Hairst
April 2007
A peerie wird fae da editor
Conservation is something we hear a lot about,
this isn’t surprising as New Zealand has a high number of endangered native species of birds and other fauna.
We have developed innovative programmes and techniques for rescuing birds that are threatened with extinction.
The project to save the Chatham Island black robin was inspirational. In 1980
there were just 5 robins left and only one pair of breeding birds ‘Old Blue’ and ‘Old Yellow’.
Attempts to rescue this species seemed like a mission impossible yet it was successful. Today
there are 250 Chatham Island robins, still a small number but they are doing well.
Wellington has a special conservation
project, the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, a predator free ‘island’ within the city boundary. The
aim is to return the valley to its original state and it has a 500 year plan! Many of the plant species
that once grew in the valley have been reintroduced. There are now over 20 species of native birds
breading in the Sanctuary. Many were previously extinct in the Wellington area and the saddleback/tieke,
stitchbird/hihi and little spotted kiwi/kiwi-pukupuku had vanished from the North Island altogether. Tuatara,
Maud Island frog, long-tailed bat and Cook Strait giant weta are other species that have found a home at the Sanctuary.
To find out more about this project see www.sanctuary.org.nz .
Conservation is not just confined
to the environment there are languages that require conserving too. Linguists believe that half the world’s
current languages will disappear in the next 100 years unless significant efforts are made to save them. In
Shetland there has been rising concern over a declining use of the Shetland dialect, the newsletter looks at this topic and
what is being done to revive dialect use. We also highlight language conservation here in NZ.
As promised we have a further instalment of John
Smith’s family story. We are most fortunate to have John and Gibbie Inkster who provide newsletter
contributions written in the Shetland dialect. For some members reading a dialect item is a real
treat, for other members it is a real challenge!! Take heart it’s a challenge for some folk
living in Shetland too! I encourage you to give it a go, the more you try the easier it will become.
The newsletter glossary should include some key words that have not featured in previous glossaries.
Try www.baysights.com/shetlandbooks this web site has a glossary of Shetland words which could be helpful.
Take dy time an hae a braaly guid read.
Mary Wood
What has happened since?
A committee was formed with Mary Blance as convenor. The group is called Shetland For Wirds.
For St Valentine’s Day 2005 a Shetland Dialect
Text Day took place, a competition to send a romantic message in the dialect by mobile phone text. This
was seen as a fun way to use the dialect which would appeal to young people, although anyone could enter.
The winner received a mobile camera phone.
A collection of modern dialect stories on two CDs and two story books were launched at the Shetland Book
Festival in September 2005. The dialect stories were produced by the Hansel Co-operative Press, a
non profit group which aims to promote literature and artistic works in Shetland and Orkney. One
book is for preschoolers and the second book for 7-12 year olds. To find out more about the Co-operative
see www.hanselcooperativepress.co.uk/
Following the launch of the
stories, Shetland born poet and author of one book, Christine De Luca and other people involved with Shetland For Wirds, visited
Nursery and Primary schools telling dialect stories, chatting to children, teachers and librarians. They
worked with 126 groups of children and received an enthusiastic response.
Author Valerie Watt, who has written a children’s
novel about a fun family of trows, Da Peesterleeties and da Curse o da Njuggle, visited Shetland
schools in 2006, providing workshops for children. The aim was for the pupils to experience the dialect,
folklore and traditional Shetland music in a fun way and encourage them to read the Shetland dialect. Valerie
reported that there has been a great reaction to the workshops.
At the beginning of July 2006, Laureen Johnston and Christian Tait presented a paper on behalf of Shetland
For Wirds at the 8th Conference on Languages of Scotland and Ulster which was held on the island of Islay.
The paper ‘Shetland Schools Education Project’ outlined what had been happening to promote the dialect
in Shetland schools.
Shetland
For Wirds was one of 7 Shetland community groups to receive a grant from Scotland’s branch of the UK National Lottery
‘Awards for All’ announced on 1st August 2006. The 5,000 pound grant is towards
its work promoting the local dialect to a wide audience.
Christian Tait and Laureen Johnston ran a session looking at ways of using and improving existing dialect
resources at a professional development programme for teachers in Shetland schools held on 9 & 10 November 2006.
