Episode 5 Santer

On this week's programme, myself and young Adam try our hand at fishing.

You're cloddin' her rightly!

I call it throwing, Anne. Not cloddin'!

Andy Mattison finds out

the importance of a surname at Hanna's Close.

This place is called Hanna's Close

and, of course, you had to be a Hanna to live in Hanna's Close. Why?

Mark Wilson's musical journey

continues at the Cowal Gathering in Dunoon.

This is something that's in the blood of the Ulster-Scots.

It's there for centuries.

And Wilson Burgess falls in with a wheen o' men from the north coast

that make the trip to the Somme brave and often.

There's 959 cemeteries.

So when we take people out to try and find their graves,

it's an enormous task.

But just before all that,

here's Scad The Beggar with a tune on the fife and the dulcimer.

The South Antrim Fishing Festival

was held for the first time this year,

and opportunities were provided for novices,

both young and old, to try their hand at angling.

-So, Adam, are you from the Glynn near Larne?

-Aye.

-And what age are you?

-Em, 11.

-You recently took up fishing?

-Yeah. I haven't been doing that much, though.

Did I hear right that you haven't caught many fish yet?

-No, I haven't caught any.

-Have you not?

We're here today at Tildarg Fishery

and I've brought a friend of mine along to see if he could

maybe teach the both of us how to catch at least one fish

-before we go home.

-Aye, let's hope so.

-Would you half it with me if you caught one?

-Aye. Would you half it with me if you got one?

I will, I promise.

Well, Adam, do you fish with baits or flies or...?

-Fly and baits.

-And worms?

-Aye, worms.

Do you use any of these flies?

-No.

-These are all for this type of fishing.

-You fish the river, don't you?

-Aye.

Yes, the fly we're going to use now is this - cat's whisker.

One, two, three. One, two, three.

One, two, three.

-That's a boy. You're getting the hang of it now, Adam.

-I know.

You'll catch a fish shortly.

Walking down here, I was looking at you and looking at myself

and I don't think I'm geared up for this fishing at all.

HE LAUGHS

Anne, they're not fishing wellies - they're stepping-out wellies.

They're Ascot wellies, Anne.

-How are you getting on, Adam?

-Eh, well.

-Are you getting on well?

-Aye.

-Good boy, just keep at it.

-Aye.

You're cloddin' her rightly!

I call it throwing, Anne. not cloddin'!

-Here, Anne. Try that there.

-With my gloves?

-No, Anne.

You need them gloves off. How can you feel? Give me them things.

Sorry, Nigel.

-You're doing not too bad.

-I think so.

You'd make a good fisherwoman.

So, we just stand here then, really? You just stand and wait?

Aye, more or less, Anne.

-But that's no use! You need to keep working those flies.

-Oh, you've got to keep doing it?

That's it. A figure of eight, just round and round.

You see the eight, Adam?

Why do you not just have to pull it up in your hand?

Well, you can just loop it. Every angler will tell you -

it's a figure of eight.

One, two, three.

One, two, three. That's it, Anne. Hey!

THEY LAUGH

First class!

One, two, three. That's it.

Look at that! Straight.

Nigel, I've caught one. What will I do now?

-What is that?

-That's a rainbow.

-A rainbow trout?

-He'll be all right then after that?

-Aye.

-You just put him back in?

-Aye, you return it.

Wild brown trout and salmon, you return them.

And there he is, back in the water as good as new.

One, two, three. One, two, three.

But, you know, to me sometimes it's a wild long day for nothing

-if your trophy's just maybe one fish, a wee brown trout or something.

-That's right.

Although it's quere packing and I must say there's nothing wrong with a trout.

Oh, it's a great pastime and a trout's nice to eat.

I've got one!

Just reel it up nice and easy, Adam. Go on, go on.

-Oh, is this another one, is it? A rainbow trout?

-Yeah.

Right, I'll go and net it for you here.

-Go on!

-That's it. Come on, Adam.

-Reel it in, harder.

