Episode 2 Santer

Hello and welcome to Santer.

Coming up on the programme: Kirsty Jess and her lovely dog, Buddy,

take on the Dog Agility Challenge - and I ha' a go mysel'.

Go on, go!

Go on! Out!

Leslie Morrow looks back at a film

made about his twa uncles in the Glens.

Mark Wilson follows the fiddle trail to Cape Breton.

The largest fiddle in the world was erected here in Sydney

in recognition to the thousands of fiddle-players

who contributed so much to the music of Cape Breton.

I find out how the decline of the fishing industry in Portavogie

has affected the Ulster-Scots language.

They're going to different jobs - they're having to try to be

understood more and changing their language.

But before all that, what about a wee thin of music

and chat from the Low Country Boys?

# A wee bit ragit laddie goes wandering through the street

# He's wading 'mong the snow with his wee hacked feet

# He's shivering in the cold blast and greetin' wi' the pain

# Oh, who's the poor wean calling? He's a drunkard's ragit wean... #

We were playing in the early years -

there were four of us

whenever Mark and Graeme were with us.

The four of us were getting up onto the stage

and this ol' boy was compere.

And he ducked his head round and he said, "Hey, boy, what's you boys' name?"

And we said, "We're just four boys from the Low Country."

And he went out to the front of the hall and then he said,

"Well, put your hands together now for the Low Country Boys!"

So that's how it stuck.

# ..And try to get him back again to act a father's part... #

The Low Country's from... Well, I suppose you may say,

Greyabbey across to Millisle really, or Ballywalter

richt down here, richt down to this side of Portaferry, you know?

If you looked at it on a map,

the top end of the Peninsula is high and the bottom end's high

and the middle bit is actually low.

In days gone by, down there, Kircubbin,

the water on the far side of Kircubbin, Gransha,

the water come away in at the Saltwater Brig, all the way inland at high tide -

you'd ha' thought it was an island. Hence "Low Country".

# Oh, see the wee bit bairnie His heart is unco full

# The sleet is blain' caul and he's draikie through and through... #

I would say around a third of our songs would be Ulster-Scots.

Gibson and I will split and Richard sings some as well.

Some folk maybe would find it hard to understand but,

some of the songs we sing, the description of the words puts the message across...

How would you describe it? ..in an easier form -

it's easier to understand, you know - it's more graphic.

# But, oh, his mother's gone

# And there's no-one to guide the bairn, the drunkard's ragit wean... #

You know, "The drunkard's ragit wean", instead of saying

'My child or my father's a drunk,' this is about an aul fella who

comes in full every night and the wee fella's runnin' the streets,

runnin' about with aucht on him

and his feet blistered and full o' hacks an' that,

runnin' through the snow.

Well that's life, that does happen, but this is just in the Ulster-Scots,

makes it mair graphic, it's easy to understand, I think, you know.

And is the Ulster-Scots important to you as well?

I didn't understand a word of it!

THEY LAUGH

Could somebody tell me what he just said?

# And try to get him back again to act a father's part

# And mak him lay the drunkard's cup and never taste again

# Oh, cherish with a parent's care, his poor wee ragit wean. #

I'm not saying it's like learning a new language but it's interesting

hearing words like 'sheugh' where they came from.

And, what was it, a certain amount of scunneration here!

I'd never heard before.

It's a very expressive tongue

and it's good fun listening to these boys.

# And try to get him back again to act a father's part

# And mak him lay the drunkard's cup and never taste again

# And cherish wi' a parent's care, his poor wee ragit wean. #

Here we ha' a gorgeous dog, Buddy,

wi' his owner and handler, of course, Kirsty,

and there's a whole rig of obstacles out here on this course.

An agility course today.

And Buddy's going to show us

-how it's done, isn't he?

-He is, hopefully.

Dog agility is a growing sport wi' a number of clubs running shows in Northern Ireland.

There's now a good number of handlers and dogs haulin' their ain on a national level.

Kirsty and Buddy are members of Castlereagh and District Training Club.

Whenever you're training a dog, the dog goes on your voice -

your verbal commands and your body language.

So whenever you're doing like this,

you'll turn your shoulder where you want the dog to go.

An example would be the tunnel - go through, through, through.

Good boy!

How did you get intae all this?

I started when I was nine with my pet Labrador,

came to the local dog club, Castlereagh Club,

and worked my way up the ranks - started in the Beginner Class

and now I'm a trainer and Secretary.

Round, round, go, go, go, go!

So this is just called 'The Weaves' then?

This is the Weaves, yes. Go! Weave! Go, weave! Go on!

-Weave, weave, weave! Yeah! Good boy!

-Great.