Michael Hance, Director of the Scots Language Resource
Centre and a speaker at the 2004 Dialect Conference, said “for a language or dialect to recover it needs a huge amount
of determination on the part of its speakers. People in the islands who are passionate about the
Shetland dialect really do need to come together to talk and plan and campaign”. The campaign has
got off to a great start so best wishes for future endeavours.
Language or dialect?
Is Shetland’s ‘midder tongue’ a language or a dialect?
The conference consensus was that the current form of speech is a Scots dialect which is particularly distinctive because
it contains words and sounds from Norn. While debate continues about what defines a language rather
than a dialect, one criterion is that languages have rules of grammar and uniform spelling. Shetland
does not have standardized spelling but perhaps John Graham’s Shetland Dictionary aims to provide some uniformity!
Within Shetland there are
regional dialect variations, differences in accent and vocabulary. For example Whalsay folk speak
differently from other parts. Differences were particularly prevalent in the past and the way a person
spoke could easily identified which part of Shetland they came from.
Dellin deeper inta da Dialect
For an in-depth look at the Shetland
dialect try www.geocities.com/jmtait/zet/shetrep.htm this web site has a paper entitled Shetlandic in a Context of Linguistic
and Cultural Identity.
Twatree wirds you maybe dusna ken
Dellin digging
Knappin
to speak English rather than the Shetland dialect.
Sometimes speaking English with an air of superiority.
Reclaiming a language
Here in New Zealand we have first
hand experience in reviving a language – te reo Maori.
In the 1970’s there was considerable concern over the decline in the number of Maori speakers.
During 1973-1978 the New Zealand Council for Educational Research carried out a national survey; the results showed
that only 18-20% of Maori were fluent Maori speakers and most of the speakers were elderly. It
was clear that unless significant action was taken the language would not survive. Maori Language
Day was introduced in 1971 to raise awareness of the Maori language and encourage its use. A few
years later it became Maori Language Week. In 1980 a large tribal hui was held to consider the future
of the language, it was agreed that it was time for Maoridom to take control and plan for the survival of te reo Maori.
A report stated “without the Maori language there can be no Maori culture and the survival of our unique Maori
identity will be lost”.
Here are some of the initiatives promoted by Maoridom.
· Te Kohanga Reo, language nests for young children – infants to 6 year
olds, commenced in 1982. These are whānau based early childhood education with total immersion
in the Maori language and culture and Maori styles of teaching and learning are used.
· Kura Kaupapa Maori, total immersion schools.
The first kura started in 1995 and was established to cater for children emerging from Te Kohanga Reo.
Today they provide both primary and secondary school education.
· The Maori Language Act was passed in Parliament
in 1987. This Act established Maori as an official New Zealand language.
· The Maori Language Commission was also established
with The Maori Language Act. The Commission aims to promote the Maori language amongst New
Zealanders, particularly to Maori and to promote Maori as a ‘living language’.
· Iwi Radio stations started and expanded during the
1980’s
·
Maori Television channel
started broadcasting in March 2004.
By the mid 1980s it was estimated that the number of fluent speakers of Maori had dropped to 12%.
A survey on ‘The Health of the Maori Language’ was carried out in 2001 and this indicated that 25% of the
Maori population spoke te reo Maori although the degree of fluency is variable. The survey noted “speaking
proficiency generally increased with age, although there is some indication that the proportion with high proficiency skills
is increasing in the youngest surveyed age group, 15-24 years”.
In an interview on National Radio last year, MP Hone Harawera,
told how earlier in the year he had bought a pair of shoes in Auckland. The young shop assistant carried
out the entire transaction in te reo Maori, something that would have been unthinkable a few years ago.
Progress has been made but there is still much
to be done before the language is safe.
Meetin wir Members
Our Patron John Smith
Here is da first pairt o da follow up tae da
article aboot my midder dat appeared last year.
