The City 12 Miles: The Narrow Sea

I'm Helen Mark and I grew up in Scotland,

but for the last 31 years I've made Northern Ireland my home.

It's making my eyes water!

I have always felt comfortable in Northern Ireland

but I've never really examined why

and I often wonder if the many people from Northern Ireland

who have settled in Scotland feel the same.

-You're really Glaswegian?

-Oh, for God... Don't tell me that!

Your mother's going to be furious with you!

At the closest point Scotland

and the North Antrim coast are just 12 miles apart,

and the migration of people between the two countries

has been going on for centuries.

It's a good test of your sailing skills!

And your stomach, I think, as well!

But it's the modern mix of cultures that I'm interested in.

Them and us, cheek by jowl.

Just what are the ties that bind us, and are they as strong as ever?

With the Glasgow gig,

if you come out without getting bottled you've done well!

When they start playing that music,

you know, I just feel this Scottishness just welling up in me.

Although there are strong historical and cultural ties

between the familiar landscape of southwest Scotland

and rural Northern Ireland,

today I've decided to take my search for our shared cultural heritage

to the city.

I want to discover the contemporary urban links

between Northern Ireland and Scotland.

And what better place to start than Scotland's biggest city, Glasgow.

With a population of around 580,000 people,

Glasgow is over twice the size of Belfast.

It's on the west of Scotland, about 80 miles from Stranraer,

and 35 from the port of Troon.

The promise of riches offered by a big city just across the channel

has brought in waves of Irish immigrants over the last 200 years.

Lovely to meet you...

'I've decided to start my look at the city

'by taking a tour from Patrick McNulty.

'He came over here from Strabane in 1954.

'His first job was as a plasterer

but he's been driving a taxi for 44 years.

'He arrived when he was just 17.'

Why did you come to Glasgow in the first place?

Well, I came because of, my pal played the accordion

and we were both plasterers,

and he was always on about Jimmy Shand's music,

he loved Jimmy Shand and he was trying to get into a band.

And he talked me into coming to Glasgow.

We were only supposed to stay to Christmas.

Was there a welcome for the Irish coming into Scotland?

Well, I never found anything other than that, I can honestly say.

Maybe, like, a lot of people, maybe some people think that they

were just taking their jobs, or whatever, but I never found that.

The company I was always in seemed to be happy to have me.

And what was it like?

Well, it was a complete... Different for me,

from a wee town like Strabane, and I was used to the country.

But it was... We seemed to adjust quite quickly

and people were very friendly,

and we got a job plastering right away, you know? It was great.

There was dancing every night of the week so it was, at that age,

I suppose it was, it was the ideal place to be!

You see, I listen to you

and I can't hear any trace of an Ulster accent left.

-No Irish accent left?

-You're really Glaswegian.

-Oh, for God's...

Don't tell me that! I'm only kidding you on!

Why are we going up here?

This is the house where I first met Margaret, where we got lodgings.

We were told when we got off the boat, if we went to this house we would get lodgings

and when we went to the house the woman at the house said that she didn't have any spare rooms

but that, if we got someplace to stay until Friday,

that she would take us on the Friday.

But her husband said they had a friend who had a spare room

and he would take us up,

and see if we could get the spare room to the Friday.

And it was 1022, just at the corner, here.

And on the way up he told us to be careful

cos there was three young women, teenagers in the house

and we needed to watch ourselves.

And one of them was Margaret and I've been married to her for 43 years!

Oh, that's tremendous!

After driving around with Patrick, and walking around the city

I can't help but make comparisons with Belfast.

The cities have a very similar feel,

which must come from their shared history.

Behind me is Glasgow's version of Belfast City Hall.

This is Glasgow City Chambers and it was built in 1888,

and, just like City Hall, it is a giant slab of Victoriana -

a symbol of a city that was made rich from the British Empire

and one that's not afraid to show of a bit of bling.

It not just the city centre

that gives me a sense of Glasgow's confident past.

Like Belfast, much of Glasgow's prosperity came from ship building.

In its heyday the Clydeside docks built 370 ships a year.

The industry attracted thousands of workers from Northern Ireland

but, like Belfast, ship building has now almost completely disappeared.

This is what's left of the Govan yard,

once run by the Belfast-based Harland and Wolff.

They came here in 1912 and began building tankers and cargo ships.

The company left in 1963

and the following years saw a sharp decline in ship building

all along the Clyde,

but it's not all bad news.