Whenever you start training your dog,

what sort of time are you aiming for to hae it trained-in and good?

Well you can start competing in Agility about a year-and-a-half -

so there'd be 18 months before you compete

but they can start training a lot younger than that.

What sort of wee things do you do?

I do all sorts of wee tricks and treats. So Buddy? Can you sit?

Go high-five? Lie down, lie.

Back. Bend.

Go right, left. Sit.

Good lad. Legs, legs, legs.

Can you go heel? Heel? Legs? Good lad.

See-saw! See-saw!

Kirsty, you wouldnae need to be worried about muck and dirt?

It's definitely not glamorous - the uniform is tracksuit bottoms!

It's not like nice dresses or anything.

I see you got the wee flag here on your sleeve - the Ulster flag?

I do, yes, I'm representing Northern Ireland.

So I've represented Northern Ireland at Crufts a few times

-with my other dog.

-Oh! Did you win anything there?

I came sixth overall, sixth in the world,

so it was quite good,

good fun and Crufts is always nice - nice atmosphere, prestigious event.

Well, I'll tell you what - I'll bring my pup up

-and you can train it for me.

-OK.

Ronnie, you're very passionate about this dog agility sport. How long hae ye been at it?

Well, I've been at it for more than 20 years

and it's a great way of getting exercise.

I hae to say some of the dogs we've seen the day are brilliant -

and their handlers of course. It's great.

-Well I'll get a dog now and you can have a go.

-Right!

-Come, come, come on.

-Come on, through.

-Yeeeoh!

-Turn.

-Turn through.

-Point over this jump!

-Point to the next jump which is over there.

-Over there!

Go on, go! Go, go. Out!

Tweed, Tweed, go on!

Through, through, through! Through, through, here!

Over, here, round! Here, Tweed - over.

Weave, weave, weave, weave, weave, weave, weave, weave, weave!

Here - see-saw.

-Good boy!

-Well done, well done!

-Well, Kirsty?

-That was very good!

-Not as easy as it looks, is it?

It's not. Well done, it's hard to run someone else's dog.

So you're representing Northern Ireland at the World Championships in Belgium?

I am indeed. It's in May this year and it's in Belgium, as you said,

so we're going over there. So it should be good fun.

-There's about 12 of us on the team.

-Right. Think there's any chance I might be on the team?

You never know, we might do a bit of training, we'll see!

Last time on Santer, Mark Wilson was in Donegal,

following the fiddle style

that made its way through Ulster from Scotland.

Now he stays on that fiddle trail, ower the Atlantic to Canada.

My journey which started in Ulster, in Donegal,

has brought me across the Atlantic to Canada,

to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and the town of Sydney.

Now the Ulster-Scots migration to America is well-known

and well-documented.

But there were thousands of Ulster-Scots families

who came here to what would become known as Canada,

through ports like this - Sydney in Nova Scotia.

But why come here?

Firstly, the cost of the boat passage was half of that to Boston.

And secondly, land here was being given away free -

200 acres to the head of every family

and a further 50 acres to every other family member.

So for an Ulster-Scots family,

coming here became a very attractive proposition.

And if they brought their families, their culture and their traditions,

they would also bring with them their music.

PIPES PLAY

The largest fiddle in the world, the ceilidh fiddle,

was erected here in the harbour in Sydney,

in recognition to the thousands of fiddle-players who contributed

so much to the music of Cape Breton and Nova Scotia.

Those fiddle players came from Scotland

and of course they came from Ulster as well,

where the styles are very similar to the style

that would become Cape Breton music.

And in Cape Breton, where you had fiddle-music, you also had pipes.

TRADITIONAL MUSIC PLAYS

Cape Breton music has its origins in Scottish traditional music.

Early in the day, I guess, the fiddle and the pipes

were the main instruments here in Cape Breton when people came over

and I know a lot of the really old-style pipers,

from the 1800s onwards,

they're also fiddlers so they had both instruments under their arm.

TRADITIONAL MUSIC PLAYS

Just as in Scotland and Ireland, the fiddle, the pipes and dance

would become inseparable - but here that dance was more free-form.

That would become known as Nova Scotian Step Dance.

MUSIC

There's a lot more dance players, I guess, around here.

So, yeah, it links up with the step-dancing and I suppose

that's what's more unique about what we do because playing square dances,

you're playing for step-dancers, you want to, you know,

-the pretty step-dancers on the floor...

-Are they always pretty?

Not always! But if you can deliver what they like,

they like to dance to a certain kind of music

and I think that is where the drive comes from.

We take a lot of pride getting the good dancers on the floor, you know?

And it takes a certain blast to get those good guys up

and get a good crowd on the floor for a square set.