My faidder wis born in da Ooter Hoose o’Quoy (pronounced Kway) Westing (pronounced Waasting), Unst on da 15th
o’ June 1899. Many years later (I think mid-50s when I wid hae been at college) I wis helping’
him i’ da veggie gairden wan Saturday eifternoon and I said …. “If doo lives tae be a hunder years and
6 ½ months dan do’ll hae duin sometin’ dat very few folk on dis planet have ever achieved. Dad made no
comment, stood for a peerie while, asked no questions and dan carried on dellin’ da taaties. Aboot 10 days later, wan
night when he arrived home frae wark, he said tae me … “right dan Peerie John, whit is dis thing I wid achieve
if I lived etc.” …an’ da answer wis he wid
have lived in 3 centuries. Sadly he didn’t make it …. died at 84.
He wis da second eldest o’ seven bairns and
da older of twa boys. He went tae da Westing schuil
(school), and, as wis aaften da case in Shetland, he haed ta leave whin barely 12 ta help
on da croft.
During
da Great War o’ 1914-18, wance old enyoch, he wis caaed up and joinin’ da Gordon Highlanders wis barracked on
da Links o’ Leith, Edinburgh in preparation for embarkation tae da dreaded battlefields o’ France. But da terrible
influenza pandemic o’ 1917 intervened, flew trow da entire battalion, hospitalizing a huge number, includin’ my
faidder. Many o’ da soldiers died, but my faidder, although seriously ill, survived. Da recovery process was very slow
and by da time dad’s company wis back tae full strength, it wis well into 1918 and several edder battalions had been
sent across, and dey never went. So, but for da flu pandemic, my faidder might no’ hae survived da war and I widna be
writin’ dis.
Whin da war ended and my faidder
wis demobbed he decided ta geng ta sea. Shetlanders wir in such demand in da merchant navy dat he wis signed up right away
and fun’ (found) himsell on a cargo ship in wan o’ da first convoys ta geng ta Murmansk in northern Russia efter
da war. Dir cargo wis part o’
Britain’s payment tae Russia fir enterin’ da war on da allies side.
Dad said da situation in Russia at da time wis very tense as it wis no’ dat lang since da 1917 assassination o’
da Tsar and his family and armed patrols ensured dat the seamen were confined tae da dockside area. Sadly therefore der wis
no sight-seein.
Eftir
dad spent a period at sea his midder died, comparatively young, (early 50s I tink) so he went back hame tae Unst fir a while
ta help oot and see everybody as settled as possible afore he guid back south ta geng back ta sea. In early 1925 a new vessel,
da ‘ Aorangi’ was completed in Scotland for da Union
Steamship Co. and dad was wan o’ da crew picked ta deliver it tae Melbourne. Eftir delivery
da crew wid hae da choice o’ free passage back tae da UK or if dey wished tae obtain da necessary papers, free
passage tae Wellington and an extra
5 pounds in dir haand. Dad chose da latter and durin’ a trip back tae Shetland ta say cheerio ta family and friends
he wis gein da address o’ an Unst wummin in Island Bay in case he needed lodgings whin he arrived in NZ. She, of course,
wis Mary Harrison, destined 13 years latter, to become his midder-in-laa, and hence my graandmidder, wha sadly failed ta live
long enyoch by aboot 3 ½ months ta see me.
Onyway I sidetrack. Dad arrived in Wellington frae Melbourne on da auld ‘Marama’ on Friday,
13th o’ March 1925. Anidder Sheltie wha crewed on da ‘Aorangi’ wi dad and also came on tae NZ
wi him wis Johnnie Peterson o’ Muness, Unst. He became weel kent fir da ootstaandin’ model ships he made and in
particular da model Viking galleys he made fir Lodge Zetland which were presented tae each retiring Grand Master o’
dis Lodge. Forbye he wis a very good old-style Shetland fiddler, as wis my faidder. Da eldest o’
his four lasses, Marjorie (married Archie Jamieson and sadly recently deceased in 2006) wis da first person ta vamp (accompany)
for me on da piano whin I first started ta play Shetland/Scottish/Celtic music whin I wis aboot 10 or 11. As soon as dad arrived
here he heeded straight fir 34 Freeling St., Island bay ta meet dis Mary Harrison and secured lodgins wi her and her family.
