Friday 2nd July 2021
Page 8
THE SCOTTISH HIGHLAND CLEARANCES
Our June meeting was held at the Darfield Recreation Centre and had an excellent attendance. The early Winter Competition was won by Margaret Seaton, Seaton followed closely in second place, by Georgie Eaves. Eaves Flowers and shrubs are special at this time of year, due to the cooler and wet season. Our guest speaker was Allan Desquitado, Desquitado an educator from the Arthritis Society, he amazed us with statistics and gave us an interesting talk on arthritis and gardening. We were encouraged to enjoy our gardening, even with some modifications needed at times, such as pacing, planning, prioritising and posture. Next month’s Garden Club meeting will be held at the Darfield Recreation Centre on July 20th and will include plant identification with members being encouraged to bring along their best-loved tips and ideas to share. Upcoming events will include an early Spring Flowers Competition and the Floral Art Competition, which will have a theme of ‘Rapt with Nature’. Lee Stokes.
U3A Malvern was very fortunate to have local Martin Sutherland as the speaker at their June meeting. Martin grew up in Darfield attending both Darfield Primary and High School. He first asked for a show of hands as to who had Scottish ancestors. The majority of people raised their hands, an illustration of just how prevalent emigration from Scotland over the years has been. Martin highlighted the disparity between the crofts and the landowners, the example shown was his family crofts and the Castle of the Sutherlands. This graphically illustrated the inequity within the Highlands. He quoted Robert Matheson, Matheson “The clearances dispossessed a people, expelled them to totally inadequate sites and condemned them to misery and disease.” Martin detailed the reasons for the clearances. The Highland clearances were the coerced movement of Scottish Highland populations from traditional
rural communities. There was a clash of cultures, increasing English influence, population increase too great to be sustained in the harsh Highlands, innovation and wars, these all contributed to the clearances. The mass movement 1760 – 1803 at first was voluntary, whole families moving to look for a better and more sustainable life. 1790 – 1830 saw forced relocation and the burning of crofts by landowners. Landowners no longer needing the crofters, wanting to farm the land themselves. Many of these displaced crofters emigrated to Canada. 1790 – 1830 emigration was forced and encouraged with landowners paying for crofters to emigrate, often with an agreement that when they landed in the new country, they had no claim on land in Scotland. A very interesting point Martin made was the dislocation of those who moved from their land which had been farmed
for generations by their family. With the colonisation of New Zealand, Maori felt just as dislocated. In July we welcome Lance Jennings a virologist, his topic is ‘The Global pandemic: What are the lessons’. Ruth Warren, on behalf of Malvern U3A.
Martin Sutherland addresses U3A Malvern.
