Category: Research

North Uist resident Cathie Laing talks to Island Voices co-ordinator and fellow Aire air Sunnd participant, Gordon Wells. As with other longer conversations we’ve recorded, we’ve divided this one into two halves initially, which we present first unfiltered and unsubtitled.

For the benefit of learners or non-speakers of Gaelic we’ve also cut these recordings up into smaller chunks, complemented with Clilstore transcripts and optional subtitles (which are auto-translatable into multiple languages), following the same practice adopted for Paul McCallum and James MacLetchie.

In Part 1A Cathie explains how she can trace her ancestors back as far as 1715 through the oral history kept alive in her family tradition. Her great-grandmother had vivid tales of Bonnie Dundee and it was her grandfather who introduced her to historical figures such as Seumas a’ Ghlinne (James Stewart of the Glen) in a home without books. With Perthshire antecedents, Cathie was actually born in Ross-shire into a travelling family. When she started school she was obliged to attend for a minimum of 100 days in the year. As soon as that time was up the family would hit the road, usually around April. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12571)

In Part 1B Cathie relates how the family would travel around the Highlands by horse and cart. Her father would break horses in for forestry work, and pony trekking was also popular. But with the advent of tractors horses became less plentiful, so in the mid-fifties the family started coming to Uist, which was known for good horses. She explains the different methods of transporting horses across by boat from Berneray and Eriskay, before walking them to Lochmaddy. Horse boxes came later. To an eight year-old girl it seemed a free and healthy lifestyle. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12572)

In Part 1C Cathie starts to talk about her schooldays, which would begin around October when she would have some catching up to do. Over the years the periods of travelling shortened as her father recognised that way of life was passing. Age restrictions meant Cathie couldn’t go into nursing, her preferred option, on leaving school, so she got an office job instead, until marrying Alasdair, whom she met in Uist. She didn’t find Uist Gaelic particularly difficult or different in comparison with her own. In fact she liked to hear the different varieties in each of the islands. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12573)

In Part 1D Cathie describes how her father worked and saved so they could move from their big winter tent into a house in Beauly, where she attended school. Even after starting work she would still need to go travelling over the summer. She enjoyed her office job, and appreciated that her employer was not concerned about paper qualifications. It was nerve-racking for her to ask for time off to travel, but they came to an amicable agreement. She lived in different worlds and different languages including English, Gaelic, and Scots. Settled in Uist for more than 50 years, she can still remember some words of Beurla Reagaird, the travelling people’s “cover tongue”. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12574)

In Part 2A Cathie recalls having an inspiring teacher at school who took a positive interest in her detailed knowledge of her family tree, and encouraged her to take up reading at home. Cathie notes how she passed this passion on to her own children and grandchildren, and views their success as a legacy from this teacher. In her own reading she came to notice sometimes troubling discrepancies between written histories about travelling people and her knowledge of the oral tradition. She is still an avid reader in both English and Gaelic, particularly of Carmina Gadelica which contains contributions from her great-grandfather and great-great-grandmother. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12575)

In Part 2B Cathie talks about her love of music and songs, which she was able to explore more deeply on retirement when she followed a course in Gaelic language and music at the college in Benbecula. Though not an instrumentalist herself, she appreciated the opportunity to research the stories behind some of her favourite songs. She retells in detail the life-story of Catherine Maclean and her various marriages and children in the time of Mary of Guise, as referred to in the song of Seathan Mac Righ Èireann. She remains enthralled by the stories that are captured in such songs. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12576)

In Part 2C Cathie moves on to talk about her memories of how things were when she first came to live in Uist. Almost without exception, everyone spoke Gaelic, and she felt at home with the way of life, hearing the same language, stories and songs with which she was already familiar. She recalls how her grandfather had used to sing a particular song to her in her childhood, a song which he placed in Iochdar, though to her knowledge he had rarely if ever visited Uist. She was delighted many years later, when doing a home visit in Iochdar, to find out that the lady she was calling on could point her to the exact spot where the tale told in the song took place. “Every stone has a story!” (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12577)

In Part 2D Cathie expands on the placename theme, referring to various key locations near her home which have or had particular names that captured something of their history and significance. Linking this to the common practice of sloinntearachd – identifying community members through their genealogy – Cathie and Gordon conclude their conversation by uncovering some previously unknown mutual acquaintances and family connections, which were often disrupted by the large scale emigration from Uist of earlier generations. (Clilstore unit: https://multidict.net/cs/12578)