Everywhere you look there's new buildings popping up

and although the pizzazz of glass and steel

is hardly a like-for-like replacement

for the thousands of jobs created by building ships

it is a sign that the city is fighting back.

But although the appearance of Glasgow is changing fast,

at its core the cultural heart of the city remains the same.

VENDOR SHOUTING

Nowhere is this more evident than in the cities' obsession with football

and it's here where the historical connections with Ulster

are most proudly displayed.

Celtic came into being in 1888 as a club for the Irish Catholic community

and they very proudly proclaimed their identity as Irish.

There was, by that time, considerable immigration from Ireland

into Scotland, of both Catholics and Protestants.

And the Protestant immigration tended to be drawn

by employment opportunities in industries like ship building

and engineering, and so on.

So that was a concentration of Irish Protestant immigration

into the Clydeside region

and I think that a lot of that community began to support Rangers

in the late 1890s, early 1900s.

Although, I have to be a bit cautious here,

because there is no hard evidence

but I think there's a lot of good circumstantial evidence

because, quite clearly, Rangers, in the early 20th century,

becomes something of a Scottish Protestant answer

to an Irish Catholic team, namely Celtic.

Today Rangers play Montrose

and, with the club currently in the third division,

I'm guessing that even the most hardened fans

are finding it quite difficult

but I'm wondering what effect this would have

on the loyal supporters from Northern Ireland

for whom, you know, a trip here, it's a form of pilgrimage.

Don't be shy, give it a try! Here, your number one fanzine, now!

Paul Boyne and Thomas Mathews

left Belfast on the 7.30 boat this morning.

They're part of the Ardoyne Rangers Supporters Club.

Despite the distance and the club's recent financial difficulties

they are still committed to coming to every home game.

You're going to play Montrose today, in the third division.

Oh, come on, that has got to hurt?

No, not at all.

The bottom line is you follow a football team.

You pick your football team to follow it.

As far as I'm concerned, as far as we are all concerned,

we don't care who the Rangers are playing. It doesn't matter to us.

But why did you want to follow a Scottish team and Rangers,

you know, when you could have taken any team in the league?

Well, basically, we've a big connection with the shipyards

and with Glasgow and Harland and Wolff,

and people, obviously, marrying into the families.

And there's a very, very close connection with Scotland and Ulster,

at the minute, and there always has been.

And, obviously, with the football teams,

if you have a father who is, maybe, from Scotland, who supports Rangers,

and you live in Northern Ireland, your son is going to support Rangers.

People do make the assumption,

you know, they go straight to that sectarian divide, don't they?

I mean, you can't really escape that.

Aye, you can't really but I support Rangers.

Doesn't matter who they were,

I'd have still supported Rangers but you do get, like, labelled that way.

-Does that bother you?

-It does, you know.

You get labelled like a bigot just because you support Rangers

and it shouldn't be the case, you know?

I mean, it doesn't matter what they were, I'd still support Rangers.

People have this perception that there's one side of this

and all this anti-Irish thing because we're proud to be, sort of,

a British football team.

There is a big historical past, there, between both sets of fans

and that should be celebrated.

You can still celebrate your culture, your Protestantism, your Loyalism

without being a bigot.

-Are you not missing the Old Firm matches though?

-Not at all.

No, we don't need Celtic. We're just here to see the Rangers. That's it.

Sport is just one cultural link that stretches across the Irish Sea.

To discover more I've decided to head 45 miles east,

to Glasgow's great rival, Edinburgh.

It's August and the city is playing host

to the biggest arts festival in the world.

Hello, welcome to Edinburgh. Ha-ha!

The Edinburgh Festival is actually a collection of arts festivals

that bring of thousands of visitors to the city.

It's a truly international affair

but amidst all the mayhem there is a rock-hard slice of Scots tradition -

the Edinburgh Tattoo.

Pipes and drums, by the centre, quick march!

The shared tradition of pipes, drums and dancing

provides a strong link for many Northern Irish people.

The current world champion pipe band is from Ulster

and many pipers from Northern Ireland will be performing tonight,

as part of various military bands.

I'm on my way up to Edinburgh Castle to see them practise.

Tonight's show starts in just over an hour -

just enough time for a warm up and a final pep talk.

That's not good enough!

You've had an hour every night for this month

between the time that I finish till the time that you march on

and I haven't seen a single person asking for help or practising,

or trying to learn this stuff, and it's not good enough!

We are up on the battlements.