He never left till he died in 1983 havin’ married wan o’ da three dochters, Minnie (Williamina), my midder in
1938. Dey wid hae married a lot earlier but da depression struck, dad lost his job and fir 3 ½ years he had (I tink),
3 days waark. By da time he got a job, aa da money dey had saved fir dir weddin’ and a honeymoon ta Shetland, had gone
and dad owed his future midder-in-laa 38 pounds fir board. In true old Shetland style he said ….‘we canna get
married till wi hae da money’, hence April 1938. Dey haed dir honeymoon in Shetland as planned and only got back tae
NZ a few months afore da 2nd World War. I wis born in Nov. ‘39. Onybody half-decent at maths will figure
oot dat da ship must hae rolled at da wrong moment durin’ da voyage back ta NZ.
Meanwhile, eftir his arrival, he worked in a few different jobs,
mainly as a seaman, both on da NZ coastal service and trips to North and South America, and as a labourer (both brickie and
chippie) fir Fletchers da builders. Whilst wi Fletchers he wirked on da construction o’ da ‘Taj Mahal’ (da
large conveniences in da centre o’ da road diagonally across frae da Embassy picture theatre --at dat time caaed da
De Luxe), on da demolition o’ da Carrara Ceiling Co. building in Riddiford St., Newton, da construction, on da same
site o’ da new Wellington Public Hospital, (recently demolished in 2005) and
on da construction o’ da Wellington College Memorial
Assembly Hall which I wid sit in nearly 30 years latter. Dis job nearly cost dad his life, and wis da cause o’ quite
severe back trouble dat plagued him fir da rest o’ his life. Da labourers who erected da scaffolding only partly did
wan important bit o’ da job. Whin nailing some o’ da upright supports, on which da large heavy planking was to
be laid dat da brikkies wid be wirkin’ on, several o’ da 6 inch nails wir only partially knocked in and wir left
laek dat efter da planking wis fitted. Subsequently dad wheeled a barrowfoo o’ bricks along dis section o’ da
plankin’. Under dis combined weight da nails bent and dad, alang wi da plankin’, wheelbarrow and bricks, plummeted
some 30 ta 40 feet tae da concrete floor below, da end o’ da barrow laandin’ just inches fae his heed. I tell
you, my faidder had some narrow squeaks doon tro’ da years.
Dir ir a few edder snippets o’ interest durin’ da years atween his arrival and getting’
married. No dat laang afore da 1931 Napier earthquake, he wis asked tae consider a job wi da Napier Harbour Board but turned
it doon. (Lucky again??? --wha keens???) He wis asked ta geng tae da Chatham Islands ta manage da pub dere but turned dat
doon as weel. On wan o’ da sailins he went tae South America he hadn’t taen a fiddle wi him so whin he was ashore
somewhere and saa a ‘fiddle’ in a secondhaand shop priced very cheaply, (da equivalent o’ aboot 30 shillings
I tink) dad couldn’t resist. It had a lovely rich tone but da E strings dad put on wir constantly breakin’ and
a lot o’ da A strings went da same way. Later, back home, he wis invited wan day tae da Williamson hoose in Wadestown
(da famous Shetland fiddle maker) and so took da problem ‘fiddle’ wi him. Eftir inspectin’ some o’
Williamson’s fine craftsmanship and tryin’ oot a couple o’ da fiddles, dad explained tae him da problem
wi da strings on da ‘fiddle’ he haed wi him. Williamson took wan look and said …..’fiddle doo caa’s
it? Man it’s no winder da strings ir breakin’ Yon’s a viola …..albeit whit is referred to as a ladies-size
viola. Fiddle strings put on da longer viola and dan tuned up tae da violin pitch couldn’t take such strain and eftir
a few days just broke. Many years later, strung wi viola strings and tuned tae da correct pitch, dis beautifully toned instrument
wis borrowed and played fir several years by Sandra Gunn. Sandra had been my classical violin teacher fir my 1st
year’s tuition, and dan spent da rest o’ her wirkin’ life as a violinist i’ da National and dan da
NZ Symphony Orchestra. She married Peter Avery, a very fine pianist, who had been my first accompanist when I wis 8 ½.
He subsequently became far better kent as an oostaandin’ organist and for many years wis organist fir St. Andrews on
The Terrace and fir several years was general manager of the NZ Symphony Orchestra. Sandra, in due course, returned dad’s
viola which I still have.
