Crofters (1944)

[Music] to A lender looking North from Clyde side or west from abine the Scottish Highlands rise like a great barrier mile upon mile of mountain and moroland of he pet bong and scree in the northwest corner of this area in Souther the scenery changes bare desolate Hills Tower above an almost treeless landscape scored and pied by a thousand blocks and TS [Music] remote primeval the age old rock creped and modeled by the glaciers of the great Ice Age it is called gavar the rough or Baron place I rough it is indeed but not everywhere so baren we live here these are our homes and our crops down by the sea there and around the Waters of the L our forefathers trenched and drained and made the land and anywhere there's a bit of ground that a man can work there you'll find our clens our small fields of crops and our church many of these little crafting communities in the western Highlands are 60 Mi or more from the nearest railway station I and before they made the new road it was three days by horse or five on foot over the hills to L but now we have the mail [Music] [Music] [Music] card every day the mail car from L comes over to akish Bringing letters and Parcels news from the outside world and stores for the shop a son home on leave maybe a fisherman on holiday or a crofter returning from work in the towns hello here's l r home and leave my Jan is looking well it must be 3 years since he was home last did you bring my SC from L John Angus no it wasn't in yet I'll fetch it tomorrow if it's ready and D back for the clipping well that's good well Norman did they let you out from school already and here's Alec he must have been promoted again I he's an officer now good for Alec in small communities like this what concerns one concerns all it is rather like a big family and everybody knows everybody else everybody knows John Angus Morrison who drives the mail car and everybody knows the posty yes indeed we all know Jimmy he's carried our news good and bad for 30 years now he always likes to see cring around when the car comes in it saves him of power of walking and we all know Willie Ross he's the Secretary of our grazing committee that's just a committee of the crofters that looks after everything to do with the cattle and the Sheep then there's Mrs Mai up at the shop where the women buy their St oh yes we all know Judy McKai rodie married her when he was away in Canada working on the Rail Road Vancouver I think it is she comes from oh but she's quite one of us now Judy Minds the shop you see while Rod takes the van around to the farway crof down by shagra and pollen and old chore and the women don't wait to hear him too not twice now but they're out with their baskets and over to see what he has today and it's wonderful what he does get into that we van of his bread and bacon and cheese oil for the lamps and sweets for the children oh there's no end to it at all and then there's jenet Morrison up at the schoolhouse she taught most of us so we all know her but there's not half the number of children here now that there were when we were at school that's because so many of our folks have left the Crofts and gone away to the towns or over the seas to Canada or Australia or New Zealand maybe to find a living I it's sad to see them go but you cannot blame them for it no there's not half the folk about there used to be when Mr mcll the minister first came to aill that's nurse Mai he's talking to down by the church I Wonder now where will it be she's off to in her we car this morning oh it's to Mrs McKenzie to be sure down at Old Shore Mo and we'll be hoping it's a boy this time yes there's room for more children and more people in the highlands it's terrible to think that little more than a century ago thousands of crofters were driven from their homes in the Glens to make make room for sheep farmers and Sportsmen from the south the signs of that tragedy still lie heavy on the land as a first step to make their home secure the cter Act was passed in 1886 this gave the Crafters a fair rent and right of compensation and now none can be turned off his land at the whim of a grasping landlord encouraged by this and other acts and with the help of state grants the Crafters began to build themselves new homes solid two story houses with stone floors and slated roofs then other help was given for the Improvement of roads and peers for drainage and for the upkeep of fences walls and ditches the post and Telegraph Services were brought out to the most isolated townships oh I'll not deny things are better now than when Jordy maai was a boy but for all that crafting is very much what it always has been we have our three or four acres and we have to work hard to grow a few potatoes some vegetables for the house a patch of Oats some hay and a few turnips for the beasts in the winter and above the Crofts on the slopes of the hills we have our Common Ground where the sheep and the cattle at [Music] gra today the men of akish are off to Gathering the sheep for the clipping five times a year the Sheep must be brought in from the hills then every man who is fit leaves whatever work he is at to join in the Gathering it will be a long hard day a walk of 30 m or more and a climb of three ,000 ft to the farthest Peak we meet down at the Big Stone by Lo stra and there Willie sets the plan for the day you Bill and Alec and Norman you go by the south and Duncan and I and you and jock we'll go by the north C [Music] ahead lie the Great Hills fan kada Aro and scattered all over them are the sheep that must be gathered in before nightfall [Music] man man keep way out man come on in a bit in a bit steady get come on come on with that you Jo all right my dog's on there Bill do you see the coming in from the south I on thep come on come on with come on a Bady on coming down by the late afternoon the high grounds have all been gathered and the men each with a bunch of sheep draw together towards the road for the last stretch home there must be 5 or 600 of them about 900 sheep call told without the new Lambs but that's not enough between 14 crops we could do with as many again but more sheep mean more land and where are we going to get that from what about the deer forests now I'm thinking we could put some of that land to better use than Sport come on Ben come on it's been a long day and a tiring day and they are moving very slowly now as they come along the road between the crop I but it's been a good day the weather's kept fine and the Sheep are all in He Man many is the time we've been right to the top of poan and then The Mists come down like a blanket and we've had to give up and turn home again tonight the Sheep will be put in the park and tomorrow if the rain keeps off we'll make