The band was just having a little bit of practice, there,

before the actual performance

and when they start playing that music,

you know, I just feel this Scottishness just welling up in me

and I challenge anybody who does,

who has just a grain of Scottishness in them,

I bet they would feel exactly the same.

Northern Ireland's presence at the Tattoo extends beyond pipe bands.

I've come to meet two Highland dancers from Belfast

who for the next month are staying in Edinburgh.

Jasmine Ng and Emma Rice are both Ulster champions

and tonight they will perform alongside some of the best dancers in the world.

Jasmine's mum and dad are also over to help them through the first week.

Hello, pleased to meet you, Helen. I'm Jasmine's father.

Hi, nice to meet you. Are the girls through here?

-Hi.

-Hi.

-I'm Helen. Nice to meet you both. It's Jasmine, is it?

-Yeah.

-And Emma?

-Yeah.

Margaret, it must make you really proud?

Och, yes, to think, you know, that they had to audition

to get into the Tattoo first of all.

So, they went over here in February and auditioned

and, to be part of the Scottish team, I mean, that's quite big.

I wonder, Margaret, if, you know, having the girls doing Scottish dancing,

does that make you feel more a part of Scotland?

I don't feel Scottish but I feel strongly, you know,

maybe more Ulster Scottish.

You feel, you know, a bit wider spread, maybe, coming here

and doing more Scottish things here, you know? Mm-hm.

What about for you, though, Jasmine?

You're 14, do you feel that you're part of a bigger picture

because of the dancing?

Yeah, because whenever we come to Scotland I don't really think

that we're going somewhere, like...

If I were going to France, or somewhere, I'd think,

"I wonder what it's like?" But whenever I'm coming to Scotland

I just think, "Oh, we're just going to another part of Northern Ireland."

Up at the castle, tonight's performance is now underway.

over the next four weeks

the girls will perform to over 200,000 people -

it's some way to spend the school holidays!

Girls, you just look absolutely gorgeous.

Go on, Emma, give us a twirl. Ah, lovely!

Now, what does it feel like when you actually get out there,

in front of all that crowd?

Well, you kind of have a blank but your feet do all the work

and you just, like, take it away with the music.

Yeah, like, after you dance they're, like, cheering and everything,

and it's just really good.

-Can I say, "Good luck," or is that bad luck?

-No, that's all right!

-It's OK? All right, then. Good luck!

-Thank you.

The dance tonight might look modern

but it still incorporates many traditional steps.

Steps that were taught to the girls by Elizabeth Gollan,

a dance teacher from Livingston who has spent the last seven years

making monthly trips across to Belfast.

The standard in Northern Ireland has definitely progressed

since I started teaching there.

I'd say that the dancers from Northern Ireland

will travel to Scotland.

They wouldn't travel if they couldn't actually compete with the best.

What part, though, does this dancing have in modern day life?

They learn how to be committed to something.

They will take everything that you give them and they want more.

And they just, you know, they enjoy it.

And when you start to learn about the history of all the dances

that they're doing, you know, and competitions.

They have to do some research on that

and understand why they do certain things,

and they enjoy doing that, and finding out what the dances mean.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-You got finished. It all went well?

-Yeah.

-How do you feel now?

Erm, a bit excited but glad it's over for tonight.

-So do you go home now to bed to rest up?

-Yeah.

-You do?

Are the nerves not still big and high?

-Yeah, it takes us, kind of, a while to settle down.

-I would say it does.

-Well, well done.

-Thank you.

-All right.

The girls are so at home as part of the Scottish dance team

and they're taking part in a world-renowned Scottish event.

It's almost like second nature to them and they're quite young yet,

and perhaps they don't realise

but what they're doing now is forming bonds of friendship

that they'll have for the rest of their lives,

and they are also part of a tradition that, you know,

has threads that go back through centuries,

and it's all happening to them here and now.

After the heady traditionalism of the Edinburgh Tattoo,

I've back decided to head back west to Glasgow.

I want to examine links that are not as easy to identify

as traditions like Highland dancing or football allegiances

but are still just as strong.

Scottish cities attract thousands of young people

from Northern Ireland, and for many, their journey starts at university.

I am a fourth-year student. I'm studying mechanical engineering.

-I'm studying accounting with finance.

-I'm a history student.

Bioveterinary science, which is a sort of veterinary research course.

And why did you pick Scotland to come and study?

It was kind of by accident, really.

I thought, "I want a change from Northern Ireland. Get away."