To
be continued…
Obituary: Jimmy Irvine
24 June 1928
– 10 January 2007
It is always a sad time for us to record the death of one of our members, especially so when it
is one of our long-standing members and past President of the Society. However, when Jimmy Irvine
passed away early in January this year, our President, Jim Coutts not only lost a friend and mentor, but also a greatly beloved
brother-in-law.
Jim’s
tribute to Jimmy follows.
Although it has been over thirty
years since my sister Freda and her husband Jimmy actually lived in Wellington, I know that there will be many of you who
remember them with great fondness and will recall their great support for the Society and its activities.
They regularly travelled to Wellington for Society events whilst they lived in Palmerston North and even after their
move to Mount Maunganui in the early 1990’s they still continued to give great support to the Society.
Their involvement began shortly after their arrival
in New Zealand in 1957. But within a few years they moved away from Wellington to Waitoa (in the
Waikato) and Society activites took a back seat. It wasn’t until they returned to live
in Levin, then Wellington that Jimmy made his mark on the Society. He became a member of the Management
Committee in 1967 and was elected President in 1968. Frustrated and anxious at the declining interest
in the Society, Jimmy put forward the idea of a Viking Charity Ball at an AGM where he issued a “front-up or fold-up”
ultimatum to our members. The result is now very much part of our history and contributed hugely
to the continuing success of the Society.
Their commitment to family and friends and their Shetland heritage has never wavered. They
always made time for people – be it family, neighbours or friends and you could be sure of a warm welcome (with endless
cups of tea) no matter what personal commitments they may have already had. Visitors and friends
from Shetland were assured of an especially warm welcome and they were never in short supply – especially after the
1987 Return Hamefarers visit.
When Jimmy retired in the early 90’s they moved to Mount Maunganui and were immediately welcomed by the strong
Shetland community there. They became involved in the Kiwi Fruit Coast Shetland Society, with Freda
becoming President and Jimmy, as aways, in support. He was renowned for his skills as sous chef
at the Society’s annual barbecue! They continued to support our Society and when members were
asked for contributions towards our history, Jimmy was one of the first to respond. They travelled
to Wellington to be part of Shetland Week and willingly gave of their time to support activities.
In more recent years, Jimmy’s health began to fail
and Freda relinquished the Presidency to be able to devote her time to his care. The deep affection
and respect for them both was shown in the support they experienced then and Freda has continued to receive since Jimmy’s
death.
I know that Freda and the family
have been moved by the many expressions of sympathy and condolence they have already received. I
know too, that many of you understand how much we have grieved in the loss of such a good friend and much loved family member.
Jim Coutts
Society News
Picnic
Sunday 14 February
2007
After umpteen years at Queen Elizabeth Park at Paekakariki and even more years of holding
our picnic on the Kapiti Coast, we decided that 2007 would be a year of change – and we went to Kaitoke Regional Park
instead!
A beautiful day and a great location
meant we had a lot of fun, even though we didn’t use the booked picnic ground until the end of the races.
It was great to be able to fire up the barbecue provided – much easier than packing a portable one in the car.
The Rumbal family was successful in the prize stakes,
with President Jim congratulating Richard at being the winner of the men’s ‘baalin do boot’.
But the boot went to Janice Coutts, as overall winner from both the men’s and women’s competition.
Alexandra Rumbal ran out winner of the Sir Robert Stout Rose Bowl, but the Pitt family retained its stranglehold
on the Gifford Tait Memorial Cup with David taking it away from brother Andrew as this year’s winner.
Diary Dates
Viking Ball
Saturday 19 May 2007
7pm-12.30am
Indian Cultural Centre, Kemp St. Kilbirnie.
$45 single
Tickets: Mary Christie, ph 388-4464
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Dancing Classes
If you want to practice your
dancing skills,
join
us in a fun night.
Scots Hall, Cnr Hanson
& Stoke Sts, Newtown
Friday April 27, May 4 & May 11
Taped
music, light supper.
Entry
gold coin or better.
*******************
Mid-Winter Foy
Scots Hall, Cnr Hanson & Stoke Sts. Newtown
Saturday July 28, 4pm – 7pm
Fun for all the family
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