-Oh!

What is it, Nigel? What's gone wrong?

-The fish has took his fly.

-Were we too slow, I wonder?

Need another bit of teaching from Nigel, I think.

It's away with your fly, Anne. Look.

So, Adam, all the fishing you did, you never caught a fish before,

and the one you did catch ate the fly and is away.

-Stupid fish!

-Are you scunnered with fishing or will you stick at it?

-Aye, I'm going to stay at it.

-Good.

-Good boy.

-Try and try again.

-So, I'm going to have to go to the fish-man to get a bit of fish for my tea.

-I think you'll maybe carry on without me, eh?

-Aye.

-Well, Adam, will we stay and fish on?

-Yup.

-Good boy.

-Enjoy yourselves.

-Right, Adam, let's go.

-Aye.

In this series, we have been looking at how a word in English

can have two or three different meanings in Ulster-Scots.

This week, Liam Logan and Gary Blair take a look at the word "one".

One of my favourite words in Ulster-Scots is "yin" -

the equivalent of "one".

-And it would be used quite often as a number.

-Aye.

But you'd occasionally use it as a concept.

-You'd say, "Oh, boy, thon was a big yin."

-Aye.

-And that would be something extraordinary.

-Really big news.

-Big news.

-Or you could "tell a big yin."

-Which would be a big lie.

-Aye.

-Which you wouldn't do ever, Gary, now?

-Oh, no.

If I was to say I never did, that would be a big yin in itself.

They tell a story up our country

about two American airmen that were over here during the war.

And they were out on a training mission

and they got lost in the fog in bad weather

and eventually they ran out of fuel and they had to put the plane down.

They didn't know where they were,

they didn't know what country they were in, nothing.

And they saw a boy fishing, and one American says to the other boy,

he says, "I'll go down and engage him in conversation," he says.

"And when I have a word with him," he says, "I'll be able

"to determine where we are by the way he responds to my conversation."

So he wandered down to the boy and he says, "Have you caught any?"

And the wee fella looked at him and he says, "Yin young yin."

He climbed back up the mountain to his mate and says,

"My God, we're in trouble.

"We have landed in China."

HE LAUGHS

Mark Wilson's brave

and well into his musical journey now across Scotland.

We'll take up with him this week where he's heading north to Dunoon.

My musical journey which started in Carlisle

took me through the Border region to Portpatrick.

Now I've turned north up the Ayrshire coastline

towards Greenock, to catch this ferry to Dunoon.

This wee journey takes me back in time.

Back to some very happy memories when, on the last weekend in August,

myself and hundreds of Ulster-Scots like me

crossed this little bit of the Firth of Clyde

heading for the town of Dunoon on the Cowal Peninsula

to the famous Cowal Games.

And they're still going today.

BAGPIPES

While the Lowland Pipes may have provided some of the original music of the Ulster-Scots,

today the most favoured and famous instrument of the Ulster-Scots

is the Great Highland Bagpipe.

But this association with the bagpipe in Ulster is nothing new.

It goes back centuries. Back even before the Plantation of Ulster.

All the top solo pipers here in Scotland trace their piping ancestry

back to the famous McCrimmon Family from the Isle of Skye.

But the McCrimmons came to Ireland - and more specifically Ulster -

to learn music.

This is something that's in the blood of the Ulster-Scots.

It's there for centuries.

And it's here at the famous Cowal Gathering in Dunoon, Scotland,

that on the last Saturday in August

hundreds of Ulster-Scots come across to take part in the solo piping,

the drum majoring and the pipe band competitions.

Bradley, you're one of the top young competitors at Cowal.

And I've my drum with me. Would there be any chance

-of you maybe playing a wee tune with me?

-Yeah, definitely.

What tune would you like to play?

Em, The Fiddler's Rally?

Ah, a great Gordon Walker tune - a jig, nice and fast and up-tempo.

-Yeah.

-Right.