A couple of cousins went to Scottish universities and enjoyed it.

They don't do any veterinary courses in Northern Ireland

so I thought Scotland is the best bet.

I do plan on staying in Scotland, I think.

Even if not Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, anywhere.

There's always a wee pull back home

but I definitely would not be against the idea

of living in Scotland for the rest of my life.

-Do you miss Northern Ireland?

-Now and again.

Young people flood to Scotland for all sorts of disciplines

but in Glasgow there is one area particularly

where Northern Ireland is making a massive contribution...

art.

Turner Prize-nominated artist Cathy Wilkes came to study at the Glasgow School of Art in 1985.

She still lives and works in the city.

Above the Transmission Gallery, in Glasgow,

which also has strong links with the Catalyst Gallery back home,

is the studio of Belfast-born artist Gareth Reid.

Gareth has held solo exhibitions in Northern Ireland and Glasgow.

In 2007, he won the BP Travel Award

and his work is in the collections of the Arts Council

of Northern Ireland and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

There are quite a few Northern Irish artists here.

Off the top of my head, Dave Sherry,

there's Peter McCaughey, Cathy Wilkes,

erm, a few people from art school, Kevin Murphy, erm, Maurice Doherty.

So, quite a few.

There are far more, I just can't think of them at the moment.

-A lot of Northern Ireland artists stay in Glasgow?

-Yes, yeah.

Why would they stay here?

Well, just because Glasgow is big enough to have a lot of stuff going on

but it's small enough for you to know almost anybody.

And musicians as well,

filmmakers who are working on an international level,

so it is quite, it's inspiring and there's a lot happening and...

So I think that's the reason why people end up staying.

To me, apart from maybe a certain muted mood,

there are no obvious connections between Gareth's work and back home

but that's not true of all Northern Irish artists working in the city.

I've come to The Briggait to meet Omagh-born artist Peter McCaughey.

His studio is about a mile from Gareth's

and the two artists play badminton once a week.

This is a, kind of, self-portrait, this print

and in it are a range of photographs and drawings that include this image.

Straightaway catches your eye, doesn't it?

So, as you come off the Ballygawley roundabout

and you're heading to Omagh, you find this sign that says...

And, of course, what was below was "Londonderry,"

and, as you can see, somebody has, as they do, painted out "London"

in a nice shade of green to match the signs so it's almost invisible.

Somebody else has come along, and what I love about this image

is the decision, not to take out the word "Derry",

but to take out the five.

-Yeah, yeah.

-So what does this say, then?

It, kind of, says, "You cancel me out? I cancel you out.

-"What are we left with?"

-Nothing.

-If you hold that end I can, kind of...

-OK, yeah.

-Don't let it fall.

"Don't let it fall," he says! Ah!

It's a tight one. Yeah.

Oh, that's good.

These are me, kind of, acting the eejit all across the world, actually.

Anywhere I go and I find one of these bent signs

I position myself as a pole bender and, kind of, hold that position,

kind of, static...

for as long as possible.

The only place where I was ever arrested for doing this

was in Glasgow where two police officers came along and said,

"What are you doing to our sign?"

As though I might be strong enough to do it.

Do you not think this is,

this reflects your Northern Ireland sense of humour, don't you think?

Absolutely, most definitely where it kicks in, you know?

You weren't a city boy, were you?

No, I'm a, I'm a culchie

and have suffered at the hands of being a culchie ever since.

You know, it's still in my blood!

The idea of being from a market town, living in a big city, you know?

And I still think that there is a type of way that you know the world,

when you come from a wee place,

that you have to fight for that knowledge

when you come to the urbane situation of the big city.

And that's, kind of, that is an idea that runs through a lot of my work.

'The more I talk to Peter

'the more I get the sense that he sees his Northern Irishness

'as a fundamental part of his art,

'yet his work as an environmental artist

'and as a creative adviser to the Glasgow Housing Association,

'link him firmly to the city that has become his home.

'I wonder if he feels it's possible to straddle two countries in this way.'

Are you comfortable in this city?

Do you feel, erm, part of the culture that's here in Glasgow?

Yeah, I mean, I love this city.

I wouldn't have stayed here and I am, as you have reminded me,

such a home bird and yet I've stayed here.

I have been exactly half my life in this city.

The more I talk to people, the more I can see why

it's actually quite difficult to define exactly what it is

that makes someone from Northern Ireland feel so Northern Irish

and someone from Scotland feel so Scottish,

and yet, they can still feel a connection between each other.

