze statue depicting the victor, John Rattray, about to begin in the firstever golf competition was made by the Scottish sculptor, David Annand. It

42

stands on the north of the Links near the bowling greens surrounded by mounds.

It took the Leith Golf Society ten years to make it happen.

Hundreds of golfers around the world contributed to the making of it. Nearby the statue stand three bronze plaques.

They show the first set of rules, the biographical details of Dr. John Rattray, and notes on the statue itself.

This first set of 13 rules, depicted on one of the plaques, was signed by Rattray himself and still exists at The National Library of Scotland, and copies of it hang in golf clubhouses all over the world.

Leith Links was a renowned gold course of 5 (later 6) holes for about 400 years, but it eventually became a formal park crowded with visitors. In 1833 the original society of Leith Golfers decided to depart to Musselburgh.

editor@bruhup

43

It was during this period that golf became increasingly popular. After much deliberation, in July 1892, The Honourable Company voted to move to Muirfield on the outskirts of Gullane in East Lothian. The decision to move was brave and far-sighted considering there was no course and no clubhouse.

However, in May 1891, the Tom Morris designed course was opened and in 1982 the grounds hosted the first 72 holes open championship.

In 1922, Harry Colt along with the past captain and twice champion at Muirfield, Robert Maxwell, re-designed the layout and for the first time in two centuries, The Honourable Company owned its golf course.

It has since been enhanced by Tom Simpson in the 1930s and refined by Martin Hawtree in 2011. The club recently (2017) accepted females to join the club and has since been an internationally admired golf course that consistently ranks among the leading courses in the world.

publishing.com

44

The East Neuk Fife’s Historical Gems King James VI of Scotland described Fife as “a beggar’s mantle fringed with gold.”

How’s that for a back-handed compliment?

Yet with its charming fishing villages, idyllic harbours, and rich cultural history, Fife’s East Neuk contains more than its fair share of treasure.

Let’s take a closer look at Anstruther, Crail, and Pittenweem, the main villages in Fife’s East Neuk (neuk being Scots for ‘nook’).

Anstruther St Monan’s, Anstruther. A lonely windmill is silhouetted against a dusky sky. Shadow swathes nearby jumbles of stone. A final gleam of sunlight

editor@bruhup

45

gilds the waves gold, and twilight settles upon the remnants of a lost industry.

The windmill and the rubble are local icons of Fife’s forgotten trade. For the East Neuk’s coastline was fringed with something more valuable than gold: salt.

Before refrigerators salt was an essential commodity used to preserve food. High demand in the Middle Ages saw salt become one of Scotland’s biggest exports.

At St Monan’s you can see the ruins of nine buildings which housed the salt pans (located on a below the windmill). The windmill provided the power necessary to pump sea water into the salt pans. The salt pans provided employment for over 50 locals, although the work was long and gruelling.

Across Fife’s coastline tonnes of

publishing.com

46

salt or ‘white gold’ was extracted from the sea.

Being a coal-rich coast made salt production a key industry of the area. Sadly, by the 1800s, cheaper salt from Spain and England forced a decline in Scottish salt production.

Now the lonely windmill and ruined pan houses at St Monan’s are fascinating remains of this once thriving industry.

Crail From white gold to silver darlings— before salt came fish as one of Scotland’s biggest exports. At the height of the Herring Boom (1907) 2,500,000 barrels of herring, nicknamed ‘silver darlings’, were exported across Europe and Russia.

Crail, nestled within the East Neuk, had always prospered thanks to the fishing industry. It’s economic importance saw Crail crowned as a Royal Burgh in 1178. This granted the right to hold markets on Sundays and led to Crail hosting one of the biggest medieval markets in Europe.

editor@bruhup

47

Look to Crail Tolbooth for the site where the markets were once held. Situated proudly in the town centre, Crail Tolbooth sports a Dutch-style roof and unusual weathervane; a haddock in place of a cockrel. Famed for shellfish, the weathervane honours Crail’s other delicacy of smoked haddock, known as ‘Crail Capon’.

Today, Crail’s characteristic harled-wall buildings, red pantile roofs, and glittering seascape provides inspiration for landscape artists and an idyllic holiday hideaway for tourists. History enthusiasts will also be charmed by Crail’s timeless cobbled streets and a history as palpable and rich as the ‘smokies’ salting the air!

Pittenweem Fife’s picturesque fishing village of Pittenweem harbours a dark history. In 1705 a local woman, Beatrice Laing, was accused of witchcraft.

Thrown in a dungeon, tortured, and starved, she was eventually released to die an outcast in nearby St Andrews.

publishing.com

48

Another, Thomas Brown, starved in the Pittenweem Tolbooth. A third, Janet Cornfoot, met a tragic and brutal end. Dragged to the shore by a mob she was swung from a rope, beaten and stoned, and finally crushed to death under a pile of rocks. To be certain of Janet’s death, her neighbour ran over her body several times with a horse and cart.