We'll see if we can maybe find somewhere a wee bit quieter than this

in case anybody hears me. BRADLEY LAUGHS

Bradley Parker, you're 14-years-old, you're from Portavogie.

You have won the Cowal Championship here for your age group

for the last three years.

That in itself is a phenomenal feat. But what does that mean to you?

It's great because there's a lot of great players, like,

I'm up against, and winning's...

It's hard to win over here,

so it is, because everyone's just really good.

What sort of practice regime do you have?

Every day, I just go over the stuff I need to do

and then if I'm going to a gig anywhere, I'll just practise the fancy stuff that night.

But I'll keep doing the solo stuff usually about an hour,

an hour or two a day.

Of all the pieces you do, I know you do the Ceol Mor, you do the Pibroch,

which is your favourite between the two?

Probably the Pibroch. It just relaxes you more.

Lots of people that I know, Bradley -

and I mean even lots of pipers that I know - don't like Pibroch.

They say, you know, "Oh, it's boring, it's too slow."

What do you like about it?

I don't know. Just to bring out the music in the tunes.

-Just makes it far more enjoyable to play.

-Because you can interpret some of the Pibrochs

to your own personality, and that's what's coming out in that?

Yeah. It's probably different for every Pibroch.

And Bradley, having won the Juvenile Championships

this last three years in a row, they've now moved you out of that,

even though you're still only 14, you've moved into the Senior Grade.

What's it like competing against adults much older than you?

It's tougher, but whenever - if you get a prize, it feels better

because you've played against these big players.

It tells you how much you need to improve to keep up with them.

Because eventually you're going to be right at the very, very top

of that very top adult grade.

That would be... Hopefully, one day. Hopefully.

We'll be back with Mark in a while at the Cowal Gathering

to see how the Ulster-Scots folk fared at the competition.

Just outside Kilkeel,

there's a clachan of cottages called Hanna's Close.

And there's a fascinating history attached to them,

as Andy Mattison finds out.

The Hannas left the Sorbie area in Scotland

in the early 17th century, you know, around 1608-1609.

Why do they end up here, why do they come to Hanna's Close here just outside Kilkeel?

They were under pressures both from a religious point of view

and political point of view in Scotland and...

Whether they had to get out, I don't know, but they arrived here.

And, obviously, they were used to being under threat

because the way they built their houses here...

In fact, you can see, as they did in the Westerns,

that they circled the wagons for their own protection.

And we can clearly see, Arthur, the close laid-out.

It is really in a circle as you follow these houses up round.

And we're looking at Tommy's House. It's a typical example.

You can see the whole defensive manufacture of the house.

Doors and large windows facing into the close.

And if you go round the back, you'll find small windows

that a man of your substantial build

-would have great difficulty in getting into.

-No offence! THEY LAUGH

Well, you have your thatch

and you have a wee bit of slate as well, as it would have been - mixed.

Scots in Ulster loved building with stone and slate

as it was more difficult to burn your house down if it was made of slate.

Now, Arthur, this place is called Hanna's Close

and, of course, you had to be a Hanna to live in Hanna's Close. Why?

Well, I think that the whole issue reverts back to the heritage,

the Scottish heritage

because the clan system was bringing families together in Scotland

and they just practised that when they came over here.

It was part of the Ulster-Scots heritage

that they brought with them.

So, Norma, this is your house.

-Your home place, isn't it?

-That's right.

I was born in this house here and lived here until 1959.

Now, your family was one of the last families of Hannas

to remain in the close. When did the last families vacate?

My mother was the last of the Hannas actually and she passed away in '79.

All around here, as I say - anybody strange who came in

would have found it very difficult

till they discovered who was related to who

as all the different families right round

were nearly all married into Hanna.

And then, of course, I broke the tradition.

They weren't angry with you, were they?

SHE LAUGHS

-You got away with that one?

-I got away with it!

Now, I have spied a note in this window

and it tells me about Steven Hanna.

And Steven claims he has the best free range eggs in the area.

Now, I'm just going to test them out.