Perhaps a visit here might be helpful?

I've come to The Stand comedy club,

set up by a man from Coleraine, Tommy Shepherd.

On tonight's bill are Northern Irish comics Martin Mor,

also from Coleraine, and Owen O'Neill, who comes from Cookstown.

My ginger brethren live here -

-25% of the world's redheaded population live in Scotland.

-25%.

And the other 75% are in prison.

You make a point of bringing in Northern Ireland acts,

why do you do that?

I think there's an awful lot of similarities

between the humour in Northern Ireland and Glasgow,

and the West of Scotland.

I mean, they're only 12 miles apart, at the end of the day, you know.

And there's an awful lot of people move between one and the two.

There's an awful lot of people live in Glasgow with Irish roots

and they very much like the humour.

You know, I thought I'd heard every single name there is to hear

for a ginger-haired person.

I thought I'd heard them all, you know?

Carrot Top -

which is wrong cos it's green!

-I mean, Glasgow, for me, is just like doing Belfast, really.

-Why?

Because they are the same tribe. They are the same people, I think.

You know, genetically. The genetic pool is the same.

There are very, kind of, a working-class, you know, people.

You know, you can't get away with anything

and, of course, there's a healthy interest in sectarianism.

What, do you mean you're all Prods?

That's OK, I don't mind a load of Prods.

Well, you know, not too many, obviously!

You know, then a march breaks out, obviously, don't they?

But the sectarianism thing, it's a strange one, isn't it?

Because, you know, it isn't a funny subject

-but you feel quite comfortable...

-Definitely a funny subject!

-I think it is a funny subject.

-It's definitely a funny subject!

Which bit of it have you missed?! THEY LAUGH

I like that kind of a frisson in the audience where you don't know...

You know, the audience are thinking,

"Which way's he going to go with this?"

And so you have to be careful but I like that. I like that edge.

And the people that would be offended...

The people that would be offended by that

aren't people I care about anyway.

I have a friend called Sue

and me and Sue were talking recently and the story's basically this.

I thought I was going to Australia to do a comedy festival

and she said to me, "Are you going to Australia?"

and it had fallen through.

And Sue says to me, she says, "How do you feel about that?"

And I said, I think Scottish people say this as well,

"Ach, well, what's for you won't pass you." You say that, don't you?

If you're going to get something you get it.

And Sue's posh English and she said, "Is that an Irish saying?"

I said, "I think it is." And she said, "I'm going to use that."

And as she walked away I could hear her muttering,

"What's furry and walks past you?"

LAUGHTER

Just thinking about the language that you use, do you have to,

you know, change words at all?

In England you wouldn't refer to children as "weans"

but here you just say, "Oh, some weans the other day..." whatever.

There's just no problem.

For me, cos I improvise quite a lot,

It opens up a different part of your brain

because you're not having to worry

whether you're communicating with them.

You can just say what you want.

Do you remember Ice-T? You might be too young.

He's the original hardcore black American gangsta rapper. Ice-T.

I saw him in the Liquid Rooms, in Edinburgh. It was fantastic.

He steps forward and goes like that, he goes like that, he goes,

"Yo, if you're carrying a piece,

"take your piece out and wave it in the air,"

cos in LA a piece is a gun.

Where I come from a piece is a sandwich!

I was thinking, "How long does this concert last for?!"

-Certainly in Glasgow and Belfast we'd be talking about "us".

-Yes.

But if you did that same story in London, for example, they already,

there maybe is a thing of them looking down on the Irish.

Maybe less than it used to be

but, whereas, we do a joke in which us, now,

it's us all together that we're joking about.

It's not that looking-down stereotype.

I remember being in a pub in Derry once. It was a half-hour bomb scare.

"Half-hour? Get the drinks in, now, come on, half an hour, come on!"

"Come on, we can do this, come on!"

Thank you, guys, I'm out of here. See you all again. Bye-bye.

-'How was it?'

-'Grand.'

-'Good, I thought it was good.'

Yeah, I thought, you know, they laughed in all the right places.

With a Glasgow gig,

if you come out without being bottled you've done well!

-You must have done all right then!

-Yeah. Didn't even throw anything!

'Watching a Glasgow audience lap up those performances,

'you can see how close we are.'

We laugh at the same stuff and there is no stronger bond than that.

The people I have met,

the ones who have come across the 12 miles, they feel at home here

as I do as a Scot in Northern Ireland, and that's a good feeling.

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