Their accuser? A 16-year-old lad named Patrick Morton who was eventually proven a liar. Neither he nor the barbaric mob were ever brought to justice. Echoes of these terrible crimes exist in the place-name ‘Witches Corner’, a communal grave where the ‘witches’ bodies were carelessly discarded.

Pittenweem’s name comes directly from the surrounding caves. The most famous of which is the sacred cave associated with St Fillan, a sixth-century monk. St Fillan’s Cave purportedly ran with holy water and was a popular stopping place for pilgrims on their way to St Andrews—it was also used by smugglers!

editor@bruhup

49

Today, tourism has joined the East Neuk’s key industries of farming and fishing. Planning a visit to Fife’s ‘beggar’s mantle’? One thing is certain: its wealth of history and lore, impressive fishing heritage, and breath-taking scenery will leave you feeling richer.

Join us on a photo tour round The East Neuk from Elie to Crail along the Fife Coastal Path.

A highly recommended route hugging the coast and visiting all the little towns and villages on the way.

publishing.com

Enter Here

50

Clan A

Fund R

Last year, Team Clan Arthur raised a magnificent £1,753 in sponsorship at the Glasgow Kiltwalk.

We received an extra £877 top up from the Hunter Foundation giving a total of £2,630 raised for the Clan Arthur Ancestral Lands Trust.

We are doing it again this year, on Sunday 30th April, and we ask you once more to dig deep and sponsor us.

Visit th Giving Pa

editor@bruhup

51

Arthur

Raising

This year we have the additional benefit of 25% Gift Aid from any UK tax payer who sponsors us.

If you live in the UK and sponsor us £1.00, we should receive £1.75.

If you live overseas and sponsor us $1.00, we should receive $1.50.

This is far too good a fund raising opportunity to miss out on.

Please visit my Just Giving page and give a little to help secure our Clan's future home . . .

he Just age Here

publishing.com

52

Podcasts

The Wittance is a fully interactive m whole variety of platforms, files and p bring you radio shows and podcasts f own ears.

This month we have Scottish and Ce original community owned station in podcasts.

We are keen to hear your voice too, would like to push out to the wider S will be delighted to feature and prom

editor@bruhup

Listen

editor@bruhup

s & Radio

magazine which allows us to access a playout options. This means we can from Scotland right to your very

eltic music from Heartland FM, the n Scotland and two spoken word

if you have recorded material you Scottish world please get in touch, we mote it a future edition.

publishing.com

n Here

publishing.com

53

54

Scottish International Time Zones Sandford Fleming was born in Kirkaldy, Fife in 1827 and emigrated to Canada at the age of 18 where he worked as an engineer, surveyor, cartologist and an inventor. His most revolutionary idea was brought about through missing a train in Ireland due to a misprint in a timetable which used listed a departure as p.m rather than a.m. Fleming later proposed a 24 hour clock to be used throughout the world, in 1879 it was linked to the antimeridian of Greenwich.

His proposal was that there was a single world time but time zones could be used on a more local level. He called this Cosmic Time. His view of a Universal Time was adopted in 1884 but it was felt that setting local times was outside his remit. As we are now aware all countries of the world have adopted the Time Zone principal but it took another 45 years until 1929 that this was implemented globally.

Sandford surveyed large areas of Canada producing maps through his work as an engineer designing and constructing the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Intercontinental Railway. He also designed Canada’s first postage stamp, the Threepenny Beaver.

editor@bruhup

55

h Firsts The Bank Overdraft The Royal Bank of Scotland was set up in 1727 through the desire of the Equivalent Company wanting to move into banking. This company had been set up by investors to protect the compensation they had received as part of the 1707 Act of Union with England. The British Government granted a Royal Charter to the company as it felt the existing Bank of Scotland held Jacobite sympathies.

In 1728 William Hogg, a merchant in the High Street of Edinburgh needed access to more funds than were available in his account to allow purchase of goods he already had sales for.

The Royal Bank agreed to allow him to withdraw £1,000 (£140,000 today) from his account thereby creating the overdraft. This facility was seen to be an innovation in the banking world and has continued as a common practice across the world.

publishing.com

56

Mountains Mend Minds

By Ross Cunningham

Join Ross as he walks around some of the glens, hills and mountains in Perthshire explaining the meaning of their Gaelic names. This opens a new perspective for us as the names give an insight into the lives, culture and land usage in highland areas in times past.

Simple descriptions detailing the colour of small burns or the shape of a hill to the more exotic links to a supernatural being controlling the weather give us the ability to better understand our forefathers, their way of thinking, how they navigated across the country and how the land was viewed through their eyes.

editor@bruhup

publishing.com

57

58

Interna Highland Game May

editor@bruhup

ational es & Gatherings 2023

publishing.com

59

60

editor@bruhup

publishing.com

61

Alma Highland Games