April 2023
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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
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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
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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.
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Scots Satellites
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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
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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.
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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
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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,
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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