an early start with the clipping everyone turns out for the clipping and there are no Idle Hands on that day whenever there's a big job like this to be done there's a grand cooperation it's the welfare of the community that matters and there are never any second thoughts about that each crofter Clips his own sheep which he can pick out by their marks but if any of the crofters are away or if it's a woman that owns the Sheep the others get together and clip their sheep for them in small townships like this help your neighbor is taken for granted I Y's right enough though I never thought to put it into speech before it's just our natural way of doing things I suppose well after the US have been clipped they must be freshly marked before they had let go on the hills and then the Lambs are let out to join their matters oh but they're happy to be free again the fle are rolled up and put in bags to be stored in the shed later they'll go south to be sold and made into tweet we'll get about five or six shillings a piece for them three long strenuous days have brought their modest reward and tomorrow life at rishil will return to its normal routine in the morning after after they have been milked the cows are driven out from the buyers every crofter keeps a cow or two to give milk for the house in recent years the Scottish Department of Agriculture has done a lot to help profs raise the standard of their livestock better cattle and more Kettle mean more milk better prizes for cars and an allround improvement in the quality of the pastures and Hill grazing for the Sheep as well as the cattle I there's no doubt with we have a better class of animal alt together now than we used to have and we must certainly thank the department for a lot of that as the cows come out from the crofs Neil and ly or anyone else that happens to be about collect together and drive them off to the grazing ground then the women set to work there's always plenty of work for them to do in the house and about the cross oh yes indeed that has plenty of work for us we must bring all the water up from the springs and buckets there's plenty of it coming down from the hills but never a drop laid on in the houses and there all the washing to do more water to be carried up from the springs and heated over the fire with three or four Barons in the house it's sometimes as much as we can do to keep Pace with it all I am thinking that a good wife and study bearings are the best help a man can have oh away with you there's work to be done the hens to be fed and the eggs to be gathered the lamps to be cleaned and filled with oil I wonder now when we will get the electricity that there's been so much talking about and anytime between May and September you'll be seeing us whole families of us with creels and turfing Spades and all setting off down the road to the pets the Pete cutting rights like the grazing rights belong to the community but each family Works its own bank in most of the houses Pete is the only fuel used for heat and cooking I and there's a lot more work in getting a load of pets than you might imagine first the grass and turf must be taken off with a flatter Spade then Peete underneath is cut into slabs and spread out on the bank to dry it's just wet soggy lumps when it's fresh cut that you might think would never burn so it must be lifted and turned and lifted and turned to let the sun and air dry it all through and then when it's fit to burn it's made up into a big stack until it's wanted down at the house Pete his chest the roots of the Heather and Moss that has been rotting in the B for hundreds of years but like everything else in the crafter's life it has to be hard one from the earth with his own two hands as a rule the craftt by itself gives no more than a bare livelihood and most Crafters depend upon some other work to help them out yes and we must take what comes sometimes it's giling at the shooting and fishing like CH maai does there's a fine thing for you passing on our skill and craft to the visitors who come up for our fish and [Music] game at other times it's Road making or contract work for the government laying Telegraph poles Building Bridges and such we helped to make the new roads here ourselves and now we have the job of keeping them in good repair or it may be a bit of joinery he has Billy Calder come to put a new timber in Alec Campbell's boat but whatever the job to be done a wheel to be straightened a house to be built a plow to be mended there's no one but themselves to do it and like all people living far from cities and shops the copts learn to be resourceful and self-reliant able to turn their hands to anything yes there's not much we cannot make a shape at on the land and on the water too I remember when we spent as much time at Sea as we did on the crops but that was before the big Drifters came in now it's only the lobsters or a few hady for the house that we go out for oh there's plenty of fish out there but it's a dangerous Coast when the wind blows up from the West CAP Ro they call it and it's a good name for it [Music] but in this part of the Highlands it's the sheep that the Crafters depend upon for most of their money and these Southern Shire Hills with their early musing bre some of the finest chiet sheep in all Scotland well then about the middle of August We Gather them in again from the hills to be dipped at the same time the Lambs are wind from their mother the U lambs will be kept to replenish the flock the male lambs will go to L Market to be sold start heading come on put them through come H come on [Music] rning all right boys stand by there boys there come on come on right ahead turn that's on come [Music] on get down man push them down go away B man go away get away man come on go to the hill stand by boy after the youth have had three crops of lambs that's when they're 5 years old they'll be cast and sold and they'll be Keen bidding for them from Len Farmers for even after they've served their day on the Hills here our use are good for another 2 or 3 years breeding in the mild that climate of the South but for the men there's no rest yet for by now the hair is ready and waiting to be cut [Music] these Crafters are a fine people Hardy and independent they have not always been justly treated in the past but they have survived and by simple means they have served their land well with a vigorous policy of land Improvement we can increase the scale of their activities with better cultivation more livestock better implements much has already been done but more is needed and it is right that their future should be secure for these people hardworking kindly Cooperative give us sturdy citizens that we could ill afford to be [Music] without for y [Music]