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PRESS RELEASE
Immediate Use
The claim of crofting does not pertain to crofters only but to all the people of
Scotland and what they do and can contribute to the journey of recovery now
and in the future. The histories of these places and people show that in the
face of fearsome trouble when people get organised – not just locally, but
regionally, nationally and even internationally – then they make an
appreciable difference to the circumstances of their own lives, and the lives of
future generations.
This project explores and interrogates the history of the crofting system to
date. As the core of our Òran Mòr na Croitearachd or The Big Song of
Crofting - three hundred school children in Skye have been writing songs and
creating stories of their own about these lives and times. The play The
Cheviot, The Stag and The Black, Black Oil forms the centre piece of next
week’s Kitchen Ceilidh event - Ri Gualainn a Chèile (United We Stand) in
Skye. The original set from that play painted by artist John Byrne is on
display from next week at the exhibition - Croitearachd ann an òran agus
sgeul or Crofting in Song and in Story.
This month The Crofters Commission, created in 1955 in the wake of The
Taylor Commission Report, ceases to exist and is replace by The Crofting
Commission on 1st April 2012. This project and the events on Friday 16 th
March in Skye explore the history of the crofting system from the 1880s until
the present day.
In 1954 The Taylor Commission reported on the condition of crofting. This
Commission of Enquiry was instructed ‘To review crofting conditions in the
Highlands and Islands with special reference to the secure establishment of a
small-holding population making full use of agricultural resource and deriving
maximum economic benefit therefrom’. Amongst Commission members were
the author Neil Gunn and a remarkable woman who was to become known
throughout the rest of the 20th century as a tireless socialist commentator on
the condition of crofting and much else besides in Scotland and the north.
This was Margaret MacPherson, a Braes lass through family; an Edinburgh
girl by upbringing.
Margaret MacPherson disagreed with The Taylor
Commission findings and succeeded in having ‘A Note of Dissent’ appended
to The Report. She disagreed with the working of the Council when she
served on that. She disagreed with the emergence of community land
ownership in the 1990s, preferring still the model of state ownership as a
means of securing and developing natural assets for the greater good. In
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short, Margaret was a tough, energetic, intelligent woman forever prone to
meddling in national and local affairs. In every generation the Highlands and
Islands has been shaped and changed by women such as this. In Skye, in an
earlier era, Màiri Mhòr nan Òran (MacPherson neé Macdonald) is another
outstanding example. Written histories do not always pay the tribute they
might to such women but we try to in this project.
Crofters Commission Convenor Drew Ratter said: “Fifty-five years is a long
time in the life of any organisation, and the fetish of modernisation has been
used to strike down most of the Crofters Commission’s historical peers: the
HIDB, The Red Deer Commission, the Hydro Electric Board. The list is long.”
He continued: “Such bodies made the Highlands and Islands a distinctive
region, and without doubt they all contributed to the astonishing renaissance
of that region, which permits us to gather in a living community, and
surrounded by school children, today. The Highlands and Islands are
standing at a crossroads again today, as in the 1950s. Population decline was
arrested from then, with the coming of electricity. So recently! That plus the
later founding of the HIDB were probably the absolute key factors. However,
the Crofters Commission played its part. It never managed to please
everybody. In fact often it failed to please anybody, but that was part of its
function. Best to be angry with the Commission than with your neighbours. I
would argue, nonetheless that it has achieved a lot, and that there is much to
celebrate. How many bairns here live in houses funded through crofting
grants, and how many live on crofts developed by crofting grants, or at least
have eaten tatties and mutton raised on land improved by crofting grants?
These grant came about through the 1955 Act, and have been administered
by The Crofters Commission up until very nearly the end. We are not here to
look to the future - that would be lese majeste. We are here to celebrate a
history which I am very happy to be part of. “
Seannachaidh – The Tradition
Bearers at The Kitchen Ceilidh 16th
March – providing thoughts and
insights along the way…
Project Partners
National Library of Scotland
SEALL
UHI Sabhal Mòr Ostaig
UHI Centre for History
Eden Court Theatre
Scottish Crofting Federation
Crofting Connections
Braes Grazings Committee
Open Book PW Ltd
George Campbell
Arthur Dutch
Camille Dressler
George Gunn
Maggie Fyffe
Donald MacLeod
Aonghas MacNeacail
Issie MacPhail
Drew Ratter
Agnes Rennie
Lesley Riddoch
Becky Shaw
Essie Stewart
Andy Wightman
Funding Partners
Crofters Commission
Highlands and Islands Enterprise
Bord na Gaidhlig
The Highland Council
RSPB
SNH
SPONSOR - Jean Urquhart MSP
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Events Information
Cuairt a’ Bhràighe – Am fearann dha na daoine
The Braes Tramp About – The Land for the People
10am Friday 16 March 2012 Braes Village Hall, Skye
A guided walk with Portree Primary and High School pupils and Andy
Wightman, Lesley Riddoch, George Gunn and a whole lot more well kent
faces.
Kitchen Ceilidh - Ri gualainn a chèile - United We Stand
@ Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Skye- 7.30pm Friday 16 March 2012
With scenes from The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil by John
McGrath, performances by pupils from Portree, Broadford, Elgol and Sleat of
the songs written for The Big Song of Crofting /Oran Mor na Croitearachd with
The Seannachaidh (Tradition Bearers).
Ceilidh Finale – Babelfish - web: babelfish.biz
Babelfish - are pianist Andy Thorburn, fiddler Adam Sutherland, accordionist
John Somerville and drummer Iain Copeland - collectively of Blazin' Fiddles,
Peatbog Faeries, Treacherous Orchestra, Session A9, Box Club and Croft
No. Five - with the spoken-word poet/rapper/ranter Jock Urquhart.
The Seannachaidh – The Tradition Bearers – providing thoughts and
insights along the way…
George Campbell
Arthur Dutch
Camille Dressler
George Gunn
Maggie Fyffe
Donald MacLeod
Aonghas MacNeacail
Issie MacPhail
Drew Ratter
Agnes Rennie
Lesley Riddoch
Becky Shaw
Essie Stewart
Andy Wightman
Exhibition:
Croitearachd ann an òran agus sgeul - Crofting in Song and in Story
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig: 13 - 24 March 2012
OPEN 10 - 5 Daily
See the original set from The Cheviot, The Stag and The Black, Black Oil - the
centre piece of our exhibition on the contribution of arts and culture to the
lives of communities across the Crofting Counties. This set, designed and
painted by the artist and writer, John Byrne, is part of the Special Collections
at The National Library of Scotland.
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For more information, pictures and interviews:
Tel: 01463 663422
Crofters Commission
email: claimofcrofting@hotmail.co.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Taking-Stock-The-Claim-of-Crofting
Web: www.crofterscommission.org.uk
Drew Ratter, Convenor, Crofters Commission
07768 551952
Drew.Ratter@crofterscommission.org.uk
Issie MacPhail
John Cairns
07720 707 023
07990 882 487
ENDS.
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issie@arcinfo.co.uk
john@johncairns.org.uk