I'm Steven Hanna. I have about 35 hens and four roosters.

Those white ones there, they're broilers.

I've got nine of them among all my hens.

And they're not bred for eggs, they're bred for meat.

They're for chicken burgers, so they are.

But I'm keeping them for their eggs

because that's pretty much what my business is about.

I'm a Hanna.

My great-great-granny, she was a Hanna too.

She lived down at the close, down the road.

You had to be a Hanna years ago just to live in Hanna's Close.

-These are my eggs, are they?

-Yes.

-Better let me take a look at them.

Those are quere-looking eggs. What would these usually cost me?

-£1.25.

-£1.25!?

-Yes.

-There's nothing I can do about that, is there?

-No.

Should I check how much catter I have in my pocket?

Yes, I think you should.

Let me see.

-Would you take a pound?

-No.

-£1.20?

-OK, that'll do.

-£1.20?

-Yes.

There's a pound and there's 20, and that's a quere good deal, Steven.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

BAGPIPES PLAY

Now, back to Dunoon where Mark Wilson is following the progress

of the Ulster-Scots folk at the Cowal Gathering,

including Ballygowan man Andy Carlisle in solo piping.

I just got a text from my mate, Andy.

He won the Pibroch with "Lament for the Earl of Antrim". So, let's go and find him.

Here he is.

-Ha, ha, man! How are you?

-Not bad.

-What are these big trophies for?

-Eh, best dressed piper!

THEY LAUGH

This is the trophy for the Pibroch and this is the overall trophy.

-Any Ulstermen's names on this one?

-I haven't checked,

but I very much doubt it. I think I'm the first.

So, this is the first Ulsterman to win this?

I think so, yeah.

This one's older. The cup goes back to 1920.

-And an Ulsterman's never won this one either?

-No.

This is the overall at the Cowal Championships?

Yes, for the top grade, the A grade.

-And this is the Pibroch?

-It is, yeah.

Andy, I am just - I know you're chuffed,

I'm chuffed to bits for you for winning these prizes.

Well, it's survived from 1920,

so I don't want the first Paddy to win it in, you know, 2011,

to be the one responsible for breaking it.

The Grade One title at the Cowal Pipe Band Championships

is one of the most sought after in the world.

It's something that Pipe Major Richard Parkes

and the Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band would love to win.

There are five championships during the season

and the Grand Slam - winning all five - has only been achieved,

I believe, three times in the past.

By chance, if we win this competition today,

that would be another Grand Slam.

I won't even think about what the result will be. We played well today.

I'd like to think we'll be in the mix for the first prize.

To win five championships would be unbelievable. I wouldn't even want to think about it just now.

CHEERING

Having won the Scottish, the British, the European and the World Championships,

this win at Dunoon now constitutes the Grand Slam.

And, as supreme champions, there's no doubt

that the best pipe band in the world is from Ulster.

During World War One, thousands left these shores and never came back.

For many of them, their final resting place was the Somme.

To this day, year after year,

folk travel to visit these graves of the fallen.

Wilson Burgess has written a poem about one such person.

It's called The Oul Sodjer.

LONE PIPING

The Oul Sodjer.

He stood by the Menin Gate and talked about the past

About the part that he had played In a War that was to be the last

His eyes were dim His hair was grey

Yet with dignity he stood

Near the spot where his Company had rested

After clearing an enemy-held wood

Isn't Portballintrae a wonderful place to be at on a day like this?

You couldn't beat it anywhere. This beautiful part of Ulster,

where men left here to fight in World Wars One and Two.

On 1st July at the Battle of the Somme,

23 men from this particular area -

round Bushmills and round Portballintrae -

lost their lives on the first day.

Now, that's a wild casualty list.

He said, "I was nae great hero "There were yins mair brave than me

"Yet unstinting I gave my all That my country would be free

"Now, in the evening o' my life I have come for a last look round

"This place is often in my thoughts To me, it's hallowed ground."

I thought I was the best-dressed man here today until I looked at you. You're looking quere and well today.