MUSIC

When people first came over, the entertainment was music

and we both grew up in families where music

was integral to the pastime.

If you're around it all the time, you don't know anything else

so you end up carrying on the same traditions.

But people here would be aware of that music and where it came from?

-Of its roots back in Ulster and in Scotland again?

-Oh, for sure yeah.

We're very much aware that our music

has kind of travelled over the ocean, indeed.

I've always known about the contribution of Scottish music

to Cape Breton music but I never made the connection

of the Scots who had moved through Ulster and then on to Cape Breton.

But it's inconceivable to think that if so many of them had went to

Ulster first of all, and then moved to Cape Breton,

they didn't bring their music, their dance and their culture. Of course they did!

And hopefully I'm going to find more examples of that as I travel on

further through Nova Scotia and back down to Halifax

and the United States.

Going round the country,

I have had the privilege of interviewing a few people,

and one of the most memorable interviews

was a man called Johnny Aykison.

That's Atkinson now to his proper name,

but that's all we ever called him - Johnny Aykison.

And Johnny was in his 80s

and I said, "How are you keeping, Johnny?" "I'm not doing so well.

"I was in the hospital and they put a camera down me throat".

I said, "What was that like?" "Och, it was great", he said.

"There was a wee nurse there, 22". Now Johnny is well into his 80s.

"And her and me just clicked," he says.

"We just got on like a house on fire". I says, "Is that right?"

And she says, "Are you married Johnny?" He says, "I'm not married.

"But I was married, I'm a widower".

"And had you any weans, Johnny?"

"Aye," he says, "we had eight weans".

"Oh," she says, "Eight - that's far too many. Two would do me lovely.

"Johnny, could you not get a hobby in the evening to occupy yourself?"

And Johnny says, "Darlin', thon was my hobby."

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

Back in the middle of the '90s, there was a film about twa brothers

that lived in a farm in The Glens.

You might have heard of it. The film was called Us Boys.

Bith the men were bachelors and they were uncles of our good friend, Leslie Morrow.

Now and again, Leslie likes to take the film out and look at it -

and over the next twa or three weeks,

we're going to look at bits of it wi' him.

I think you might enjoy this.

This is a film about two uncles of mine,

was made about the two boys about 15 years ago and it's called 'Us Boys'.

And it's a film that we pull out now and again and stick it on

cos there's a lot of memories caught up in that film

and a lot of history in it.

My Uncle Stewart and Uncle Ernie,

a pair of characters in their own right.

Wild men for a ceilidh and a bit of craic.

These pair of boys lived, kind of up on the hill behind Glenarm village

The pair of boys lived together - they never married or anything.

They were just like husband and wife themselves, kind of thing.

They were happy enough.

Stewart buttered the bread, spread the table,

Ernie could eat everything that he put on it.

The buildings is the right thing. They never changed very much.

These two boys were quite happy living up in here.

You'll see the sort of setting here, it's no' great the day,

it's kind of overcast there a wee bit.

But when you're down here on a nice sunny day

and you stand at the bottom of the yard and looking left,

you're looking down over Glenarm village and out to sea.

Ernie was a great boy for going through the papers

and reading horses' forms - but he didn't go by their forms.

Maybe if there was a horse called Running Bob

and he knew a story about some old man, Bob, up in the countryside

that he'd heard that morning, he'd say, "That horse is sure to come in".

He'd ha' wrote it down and the radio was on and he'd sit

and he was second to none at picking horses!

Well they're my uncles and aye,

they're special enough just in their way of going.

No' just to me - the rest of my family, my brothers

and my da, these boys' brothers and all. There's something about them.

Wasn't that quare footage? And we'll hae more from Us Boys next week.

COCKEREL CROWS

Here we are in Portavogie, Nicky, and I know that Portavogie's

known for its fishing industry. It's not as busy here the nicht

as it probably would have been a lot of years ago.

No, well, I mind, as a wee boy, you know, from that

side of the harbour there, you could have walked right across the boats

to this side, and then probably right across into the market there.

There was that many boats, they were jam-packed.

So do you think with the fishing industry dropping away, that hairmed the language?

Very much so. I mind as wee boy standing here,

even wi' coming down on a Saturday morning with me da,

and the oul boys would have been standing maybe all along there

and right across, mending nets and stuff,

and they just yarned away. They didnae care

who could understand them or who couldnae.

They talked away the same.

They would have been at the fishing maybe for a full week

with their family - their family had been on the boat, their da, uncle -

and the language would have been there 24/7.

And now they're going to different jobs,

they're having to try to be understood more,

and changing their language.

-You know whose boat this is, Robbie, don't you?

-Yes, definitely.