Thank you, you're looking bravely yourself, Wilson.

We're not here to talk about how well we're looking, but to talk about

your involvement in going to the cemeteries in Europe.

You have been to the Somme quite a few times.

We started and went with the British Legion from Belfast.

Went with them about a couple or three times.

Then they stopped doing the trips and I said to the missus one night,

"How could we arrange a trip to go?"

And she thought we were a wee bit mad, but we went ahead

and we organised it, and things just looked forward from then on.

We have run three trips now

and hopefully we'll be healthful and run a few trips more.

Do you get big crowds going on these trips?

Well, over the three I ran,

I had about an average of about 44 or 45 people each trip, pretty good.

That's wonderful.

There's 959 cemeteries, so when we take people out

-to try and find their graves, it's an enormous task.

-It must be.

If you just look at that there,

that there's about a ten-mile radius there.

Look how many cemeteries is in that area alone.

I see number 636 there, then 637 and 638.

And you're telling me there are over 900 of these?

Yes, over 900 cemeteries.

They were young and they were braw

Yet they had to die

At the hands of their fellow men

I have often wondered why.

Ross, this is Wilson Burgess.

-Hello. How are you doing?

-Nice to meet you.

Wilson, Ross was meeting me down here today.

He's got a wonderful photo of his grandfather. Did you bring it with you?

-Oh, I've got it here in the car.

-Let Wilson see it.

Let's have a look at that, Ross.

Ross, that's a wonderful picture altogether. A fine figure of a man.

-This was your grandfather you tell me?

-This was my grandfather, yes.

He was an electrical engineer.

What can you tell me about this man?

He came home one afternoon at teatime, and his eldest son,

he said, "Father, do you know what I done today?

"I signed on with the 10th Battalion of the Royal Enniskillen Fusiliers

"and I'm going to Europe to fight with the British Army."

And the father said, "Well, son,

"I may as well sign on too and I'll look after you."

And the two of them signed on, on the same day.

But unfortunately he was killed

a few weeks before the war ended.

-My goodness, that was tragic.

-But his son, he came home,

but the father was killed. He was buried in Bac-du-Sud.

My goodness.

And between Lesley and the coach-driver,

they got us right to the graveside.

-That must have been a very emotional day?

-It was absolutely wonderful altogether.

What benefit is it to mankind That millions of folk should die?

I dinnae know the answer I'll leave it to Him on High

I'll ask Him to gi' men wisdom To make sure all wars will cease

And that all poor suffering humans Can live their lives in peace.

And your next trip will be when?

Well, maybe two years' time, but we definitely want to do one

in five years' time for the 100th anniversary.

Well, I'll tell you this, if it's in two years' time,

I might still be about then and, if it is, I'll be going on it.

I'm not going to look further than the two years.

But I'll tell you one thing - if we do go on it,

wherever we go, there'll not be three better-dressed or turned-out boys

-than we are ourselves.

-No, we do well in this part of the country!

-We've done very well today!

Earlier on in the programme, we heard from Wilson Burgess

with his poem, The Oul Sodjer.

Well, to finish off with, We're going to have a nice song from Bearnagh

and it's a tribute to one of the youngest soldiers that died in the Great War.

His name was John Condon. Cheerio.

# Just a day, another day

# Beneath the Belgian sun

# Past grave on grave

# Row on row

# Until I see the name

# John Condon

# Carved in stone

# With harp and crown

# Little crosses in the ground

# And standing there

# My silent prayer

# Is for a boy

# Who died a soldier

# A wee lad

# Who'll not grow old

# Heroes that don't come home

# Here they lie in Belgian fields

# And Picardy

# Now, tell me, John

# Before I go on

# What did you come here for?

# With violence bold

# Your life untold

# 14 years old

# To die a soldier

# And all around

# The harp and crown

# The crosses in the ground

# What cause was served?

# Heroes that don't come home

# Sing out for all their souls

# Here they lie

# In Belgian fields

# And Picardy. #

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