-Whose is it?

-My dad and my granddad's.

-And who else is on it?

-My uncle too, Christopher.

-They're all fishin'.

-Yeah.

-Do you think you're going to be a fisherman?

-I'm not so sure yet.

-Well, do you ever go out on the boat with your Daddy?

-All the time.

-Do you? What's your job on it?

I clean the wheelhouse out and I get paid a fiver a week

and it is in a big state right now.

-There's my uncle there on the boat.

-It is not! Is your da there at all?

Yes, I can see him right there.

Well, sure, we'll gi' him a wave and see if he sees us.

Yoohoo!

Here we are with three generations of the one family

that's all in the fishing business -

no, all but one in the fishing business.

And of course we hae Jim and his son Mark

and Marks's son, Robbie.

And, Robbie, there's a certain way

-to lift a prawn, you know how, don't you?

-Yeah.

-Would you like to show me?

-You grab it by the sides.

-Lovely.

-Do you want to lift one?

-No, thank you, no.

So, Mark, you do this, and so does your da. How many mair do it?

Well, I'm the sixth generation at the fishing, aye.

-How about Robbie, do you think he'll ever do it?

-He would be the seventh but he won't be.

-He will not be doing it - sure you won't, Rob?

-I hope so!

No, you won't! No!

You're standing here, it's quiet and you see all these doors shut -

you were saying earlier that a while ago they would all have been open

and by now there'd been...

I mind being at school and coming down getting a summer job,

or working at nights and most all them doors would have been open

and the boats would have been up there landing, even boats waiting to come in

to land fish, to land prawns, whatever was going.

I mean, times were good.

There's your grandson working.

Had you your son out on the boat whenever you were on it at this age?

-Aye.

-Did he shovel prawns?

-Aye!

-How long have you been doing it?

-48 year.

-48 years?

-Started when I was 14.

-And do you like it?

-I used to like it. I don't like it as much now!

And your da before you and your grandfather?

I'm the fifth generation, Mark will be the sixth.

When they started at first, my great-grandfather started with sail,

-they'd no engines.

-I suppose they all talked in one tongue at that time,

-and could understand one another?

-Oh, aye.

So do you think now, like Nicky said earlier on,

maybe Ulster-Scots language is getting lost - you hae to make yourself understood

-to different folk coming in?

-Aye, definitely is.

Used to be the oul fellas had a language, as you say, of their ain,

and it was all different but now it's sort of lost its dialect.

Even if it's not as busy as it was years ago, Nicky,

-do you think there's still pride about fishing in Portavogie?

-Definitely.

Villagers are strange people in a way because they stick to their ain

and they're always proud of where they come from, basically.

I hanae met a villager yet that's no' proud of where he's come from.

And of course they're powerful proud of Portavogie prawns.

Portavogie prawns and Portavogie football team

and anything that's related to Portavogie, they're very proud of,

and rightly so.

Well, that's it for another show.

We're going to leave you with a song from Alice Cartmill called Love And Freedom.

So to the next time, cheerio.

# As I cam ower Strathmartine Mains

# Wha dae ye think I seen?

# But a braw young piper laddie

# Cam a-linkin ower the green

# Singing hey daughter, ho daughter, Dirrum-a-doo-a-day.

# Singing hey daughter, ho daughter, Dirrum-a-doo-a-day.

# He played a reel and he played a jig

# He played a sweet strathspey

# He roused my hairt 'til the beat skipped time

# Til the tappin' o' ma tae. Singing hey daughter, ho daughter,

# Dirrum-a-doo-a-day. Singing hey daughter, ho daughter,

# Dirrum-a-doo-a-day.

# Well I've nae gowd tae offer ye, I hae but little gear

# But we'll hae love and freedom Can ye follow me my dear

# Singing hey daughter, ho daughter, Dirrum-a-doo-a-day.

# Singing hey daughter, ho daughter, Dirrum-a-doo-a-day... #

# ..There's gowd in the broom o' the Sidlaw Hills

# Honey in the heather sweet A speckled trout in the tarn

# A cairpet 'neath oor feet

# Singing hey daughter, ho daughter, Dirrum-a-doo-a-day.

# Singing hey daughter, ho daughter, Dirrum-a-doo-a-day

# He blew up his chanter

# An' it's sic a spig he plays So I chose love and freedom

# To wander all my days

# Singing hey daughter, ho daughter, Dirrum-a-doo-a-day

# Singing hey daughter, ho daughter, Dirrum-a-doo-a-day

# Singing hey daughter, ho daughter, Dirrum-a-doo-a-day

# Singing hey daughter, ho daughter, Dirrum-a-doo-a-day. #

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd